iPhone Friendly Forum

[Jeffro]

This idea was passed on to me to install the Tapatalk extension for this forum which would allow the forum to be accessed by iPhone and iPod Touch devices in it's native interface. The problem with this approach is that the app itself costs $2.99. As an alternative, I've looked into different extensions and I could install one with a mobile theme but it seems like a pretty painful process to set the forum up to be mobile friendly. Since I am an iPhone owner, I am seriously thinking about going the Tapatalk route personally for myself and by no means, would there be an obligation to pay the dumb $2.99 for the app to access the forum on your iPhone/iPod.

What do you folks think?

[Ryan]

There must be an iPhone compatible vBulletin theme out there isn't surely? If you installed one of those, then iPhone users would just need to choose that as their theme using the little select box at the bottom of the screen (assuming they can access it on their iPhone/Touch).

[Jeffro]

Yeah, there are extensions I can install bundled with mobile themes and then I could set the mobile theme to go in effect based on the user agent string. However, most of the extensions are outdated and it looks troublesome to install. I think I'll go spend some time on the Vbulletin forum and look into it some more.

[Cais]

I know I would appreciate a more iPod Touch friendly look as I often check when I am mobile especially when I am relaxing at Starbucks or even from the laundromat

[JLeuze]

Yeah, I often visit the Tavern on a mobile, it can be a bit tricky to use.

That is one advantage to bbPress, it is generally pretty usable on a mobile.

I'd settle for a simpler theme that was a little more mobile-friendly though, and a mobile version on the WordPress side would be handy too!

[Ryan]

bbPress themes are probably better for mobile devices, the software itself shouldn't make any difference though.

[conorp]

Putting it lightly, the forum sucks on mobile devices. Personally i find that the forum takes a long time to load on my touch, and when replying in threads, it lags.

I'm up for this option, but how does it work. Would you need to add a mod to the forum, and then i could buy the app and view the forum from there?

[Jeffro]

I'm up for this option, but how does it work. Would you need to add a mod to the forum, and then i could buy the app and view the forum from there?

That's how it works in a nutshell. The forum and the website for all intensive purposes is not meant for mobile devices. I don't even encourage anyone to use mobile devices for both although with my iPhone on 3G, it's not so bad seeing the site in Safari, but I do think the forum sucks in the little iPhone window which is why seeing the forum in a native app would be nice. For everyone else, it would still suck.

[conorp]

Ok i'm happy to buy the app.