What are the Costs at making the Omane an app?

[Kaylore]

[ludo21]

also may make the podcast option easier to use.... just thoughts

increase traffic, make more money... ya know

[Chris]

Originally Posted by ludo21

also may make the podcast option easier to use.... just thoughts

increase traffic, make more money... ya know

o u done it now

[sazwaz]

So the next version after that will be called VB6? That's unfortunate.

[lonestar]

Originally Posted by Chris

I really don't understand what's difficult about viewing the site on a mobile browser. I used it pretty often. I'm genuinely curious as this goes at the heart of my not understanding the app phenomenon since getting to them is so much slower and they have less options.

Almost all my viewing is on either iPad or iPhone, 90% of my posting.

Having an app will not make the fonts larger. That is my ony issue.

Well my biggest one is response time, getting a blank screen back, or getting a double post. Without warning and both of those happen, on my desktop as well. ..
I've tried testing it on other IP other than my own wifi, also tested it on 3G it is the same issues for me. Regardless of which I use. Which means it is the server or inbound lines for OM.

[baja]

I get that blank white screen a lot too. I thought it was my issue. Good to know it isn't.

[Blart]

Originally Posted by myMind

What about getting it picked up by tapatalk? I use that to view a lot of forums that aren't optimized. Have you looked into how you could get the OM on there Taco? It's free to activate for any forum.


Here, if you have a minute you could sctivate it pretty easily here with the free option. If you so desire.

http://www.tapatalk.com/pricing.php

Another vote here for tapatalk!

Cost to for TJ to upgrade vbulletin to 3.8 - about $30.

Cost for each user to get an incredible app: $2.99. Unless they pir8 it, then free.

[BroncoBuff]

Originally Posted by broncosteven

I would also recommend that if you guys want to help Taco improve the site, the end of the year is a great time to send him a donation.

Hark! Do I hear talk of a fund-raiser?

Don't get me started on this unless you mean it.

Really, really, REALLY mean it.

[BroncoBuff]

Originally Posted by Drunken.Broncoholic

I just use safari on my iPhone. Better than an app

Originally Posted by bowtown

False.

"False," that's it, that's all?

Drunken's point is my point, and now several guys in here are echoing the same question, specifically: What practical, functional advantages do Apps give you that browsers don't? I can't think of any, but I do know the Facebook app sucks because your movement around the site seems restricted ... the app narrows your options and funnels you around. Another app - I think Bank of America - it seems I'm always landing in the middle of ads.

Crush said maybe the app transfers less data than a browser, thus saves you money/minutes. That's a good advantage right there, so if that's the big advantage, fine, say so. But if there's something more, somebody should explain it please.

[chadta]

Originally Posted by BroncoBuff

What practical, functional advantages do Apps give you that browsers don't? I can't think of any, but I do know the Facebook app sucks because your movement around the site seems restricted ... the app narrows your options and funnels you around.

I would agree with this, which is why another group of us have mentioned tapatalk, I use it for 3 or 4 other forums already, it doesnt seem to restrict access from what I can tell.

[bowtown]

Originally Posted by chadta

I would agree with this, which is why another group of us have mentioned tapatalk, I use it for 3 or 4 other forums already, it doesnt seem to restrict access from what I can tell.

You realize tapatalk is an app, right?

[bowtown]

Originally Posted by BroncoBuff

"False," that's it, that's all?

Drunken's point is my point, and now several guys in here are echoing the same question, specifically: What practical, functional advantages do Apps give you that browsers don't? I can't think of any, but I do know the Facebook app sucks because your movement around the site seems restricted ... the app narrows your options and funnels you around. Another app - I think Bank of America - it seems I'm always landing in the middle of ads.

Crush said maybe the app transfers less data than a browser, thus saves you money/minutes. That's a good advantage right there, so if that's the big advantage, fine, say so. But if there's something more, somebody should explain it please.

Facebook is a huge site where you can do about a billion different actions, so yes, they scale it down to the most commonly used functionality on a smaller mobile setting, and then optimize for that setting so that its easier to use and a better experience. The Mane has about 6 things you can do, that anyone here really takes advantage of. All an app would do is make that stuff look better and function more quickly with a better mobile view and experience. It would be quicker, potentially allow for offline content reading, allow you to actually type into rep, as mentioned, could be integrated with the podcasts to make those easier to access and listen to, and would just be an overall more enjoyable experience than trying to log on to the site, hoping that there are no hacker delays, and constantly zooming in and out from page to page to be able to get through the content. And if there were something that an small group of people wanted and wasn't there, they could all still access it from their browsers.

All this said, I'm totally on board with TJ waiting until the next release. Makes total sense, but to act like trying to navigate a site on your phone is somehow as good an experience as a site customized for it is crazy talk.

[Taco John]

Originally Posted by Blart

Another vote here for tapatalk!

Cost to for TJ to upgrade vbulletin to 3.8 - about $30.

Cost for each user to get an incredible app: $2.99. Unless they pir8 it, then free.

We're already on vB 3.8.

[Rock Chalk]

Responsive websites are starting to increase in popularity, and forum software will eventually start adapting to it. These sites scale automatically depending on the device being used by looking at the device's resolution. There are plenty of frameworks out there that give developers the base CSS code to create these sites quickly (twitter bootstrap is a good one that is increasingly popular).

There are a few great reasons to do a responsive website instead of a mobile version, a desktop version and an app. One, you have one site to maintain and modify. Two, there is no need for users to install or purchase anything (this is a very big deterrant for the majority of users. People want free ****, so keep it free if you can). Responsive websites done right also look lke full versions on tables in the horizontal view.

Tapatalk is OK, but again, its 3 bucks and I have 3 devices I view the site on outside of my desktop which means 9 bucks for something that Id rather just view in a browser? GMAFB.

Taco should seriously consider looking at other forum software too as vBulletin is old, dated and none of the upgrades I have seen over the years have fixed the core problems of vBulletin. Its slow because all of the html and css is stored in a freaking database which causes heavy load on the DB servers and requires way more resources than it should. Even if they used a bloated templating engine like smarty, it would be ten times faster than it is now.

I frequent a college board that uses XenForo and I really like the forum. Its sleek, has a lot of very cool features, is fast. Not sure what Isaac's budget is but he should look into it. Get the eff away from vBulletin.