Dubstepforum.com Cross Platform Mobile Application

[deficit]

Hi,

I'm interested in developing a cross mobile application (for free) to make the forum more usable on mobile devices (iPhone/Android) etc.

If anyone from DSF is interested, feel free to get in touch. There are some technicalities that would need to be discussed first in order to establish whether it's feasible (with regard to API implementation etc).

M

~~~UPDATE~~~

This is what I'm proposing:

http://dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?f ... 0#p2274829

[jyro]

YES YES YES

[deficit]

Unfortunately, I haven't got the time to spend chasing people down so if DSF management are interested, gimmie a shout, if not - no worries.

No catches, offering to do it for free (I run a web/mobile application house), just genuinely get wound up trying to browse and post to the forum on my phone. As mentioned, it's not quite as simple as me just going off and doing it (although, it is _technically_ possible - I wouldn't be happy with the result).

If this is something already in the pipelines, awesome, looking forward. If not, and it's something you'd like - get in touch and we'll sort something out.

If you think this would be useful and are closer to the people I need to speak with, pass the message on. I'm 100% serious, not looking to waste my or anyone else's time.

Peace.

[Promise One]

This would be cool, I did search for one recently and I couldn't find anything. Please whatever you do, don't have icons / graphics that have visible pixels in them. The iPhone has an amazing HD screen for a reason :]

[seckle]

there's not one mobile ready solution out there that works glitch free on phpbb forums. all of them have issues. tapatalk, arguably the biggest right now is full of crashing and wonky behavior. best of luck to you on your project, and if you come up with something that addresses the crashing and viewing problems, you should put it up on the itunes store under your own name. you'll do good business as there are thousands of phpbb forums trying to find a solution right now. as far as an official dsf app, it cannot be just iphones. this is a global site, and people are on it in many formats (psp, BB, android, iphone, ipad, netbooks, etc).

[deficit]

Hi Seckle.

Yeah, as mentioned, I propose it would be cross platform (iOS and Android at the *very* least, probably using something like PhoneGap, I put iPhone in title hoping to grab attention). And while I agree 'this is a global site, and people are on it in dozens of formats' is true,surely something is better than nothing. Trying to navigate a PHPBB forum on a mobile device is a fucking nightmare. I'm not trying to provide a solution for the entire PHPBB community. I'm offering to do it for the Dubstep ones, who own iOS and Android devices, for free!

And I agree, it's no easy task. PHPBB is notoriously an absolute nightmare and AFAIK doesn't ship with any kind of REST/ RPC API so it would involve writing one. (I have seen some off the shelf 'php bb api' solutions, but I wouldn't bother when it's something I could implement myself fairly trivially).

I'm offering my, and the services of my company, for free, to approach this as a proper project. As a kind of 'donation' to the Dubstep community.

- just thinking out loud, and thinking about Phonegap, I figure I could probably achieve something 1/2 decent with a bit of Javascript/CSS... I might have a play.

[deficit]

Just further to this, I appreciate there are lots of cases for and against building a mobile app (from a management/business perspective, from a consumer perspective it's a no-brainer) and I'm probably not the first person to suggest this or offer my services, so I figure there is good reason why it's not been done (I'm assuming lack of API). If DSF management are up for having a proper discussion, I'm happy to answer any questions / provide consultation, at no charge.

My motivations? I run a small software (web and mobile application) development house, I'm a bass head, DJ, Promoter and Artist (Locked Soundsystem, We played outlook last year and have been invited back again this year). If I can help out the Dubstep community and at the same time raise my companies profile a little; double win.

[ryan_p]

can't really see it being viable because of the lack of an API and security.

[deficit]

can't really see it being viable because of the lack of an API and security.

Yup. See my posts above. I'm suggesting implementing one. As far as 'security' goes, the site runs off plain old HTTP so it really isn't all that secure anyway.

If anyone's got anything positive to say, would love to hear it. I've been doing this kind of thing for over 10 years, while I appreciate it isn't a simple task, it is well within my capabilities .

[ryan_p]

i mean the security in regards to implementing an API, it'd be much easier to develop/use a specific mobile theme.

[deficit]

i mean the security in regards to implementing an API

I don't see how it would be any different from logging into the site as normal. When you login to the site, your username and password is sent accross the web in plain text. The only way around that is to use encryption/SSL. With regard to the API specifically, how would it be any less secure? I'm on about doing some proper software development here, not bodging something together. I want to put my name to it and bask in the glory. I don't want to embarras myself and destroy my career.

it'd be much easier to develop/use a specific mobile theme.

Totally agree. This fits in with my 'something is better than nothing' philosophy.

[ryan_p]

i mean the security in regards to implementing an API

I don't see how it would be any different from logging into the site as normal. When you login to the site, your username and password is sent accross the web in plain text. The only way around that is to use encryption/SSL. With regard to the API specifically, how would it be any less secure? I'm on about doing some proper software development here, not bodging something together. I want to put my name to it and bask in the glory. I don't want to embarras myself and destroy my career.

it'd be much easier to develop/use a specific mobile theme.

Totally agree. This fits in with my 'something is better than nothing' philosophy.

if the api is done right then no, it wouldn't be an issue, I'm talking about if the API is done wrong and is a security risk itself and open to exploits - or if you had other ideas and were looking to harvest all the info of 50k+ members to send out spam to or something.

[deficit]

i mean the security in regards to implementing an API

I don't see how it would be any different from logging into the site as normal. When you login to the site, your username and password is sent accross the web in plain text. The only way around that is to use encryption/SSL. With regard to the API specifically, how would it be any less secure? I'm on about doing some proper software development here, not bodging something together. I want to put my name to it and bask in the glory. I don't want to embarras myself and destroy my career.

it'd be much easier to develop/use a specific mobile theme.

Totally agree. This fits in with my 'something is better than nothing' philosophy.

if the api is done right then no, it wouldn't be an issue, I'm talking about if the API is done wrong and is a security risk itself and open to exploits - or if you had other ideas and were looking to harvest all the info of 50k+ members to send out spam to or something.

Yeah man. I totally hear those concerns. This really isn't my intention, I run a vat registered Ltd company that is data protection act registered and I'd be happy to put in place some kind of agreement in order to guarantee that.

[seckle]

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

another issue that must be resolved before an app for phpbb sites becomes viable is this whole html5/flash war going on between apple and adobe. when they finally fucking decide to either agree or disagree then we should be able to get things like youtubes, soundclouds port ready to mobiles directly from this site. as it stands now, when you use tapatalk, the moment it hits the soundcloud embeds which are found on nearly every signature on this forum, it glitches like fucking mad, and soundclouds aren't playing or acting properly on the iphone via tapatalk. this is obviously something to do with the iphones flash / shockwave issues. if and when soundcloud moves to html5 is something to wait for, but then again, they're probably waiting on the apple/adobe drama to end too.

[ashley]

Heres an idea, learn regex, edit the source and add support for removing text between two points so you can remove links such as Soundcloud and Video, or convert those to links to the resource they're supposed to embed.

Job done.

[ashley]

But from a realistic point of view, the fastest way would be to just get a mobile skin, or even a seperate install of PHPBB3 reading from the same database, just with bits cut out such as signatures, post counts and other nonsense from the TPL files.

If you build an app from the ground up, it'll cause more havoc than it's actually worth

[Phyalow]

But from a realistic point of view, the fastest way would be to just get a mobile skin, or even a seperate install of PHPBB3 reading from the same database, just with bits cut out such as signatures, post counts and other nonsense from the TPL files.

If you build an app from the ground up, it'll cause more havoc than it's actually worth

This especially if you want it on both android and iOS, objc & java = 2x the work.

[fractal]

Agree with Ashely, although I don't have a problem with using this forum on my iPhone through safari... Is it difficult for some or what?

[ashley]

Agree with Ashely, although I don't have a problem with using this forum on my iPhone through safari... Is it difficult for some or what?

Well for a starters you're downloading a lot of shit you don't need.

Smilies, banners, logos, avatars, sig bullshit and other nonsense.

[fractal]

Agree with Ashely, although I don't have a problem with using this forum on my iPhone through safari... Is it difficult for some or what?

Well for a starters you're downloading a lot of shit you don't need.

Smilies, banners, logos, avatars, sig bullshit and other nonsense.

right, i understand i don't need them, but i like avatars & smilies and my phone never has a problem processing any of it... don't really see the point of creating a whole new "app" just so you don't see smilies. avatars, sigs and banners? i'm happy with the forum looking exactly as it does on my comp, but to each their own i suppose....