iPhone app - how hard?

[BigJimmyW13]

How hard would it be to make an iPhone app for xs650.com? I am thinking about this as I'm writing this message on my iPhone bc I'm a bit shorter in my replies typically when writing with my phone. I feel like sometimes my replies could come across as rude sometimes bc of it. Thinking I could do a dual signature setup for when I'm on my phone or whether I'm at my computer. Any thoughts or ideas?

Travis?

 

[cheftay]

I've been wondering the same thing... Good question jimmy!

 

[XS1961]

Whats an app. ? Im lost when it comes to phone technology

 

[jay760]

I got lost with the word iphone

 

[cheftay]

there you go... http://www.apple.com/iphone/apps-for-iphone/

 

[BigJimmyW13]

An app is so it's really easy for me to be on here on my iphone. When I reply from my phone my replies are usually short and "sweet". Or seemingly rude and dry lol. I just don't want ppl on here to take the replies the wrong way whenever they are a short and dry. So if there was an app I could put a different signature on the app allowing or "via iPhone" or something along the lines of it.

 

[Travis]

How hard would it be? Probably pretty damn hard. I'd have no idea where to begin and I don't know any other programming languages other than html and some php. Also, to have an XS650.com specific app, I'd have to pay Apple $99 per year to be a "developer" and I'd also want to have an apps for Andriod, BlackBerry, Nokia, Palm, etc... Then I would have to update each one with every update to the forum software. So that's probably not going to happen until this site has a huge group of users who want the feature and would be willing to pay for it.

Now there is a third-party app that works with vBulletin sites, but I would have to sign up for it and install a plug-in to make it work. Then you'd have to pay $2.99 to download the app and get to XS650.com through the app. As with many apps, you are limited on the site features that you can use though the app. As of right now with the third party app, you can't search and you can't register through the app. It also doesn't support the way threads are categorized into topics using the tag system. Then there is also the concern that I'll do something on my end with the site that the third-party app won't support, and the site won't work anymore on the app you bought just to use for this site, and you'll be pissed. Even with all that, it still looks pretty promising so I'll look into more. It'll probably be something that happens when we go to vBulletin 4.0. (The site is on 3.8 right now and will be upgraded soon).

Another option that might make the site even easier to use with your phone would be a mobile skin. You can select the style you want to view the site in now using the drop-down menu in the lower left corner of most pages. I could add a style that is for mobile phones. I'll work on that right now.

It sounds like one of the main reasons you want an app is for your signature. I read something once were a guy changed his desktop email signature to say "sent from my iphone" so that it was socially acceptable for him to send one line emails with shorthand and misspelled words. You could always do that here

Or when you post using your phone, at the end of each post you could just type "via iphone".

via Android

 

[inxs]

- maybe im just old-fashioned, or even just old, but i simply dont see why anyone would actually need to do this

 

[BigJimmyW13]

I use this site a lot from my phone. So I figured I'd ask. Then someone put the thread up about iPhone users on here and I realized that there were more of us than I thought there would be.

Lol I don't think I would just change my signature to be via iphone all the time so that way I can get away with it all the time! Interesting idea though!

The mobile skin idea sounds like it'd be a pretty good idea and probably the best way to go. I have NO IDEA what it takes to develop an iPhone app; so when I asked how hard would it be. I meant it; clueless here.

Although, if you were to make an iphone app. I would probably be willing to pay a fee to download it and use it. I'd just consider it being a donation for time well spent.

 

[Visegrippe]

I think probably a lot of the issue might be the lack of physical key board...

My dream/g1 may be getting a bit out dated, but I can style "type" reasonably quickly...

Ithink perhaps asking for a better keyboard would help more, since I've heard many complaints about on screen keyboards, iphone esp.

 

[BigJimmyW13]

Believe it or not I have a harder time with the small physical keyboards more than I do with my virtual keyboard on my iPhone. I have what some ppl have called bear claws for hands. My fingers aren't fingers per say more like 5 small bratwursts, one opposable and a common source. So on the small physical mobile keyboards I hit 5 keys at once.

 

[inxs]

- and modern cell phones seem to be getting smaller...damn

 

[Travis]

Looks like I found a way to make a mobile skin where when you post, it'll automatically add:

Posted Via Mobile

to the end of the post.

I'm working on the skin right now, but it's probably going to take a few days to get it how I want it.

How basic do you guys want the skin to be? I don't think anyone likes scrolling left and right, so that's going to be the main focus.

 

[BigJimmyW13]

Dude that'd be awesome. I know it may seem like a weird request, but man I feel like a jerk sometimes when I reply and it doesn't really come across exactly as I might want it to bc I rushed to type it

 

[Travis]

Update on the mobile skin:

I spent some time yesterday working on the mobile style for the site. I downloaded one someone else made for vbulletin but it was way too basic for smart phones and would have been a pain to modify it to include all the features I though people would want. So I just started with the default style and trimmed it down some. I got the Posted Via Mobile thing to work and I thought I was done because it looked good and worked well on my Android phone, but then I tested it on my girlfriends iPhone and it looked weird. Apparently iPhones do some weird things with text sizes in Safari. But I found a couple of solutions on iPhone developer sites. I'm about 95% done and plan to release it tonight.

Would you rather have the Posted Via Mobile show up after your post or have a little cell phone icon? Or both?

 

[cheftay]

I like the "Posted Via Mobile" personally

 

[Travis]

Okay it should be working... In the bottom left corner of most pages there is a drop-down box, click it and select "Mobile".

It's still not 100% but I'll keep tweaking it as needed. So far it's been designed to work with iPhones, iPods, and Android devices with screens at least 480 pixels wide on the longer side. It might work well for other devices too but they have not been tested. Let me know if you guys run into any problems or have suggestions on how to make it better.

Posted via Mobile

 

[Travis]

Already found the first bug that I missed during testing ... If you use the advanced editor, the Posted via Mobile will show up twice. You can remove it manually before you hit post, but I'll see what I can do about that.

Posted via Mobile

 

[Sundie]

Travis, this may take you in an entirely other direction, but you may want to look for a wap/mobile plugin for the
board.

Jimmy, why not just make a macro?

I use a Nokia n95 and the only complaint i have is the reply box requires a certain zoom level to work properly. But that's my phone being weird, nothing to do with the board itself.

 

[BigJimmyW13]

Honestly?

B/c I have no idea how to do that on my iphone. I was just asking bc Travis is clearly more savvy on these things than I am and there's clearly a following of ppl using their mobiles to access the page. So I just thought I'd throw it out there to see what Travis and others thought. Like he said he'd have to pay all that junk out and to me I would definitely not want him to do. I knew there'd be some sort of cost either in time, money, soul to satan or all the above; just wasn't sure what or how much satan would get.