BITOG app?

[moving2]

Originally Posted By: Lawn_Care
Yup, standard browser works fine here on my Samsung Galaxy Tab S.



Yup, and nobody claimed it didn't work "just fine". It's just that a mobile app can work much, much better, and can give you many conveniences you might not even think would be so handy; conveniences that might even make you switch from browsing/posting on a laptop altogether. These are things you wouldn't know unless you'd had the convenience of experiencing all the benefits of a mobile forum app for some time.

 

[Clevy]

Originally Posted By: moving2
Originally Posted By: Lawn_Care
Yup, standard browser works fine here on my Samsung Galaxy Tab S.



Yup, and nobody claimed it didn't work "just fine". It's just that a mobile app can work much, much better, and can give you many conveniences you might not even think would be so handy; conveniences that might even make you switch from browsing/posting on a laptop altogether. These are things you wouldn't know unless you'd had the convenience of experiencing all the benefits of a mobile forum app for some time.


I don't use my computer for much if anything. I post via my iPhone or iPad.
Having used many forum apps in the past I don't find them to be any more user friendly than this site is presently.
So what exactly is to be gained spenfing money to make an "app" when the site works just fine as is.

 

[moving2]

Originally Posted By: Clevy
what exactly is to be gained spenfing money to make an "app" when the site works just fine as is.


Oh, quite a few things! Such as:

1. Not having to zoom and then scroll carefully to read posts (big problem, esp on BITOG, which is not mobile-friendly with the sidebars)- of course you *can* zoom and scroll on your phone "just fine", but if you're a fast reader who likes to browse many topics on the go, a mobile app is much faster as you can move to new threads and new pages without zoom/pan. Just up down scrolling and mobile-optimized text size.

2. Superfast capturing and posting photos- take a pic on your iphone and upload instantly. Of course you *can* use clumsy workarounds and multiple apps/sites, but why?

3. Getting push notifications of new PMs and new posts on subscribed threads right on my phone- Of course you *can* log in to the website via browser and check or use email updates. But a mobile app is unbelievably handy when you're on the go. Getting push updates to subscribed threads and PMs that instantly take you to the app/thread/PM for quick reply is much more efficient!

4. Much faster hierarchical navigation w/ touchscreen to quickly browse through subforums, topics, etc. - can't emphasize this enough. Just because "it works" to use a mobile browser doesn't mean it's not incredibly inefficient vs browsing subforums/threads with a mobile app. I'd say I'm browsing forums/topics/thread pages about 2x faster on my mobile forum apps.

Perhaps this doesn't apply to you. Doesn't mean it's not more efficient for the masses. Which explains the wild popularity of apps like Tapatalk on iOS and Android.

 

[Lawn_Care]

moving2 - I understand where you're coming from. After getting on BITOG using my phone and seeing the differences, I could see a possible advantage for people who use their phone most often. With my tablet, it's not as much of an issue, and one less app I have to keep up with.

Maybe the 'powers that be' will take this into consideration for phone users, but then maybe they won't. I'm a long-time lurker here and the first thing I learned about this place is that the elders are highly resistant to any form of change - even if it's for the better.

 

[KD0AXS]

Originally Posted By: moving2
Originally Posted By: Clevy
what exactly is to be gained spenfing money to make an "app" when the site works just fine as is.


Oh, quite a few things! Such as:

1. Not having to zoom and then scroll carefully to read posts (big problem, esp on BITOG, which is not mobile-friendly with the sidebars)- of course you *can* zoom and scroll on your phone "just fine", but if you're a fast reader who likes to browse many topics on the go, a mobile app is much faster as you can move to new threads and new pages without zoom/pan. Just up down scrolling and mobile-optimized text size.

2. Superfast capturing and posting photos- take a pic on your iphone and upload instantly. Of course you *can* use clumsy workarounds and multiple apps/sites, but why?

3. Getting push notifications of new PMs and new posts on subscribed threads right on my phone- Of course you *can* log in to the website via browser and check or use email updates. But a mobile app is unbelievably handy when you're on the go. Getting push updates to subscribed threads and PMs that instantly take you to the app/thread/PM for quick reply is much more efficient!

4. Much faster hierarchical navigation w/ touchscreen to quickly browse through subforums, topics, etc. - can't emphasize this enough. Just because "it works" to use a mobile browser doesn't mean it's not incredibly inefficient vs browsing subforums/threads with a mobile app. I'd say I'm browsing forums/topics/thread pages about 2x faster on my mobile forum apps.

Perhaps this doesn't apply to you. Doesn't mean it's not more efficient for the masses. Which explains the wild popularity of apps like Tapatalk on iOS and Android.


Most importantly, what all this adds up to is more users and more traffic on the website, which in turn translates into increased ad revenue for the owner(s) of the website.

The biggest problem seems to be that Tapatalk and other forum apps don't support UBB.threads, the forum software that BITOG runs on. However, the next update to the UBB.threads software is said to include a mobile theme.