Referencing this poll, there seems to be some moderate interest in it.
It sounds like its easy to do and it doesn’t impact the way people interact with it via the typical browser. Plus it will show up in their listings and make the vBulletin-powered board more friendly for that burgeoning mobile market that the kids are all talking about.
What do you say?
I am responding mostly to subscribe (yes, I know) but the linked poll shows a surprising lack of interest on the topic. 56 votes on over two months is hardly the type of stuff that will spur TPTB into action. A shame since I voted option 4. I would love to be able to read the sdmb on my iPod without squinting myself to blindness.
Another way to look at it is 56 votes over 10 days. I’m only getting around to pursuing it now. And I agree that its far from the #1 item Dopers are looking for, but if its easy to incorporate and there’s no downside, why not incorporate it? There’s no harm in asking.
I don’t understand why they have to install a special app on their end so for a program like this to work. With a little DOM navigation and tweaking a few settings on the URL line itself, it should be possible to create a plugin that works like this on the device itself. Heck, if there was a place to host it, you could create a javascript to do it.
We’ll have to give it some thought. An outfit in Atlanta was developing some mobile device apps for us last year, but they stopped talking to us (me, anyway) during the bankruptcy proceedings, and I haven’t been able to reach them in a long time. The thing that makes me hesitate about Tapatalk is this business about a plug-in. We added a seemingly innocuous bit of code a couple weeks ago and we’ve been getting occasional transient database errors since. Perhaps it’s just coincidence, but our ISP says they didn’t do anything on their end. Till we get a handle on that problem, I’m reluctant to throw anything else into the mix.
I can’t blame you there. Thanks for considering it. I’ll be patient and hopeful and not be a pest about it. Thanks.
Completely over my head.
Absolutely. Count on my vote for anything related to this (send me a PM if I miss the thread). Work is when I have the most time to read and post (yeah, I know) and the sdmb is on the list of “read only in case of extreme boredom and never post from the mobile” because it really isn’t eye friendly.
Ignore me. I was just hoping there was another way to pull it off without a plugin.
Tapatalk functionality would be great. Save my eyes, please admins, save my eyes.
When I first looked into Tapatalk, I wasn’t happy with their implementation and security. They seem to have improved since, but they still have issues and bugs.
For example, see these threads on their support forum:
Issues I have with Tapatalk
http://www.tapatalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2525
Unregistered Visitors seeing private Website Management Forums
http://www.tapatalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2568
Tapatalk allows “preview” of threads in forums that are restricted to members only
http://www.tapatalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2571
Additionally, it appends an annoying signature to every post made from the app, and prompts other mobile users who visit the boards to install their mobile app; although the former can be disabled locally by each user, and the latter can be disabled on the server side.
Right now, I’m still on the fence.
-xash
Administrator
Those are all issues for the Tapatalk user, it doesn’t affect the SDMB itself.
That was a logout issue. If you, Xash, had been logged in and then logged out to view the forum as a guest it seems that it wouldn’t log you out properly and you’d still see the threads that your Admin status allows you to. As real guests and members don’t have admin accounts in the first place, it wouldn’t be an issue.
The SDMB doesn’t restrict reading threads to members only so this bug wouldn’t be noticed.
That would be annoying.
I understand that you were just giving examples of bugs and so it may not detract from your point if those bugs aren’t relevant to the SDMB, but I still think it would be worth trying.
I have some qualms about doing this since (a) as xash has noted, Tapatalk may present some problems, although on investigation these may not affect us; and (b) we have unresolved issues with external links - which I realize is a separate problem, but the more variables you’ve got, the more complicated your life. However, xash thinks this is worth a try, so I’m game to give it a shot, with the understanding that we’ll stop if problems crop up.
OK, I’ve installed it. Feedback welcome.
You can get Tapatalk for your device from the following link (or for iPhone/iPod Touch, just search the app store):
The free version is Read Only. The paid version allows you to post, edit and PM.
-xash
Administrator
=============
Canned Description:
Tapatalk is a mobile forum app for iPhone / Android and soon to be on Blackberry and Nokia. Tapatalk supports vBulletin (3.x and 4.x) and phpBB forums and forum owner can activate this service for free. Tapatalk supports all the usual forum functions plus full screen image viewing, image upload, caching (less reload), private messaging, all these features are accessible in just a few simple taps.
Tapatalk for iPhone:
Showing New and Unread Posts:
http://www.quoord.com/tmp/iphone/IMG_0036.png
Full Thread Viewing and Pagination Support:
http://www.quoord.com/tmp/iphone/IMG_0037.png
See Who’s Online:
http://www.quoord.com/tmp/iphone/IMG_0038.png
Reply to Post and Image Upload:
http://www.quoord.com/tmp/iphone/IMG_0041.png
Some of the large forums activated Tapatalk support
http://www.quoord.com/tmp/iphone/IMG_0042.png
**
Tapatalk for Android**
Total Android Look and Feel
http://www.quoord.com/tmp/android/main.png
Same feature set as iPhone:
http://www.quoord.com/tmp/android/threadmenu.png
Quickly Reply to a conversation:
http://www.quoord.com/tmp/android/thread_bottom_menu.png
**
Latest and Unread Posts indicator and multi-tabs support:**
http://www.quoord.com/tmp/android/latest-v.png
**Full screen image support - support landscape mode also
http://www.quoord.com/tmp/android/imageview.png
**
Check out http://www.tapatalk.com for more information!
Paging the following users who voted in the poll to try it out:
Ají de Gallina, alenaroo, Anamorphic, AndyPolley, anson2995, Avumede, B. Serum, bbs2k, bouv, Captain_C, cherry, Cowboy8467, Dave_Enn, D_Odds, Eleanor of Aquitaine, elmwood, glilly, Hanna, IvoryTowerDenizen, Jules Andre, Keweenaw, Kolak of Twilo, Manwich, Misnomer, Mr Bus Guy, Oni no Maggie, Patty O’Furniture, Richard Pearse, Sapo, Soul, St. Urho, Tamex, Todderbob, tumbleddown, Vinyl Turnip, vix, Wilbo523, Xandroid, xash
I had never heard of Tapatalk and I am trying it right now - so far, it’s pretty damn cool. Nice mobile interface for the Dope!
Downloading as we speak…
Just testing something.
test
Spoilers show as unspoiled. 
Nice interface otherwise. Can easily access your control panel.
Yeah, that’s one of the known issues.
The #1 thing I don’t like right now is that you can’t read the entire thread title without tapping into the thread.
I’m using the read-only version of it for now, and it seems to be working fine. Doesn’t display text formatting, I guess (or at least I don’t see anything in bold or italic).
Any idea whether it’s possible to disable the avatar placeholder that appears to the left of each post? It looks as though it might increase the screen real estate available for the text. As it is now, almost 1/4 of the left-hand side of the screen in each thread is wasted space.