SMF should improve support for mobile smartphones..

[klumy]

by AUTOMATICALLY showing an optimized website for smartphone users, so that you don't have to click on an extra link.
Which means less graphic smaller width for smartphones...


Think this would be more and more important in the future, because the internet gets mobile.

[Illori]

depending on the browser the user has, will depend on which page is shown. from what i understand most phones now have browsers that fully support html so they get the full page to show if you rather the WAP2 you are welcome to use it but it will not show up if your phone can support the full site by default. I believe the team is considering ways to have a better mobile theme for future versions though.

[Kindred]

As Illori says, although we have plans for a more optimized mobile (aka small screen) friendly theme layout, it is nearly impossible to keep up with the phone identifiers.

Most phones these days handle full HTML just fine and use browsers that indicate just that, so we can't do that sort of detection and -- if we were to do a "if mobile" check, the list would have to be updated every month. (and I suspect that we will not do that - instead providing a link or subdomain process to display the mobile version.

[青山 素子]

Sadly, there isn't a standard way to actually determine if a smartphone is accessing a page, it just appears as a normal HTML browser (with really low resolutions if you poke it with Javascript). You are limited to detecting based on UserAgent, which is not all that good of a method.

Older phones that supported WAP and the like used special HTTP-Accept headers indicating WAP or iMode support, which SMF does properly detect.

Most phones these days handle full HTML just fine and use browsers that indicate just that, so we can't do that sort of detection and -- if we were to do a "if mobile" check, the list would have to be updated every month. (and I suspect that we will not do that - instead providing a link or subdomain process to display the mobile version.

You could just use WURFL, but it would require regular checks to update the phone database quite often. Also, WURFL isn't always accurate. One of the previous updates had a Samsung Epic (Sprint's Galaxy S variant) detected as a Galaxy Tab (Samsung's tablet).

There are a few techniques you could try to auto-detect smaller screens and then redirect to a "mobile" version for those lower resolutions, such as checking the screen resolution with Javascript.

[shorepower]

Support fpr smartphones are probably the key feature that will enhance and grow the forums in the future. I do not think browser support is the way to go but rather apps that run on the smartphones

initially support for Iphone and Android would cover most of the users.

[Hj Ahmad Rasyid Hj Ismail]

From my experience, the current "smart"phones, like android, windows mobile and ios based, are smart enough to handle all type of website including SMF forum.

[shorepower]

From my experience, the current "smart"phones, like android, windows mobile and ios based, are smart enough to handle all type of website including SMF forum.

I agree, but that is not the point, with new devices, new possibilities opens up. Why would you want to access through a browser if an app can create a more intuitive tailored approach? Show only filtered content, possibilities to upload pictures and videos, GPS tagging etc etc.

When the first Internet applications came,  they was just a mirror of the traditional text based devices used inside companies and before that, displays devices  initially only had 80 characters width as that was the format for punch card.

[Kindred]

but why bother developing coding and supporting apps when a web interface does everything on both your phone AND your computer?

I do not understand this obsession with "apps". If it works on both my phone and my computer, why the heck would I want something that ONLY works on my phone. That's just plain silly. (and I had this exact discussion with the marketing folks at my RL job today, with the same argument - to which they answered.... hmmm, yeah, you're right)

[shorepower]

As you want to support different things, web browsers are nice if you have a full keyboard and a nice 10+ inch screen. On a mobile device, yes you can zoom and scroll but for me it does not do the trick. And yes, I agree, an app just to have an app is no use, it needs to add some context to what the user want, a smartphone is a mobile device with a camera, gps and other functions. 

For a forum, I would just want to see the latest post and have a simple interface if I want to post an answer, upload pictures, and perhaps  for our specific forum use the GPS position (if people want that) to show which area they make a post from.

[Kindred]

And yet, none of the 5 forums that I admin would have any use for any of that... (except the latest post - which can alreayd be done with a simple webpage)

[青山 素子]

shorepower, you can doo all of what you mentioned without resorting to writing a native mobile application. As a bonus, it instantly becomes accessible across all mobile devices. You don't need to wait for Apple's review process, or RIM's review process, or Amazon's review process (if you want to get in the Amazon Android App Store).

[Hj Ahmad Rasyid Hj Ismail]

As you want to support different things, web browsers are nice if you have a full keyboard and a nice 10+ inch screen. On a mobile device, yes you can zoom and scroll but for me it does not do the trick. And yes, I agree, an app just to have an app is no use, it needs to add some context to what the user want, a smartphone is a mobile device with a camera, gps and other functions. 

For a forum, I would just want to see the latest post and have a simple interface if I want to post an answer, upload pictures, and perhaps  for our specific forum use the GPS position (if people want that) to show which area they make a post from.

What you are asking is quite too much, IMO. There is already mod(s) for mobile theme and view as well as paid apps for it. If you are supportive enough, what you requested here, may be requested there too and may be implemented, if they think it is worth it.

Kindred already shares his experiences in the field and you may expect the same answer from them as well.

[shorepower]

I'm not sure I'm asking to much, as it was suggestions, not demands.

With regards to the mods, they are both not supporting 2.0 and it seems like the development of them are slow ( which perhaps shows that the need for these type of interfaces are relative low at the time and that the usage of the Forum I run differs from the wast majority).  Not sure if 青山 素子 suggestions also relates to the mentioned mods or if there are other options I have missed

Thx in advance

[Hj Ahmad Rasyid Hj Ismail]

With regards to the mods, they are both not supporting 2.0 and it seems like the development of them are slow ( which perhaps shows that the need for these type of interfaces are relative low at the time and that the usage of the Forum I run differs from the wast majority).

They are already for 2.0 RC4 as far as I can see. Only minor changes are needed to make iPhone Modwork with 2.0 Gold while Tapatalk Mod can be installed on 2.0 Gold with no changes at all.

[Guillelmus]

The wap-interface for SMF is useful. However there are two features it misses: quote and linked links. I see no reason why these are disabled. Option to enable pics would be useful too. Perhaps setting the messages per page ratio too.

[青山 素子]

Those items are not shown to make things slimmer. Likewise, most phones that would support only WAP won't handle image formats other than wbmp.

[Guillelmus]

Those items are not shown to make things slimmer. Likewise, most phones that would support only WAP won't handle image formats other than wbmp.

True, but there should be slim mode for modern cellphones too. I think those phones supporting only WAP are getting rare :-)

[Account Abandoned]

I would have to agree on a mobile system. I have a droid3 and when I go to one of my IPB forums, I get their default mobile theme. It fits the droid better than seeing it with the regular theme. I mean, Tapatalk is what I mainly use but a system for SMF would be just sweet and it is turning into a mobile world anyways, so it might as well happen right?

I know people who just use their smart phones for internet stuff. Its easier to a lot of people. I couldn't live without my PM though and I use a PM more on forums than I do with a phone.

Does SMF have Tapatalk installed on here though?

[青山 素子]

Does SMF have Tapatalk installed on here though?

No, and it probably will not. This site often has development code running and the few modifications that are used are a pain to maintain with the code changing all the time.

[Account Abandoned]

There is no code changing with TapaTalk, that is the beauty of it. At least, that is what I suspect? I know they have you run it through the Package Manager but on others forums, all I do is upload the files and activate TapaTalk via their websites so I suspect that is what happens on the SMF software!?