Tapatalk Support?

[frice2000]

I usually peruse three forums in a day and the other two I frequent just enabled http://www.tapatalk.com and since I often view this site and those forums on my tablet and phone I was strongly considering purchasing said app. Supposedly its free to enable it on your forums and you only need to add a couple files to some sort of plugins. So if you could look into this I'd really appreciate the convenience for one. Thanks for your time!

[Pale Wolf]

Hm, what does it actually do? I glanced through the site, looked like it was used to view forums on cellphones, but you just said you already did and didn't have it, so... I'm a little confused on that.

[frice2000]

It's an app to make them look more native. Right now the site loads but when there are a lot of posts it slows down the browser. On my phone lines are often not formatted properly so I have to scroll left and right over and over to see them. This just translates the posts into being far more easily readable more often, and is more convenient then loading the browser and zooming in to see each post. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJPNQfWyQP4 there's a random Youtube review showing it in action. It's not really essential my current configuration works ok, but it would be helpful, and it does cost the forum nothing. At worst its another site advertising the forum.

[talonhunter]

what kind of mobile device are you using? Ive used my iPhones and iPod touch on the site for almost 3 years now and the only time I have issues with it are on my laptop using the air card in beechnorth Dakota, then it looks like all the GUI interface stuff dissapears

[PCHeintz72]

Never mind.

[frice2000]

What device am I using? Many heh. Xoom, iPad, Droid 1, Droid X, Thunderbolt, Charge are all devices i've used. The two tablets usually view the site just fine though they do lag on occasion. The others have formatting and annoying zooming issues. Honestly the issues aren't a big deal as they view ok but still would find that app if it's as advertised would definitely be an improvement on the smaller screened devices.

[Spokavriel]

So you're asking this site to add it before using it with the other sites because it sounds really good?

Why not try it first with the sites that already use it so you can see if it does actually make things better for you before making this request?

[frice2000]

It costs users money to try out. The other forums I visit also involve far more pc file sharing and direct communication that isn't that practical on a tablet or phone. Thus, I would use it most on this forum and hfboards which is already enabled. I did use it on my iPod touch back in the day and it was good on that but for lack of sites supported, which is still a problem. Since I've dropped iOS for Android entirely I'll need to buy it again. Just wanted to make sure one of my most viewed forums, this one, would support it before I gave them my $3 and spent a the time configuring it as I like it. A mild maybe from an administrator here and I'd buy it just seeing if such a thing is plausible.

If it's a big issue to install nevermind, but from what I understand the administration just register the site, download some php plugins and that's it, so I didn't think it'd be a big deal to ask for.

[PCHeintz72]

If it's a big issue to install nevermind, but from what I understand the administration just register the site, download some php plugins and that's it, so I didn't think it'd be a big deal to ask for.

Hmmm... I'm no mod, but I'm not against it per se as I do not have a cell phone to make it matter to me either way.

But as a person whom is a programmer by trade I'd have to wonder exactly what 'registration of the site' entails, what if any agreement or obligations the site makes by registering itself, and what exactly those files are doing in the background from a security standpoint. Those are important questions, some with potentially profound legal ramifications, and were I LWF58, the site program designer, or one of the other mods... I would definately be looking over those aspects and others with a fine tooth comb.

[Pale Wolf]

Well, we're obviously not decided yet, and I'm not the most computer-savvy type, so I wouldn't be involved in enacting it. But it is under consideration, if Larry hasn't been forwarded this suggestion for opinions yet I'll toss it to him.

As PCHeintz notes, there are a number of issues to consider, a few that I hadn't even thought of. Sunny expressed some degree of interest, but while he's the owner, he's not the most computer-savvy himself. Mostly any issues would likely be noted by Larry, we'll get back to you on this after we confer.

[talonhunter]

the hing that has me worried is the free registration of the site. Makes me wonder if there are bundled ads they want to get permissions from the site owners to spam the users with.

[Pale Wolf]

That's definitely a risk, though it seems like they're getting the money on the user end with the people who buy it for their phones.

[Spokavriel]

I was wondering where are the privacy and information usage policies? What information do they gather if any how is it used what are the limitations? There should be links to find out those answers somewhere but I'm having trouble loading the site at all.

[lwf58]

Just to clear up the division of authority:

Josh/Sunny is the spiritual owner of the site. He started it and is the most active of the three of us in its day-to-day operation. He does a lot in the organization and creation of site folders and such.

Stacey is the programmer, but she has too many job contracts to pay attention to every little detail in running the back end of the place. I leave installing new software and modules to her because it's pretty easy to muck up her custom programming if too many thumbs get into the pie.

I pay for the server, do the most in the back end work (which isn't much), and process new user accounts. I also make the final decision (usually) about adding new features to the site because Stacey is really too busy to do the homework involved. If I decide the feature is worth adding, I email Stacey to implement it, and lo and behold, it's added.

...About 4 to 6 months later, and after much prodding on my part, because she really is a very busy girl.

I've never heard of Tapatalk, since I'm an old-fashioned, uncool fogey who just uses his mobile phone for stuff like, you know, making telephone calls. That said, I'll at least look at the service and see if I can dope out what the catch might be.

[frice2000]

I know there used to be some security issues but they supposedly patch each of those when they come up. Other then that there is a bit of annoying nag when you open up a supported forum on a mobile browser saying click OK to download tapatalk or cancel and the site continues to load normally.

Thanks very much for looking into it. If you decide against it I'd really appreciate you turning on a mobile skin of some kind as an option. I know that's more work and if I have to donate for the convenience that's fine and I'd do so with no reservations.