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CGA iPhone App


STRAT
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Ok, so this is not a dedicated CGA app and it does not put any money in CGA's pockets, but I found an app that I think most of you will like. I like it.

 

It's called Tapatalk (http://itunes.com/app/tapatalk) and it costs $2.99 in the app store. I've installed the server side app that allows our forum to talk to it. Just install the app and then look in the News and Media section. You'll see our logo to access the forums. You can log in and do pretty much everything you can in the main forums.

 

If you install it let me know what you think.

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I've been in touch with the developers from Tapatalk and they can offer a CGA only version of this app. Still looking into actual pricing to do this. Based on the survey it does not seem like there are many who are willing to pay for this app, so it would really depend on if we can monetize it somehow to offset the costs. Would be interested to hear what you guys think of this app first.

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Same here. Actually just took a look at the app and the interface looks a bit too simple... But the ability to post/reply without having to turn on a real computer is more than worth the money.

 

What about the interface is too simple? Not graphical enough? Not a specific feature?

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When you read a lot of different posts, they all look alike, kind of like when you get to those backup forum pages, you know? Sometimes it's hard to tell one post from another, imo.

 

One app that does this job well (UI) is Twitterrific. It separates everything in a very easy way, is really easy to use and looks cool.

 

twitterrific31.jpg

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When you read a lot of different posts, they all look alike, kind of like when you get to those backup forum pages, you know? Sometimes it's hard to tell one post from another, imo.

 

One app that does this job well (UI) is Twitterrific. It separates everything in a very easy way, is really easy to use and looks cool.

 

twitterrific31.jpg

 

Slightly off topic...

 

How does Twitterrific handle the loading of posts on the iPhone? I use Tweetdeck and one thing that bothers me is that appears not to cache user profile pictures, and instead reloads them on refreshing the post list. Meaning that it can take awhile to refresh. If Tweetdeck offered an option to simply load the test's of the post, it would be faster than what it is now.

 

Now back to topic.. the UI for the iPhone. Graphic intense will take awhile to load. I would favor stripped down text for the sake of speed. Even though it would not distinguish itself from other forums.

 

I know that seems counter intuitive since Apple is highly about the graphics. ...But when you have spotty coverage, or know you are about to go into an area with no coverage, being able to load and refresh fast is nice.

Edited by Crazy Homeless Guy
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Since I use mostly wi-fi, loading isn't really an issue for me... But I get your point. Using 3G can be a pain sometimes exactly because of band demanding apps. But, you know... Why use iPhone to browse the web if I have to see the same graphics as Symbian users? ;)

Twitterrific loads all avatars when you refresh the page. But it keeps all posts in cache, so not loading the pics does not bother (me). It's something that happens almost in the background.

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Jeff, one thing occured me about the rss feeds. Would it be possible to have a different rss for each section (wip or finished work, for example) or even a feed for the Today's Posts page? That would be neat!

 

There already is:

 

http://www.cgarchitect.com/vb/faq.php?s=&do=search&q=rss&match=all&titlesonly=0

 

Our URLs are SEO friendly, but just look for the number in the forum link. That is the forum ID.

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I am playing with the TapaTalk app. It works decently well, but I can't view the majority of the images in the forum.

 

I can see the Twitterific one in this thread, but if I go to the finished work forum, I can't see the images. It let's me click on them, but they dwon't load.

 

Off hand I would guess that it might have something to do image resolution, and the amount of time it takes to download larger images.

Edited by Crazy Homeless Guy
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I've already reported this to the developers and it's a known issue. They are currently rewriting the entire image handling module.

Since they're at it, they could also fix the way the bottom menu (the one with the quicklinks) stands in front of the last post of each thread. One has to keep pulling the screen up to be able to read the last one. :mad:

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  • 1 month later...
Is Tapatalk still active on the CGArchitect servers? I have tried a few times since the server migration a couple of weeks ago, but haven't been able to actually connect.

 

 

During the migration on the weekend, the forums migrated to a subdomain called forums.cgarchitect.com. I forgot to change the address in the tapatalk setup. It works now, although you may need to search for CGarchitect again and then add it as a favorite as I think it cached the old address.

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Also thought I would post some stats about the TapaTalk app usage since it was put online a few months ago:

 

Unique users: 16

Sessions: 251

Occurrences: 391

 

 

  • Total Time Spent:4 days 1 hour 57 minutes 55 seconds
  • Average Time Spent Per User:6 hours 7 minutes 22 seconds
  • Average Time Spent Per Session:23 minutes 25 seconds

Needless to say, I don't think I will be exploring the development of a custom iphone app at this time as I don't think the demand is there. Our app would have to be a paid app and if only 16 people were interested in this solution, it does not bode well for spending $2-5K on a customized version of this app.

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Works perfectly now. Thanks.

 

At 16 users it is definitely not worth a custom app. The app itself isn't to bad. It gets the job done. And, he is likely to continue to improve it, which would probably cost you more if you wanted the custom version to b improved along with it. I only wish they would straighten out the image viewing issues.

 

I typically use the app once or twice a week, while commuting or waiting in line somewhere.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Any thoughts about a web-app? I think they're a lot cheaper to develop than a normal app, and you're free from the usual constraints of the Apple store. One example is this, for the large computer gaming forum NeoGAF can be found at the following address:

 

http://secondapps.com/neogaf/

 

Essentially it's a reskin of the forum, but with some clever tricks to make it particularly iPhone friendly. The upshot is that it's a much smoother experience, as it's designed purely for that phone. It also has the added benefit of being accessible (to larger or smaller extents) on other mobile devices with a browser. I have an Android phone, and it's not quite as smooth on the above page as an iPhone, but it's pretty darn good, and a lot quicker and easier than navigating with the normal website in the browser.

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