Forum App (but not really)

[myselfolli]

Before you go and lock/delete this thread:

 

I know we won't be getting a mobile app, and for perfectly valid reasons. But maybe consider a progressive web app (PWA)?

 

It's essentially still the same web based forum, but with all the advantages of a native mobile app. Although I don't know how difficult this would be to incorporate since the forum software of the LTT forums is 3rd party software...

[Skiiwee29]

This will never happen. The base site is optimized for Web usage.. and as you alluded you already know this and its requested to NOT request apps for the site.. which you just did. 

[myselfolli]

3 minutes ago, legacy99 said:

This will never happen. The base site is optimized for Web usage.. and as you alluded you already know this and its requested to NOT request apps for the site.. which you just did. 

Yes, I know. Now go click the link I inserted.

 

Upon reading, you will realize, that what I am requesting is still technically a website which is being loaded by your browser. It's just reskinned and has a few extra functionalities (like push notifications, which is what many people name as the main reason why they want an app).

 

--maybe go read the stuff I post before hating on me, thanks--

[AlTech]

28 minutes ago, legacy99 said:

This will never happen. The base site is optimized for Web usage.. and as you alluded you already know this and its requested to NOT request apps for the site.. which you just did. 

There's no need to be aggressive.

 

OP is requesting something which has not be suggested before in this way.

 

Mobile Apps are a definite no no but they never said no to PWAs and frankly the amount of work to make it a PWA wouldn't be too much.

[Skiiwee29]

14 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

There's no need to be aggressive.

 

OP is requesting something which has not be suggested before in this way.

 

Mobile Apps are a definite no no but they never said no to PWAs and frankly the amount of work to make it a PWA wouldn't be too much.

I wasnt meaning to sound aggressive. I would assume that as a web developer, those who are in charge of the LTT domain would have known about this and likely decided against it like a proper app. 

[AlTech]

Just now, legacy99 said:

I wasnt meaning to sound aggressive. I would assume that as a web developer, those who are in charge of the LTT domain would have known about this and likely decided against it like a proper app. 

They might not have considered it and I strongly suspect they haven't.

[colonel_mortis]

The only real benefit, as I understand it, would be push notifications (it doesn't make sense to make the site work offline), but unfortunately despite putting in a reasonable amount of effort to change it, they aren't really practical with the current forum software (because the existing notification system, which only works when the site is open, would interfere).

If you think it would be sufficiently beneficial in other ways, I'm not opposed to implementing it though.

[iamdarkyoshi]

40 minutes ago, colonel_mortis said:

The only real benefit, as I understand it, would be push notifications (it doesn't make sense to make the site work offline), but unfortunately despite putting in a reasonable amount of effort to change it, they aren't really practical with the current forum software (because the existing notification system, which only works when the site is open, would interfere).

If you think it would be sufficiently beneficial in other ways, I'm not opposed to implementing it though.

I know some apps can give push notifications through chrome (facebook mobile does) 

 

Could this be possible? I feel like this plus like a chrome based app that only opens the forum would be all it takes to make an LTT forums "app"

[colonel_mortis]

1 minute ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

I know some apps can give push notifications through chrome (facebook mobile does) 

 

Could this be possible? I feel like this plus like a chrome based app that only opens the forum would be all it takes to make an LTT forums "app"

Push notifications work in the browser, the problem is that it's not going to work on the back end.

[myselfolli]

2 hours ago, legacy99 said:

I wasnt meaning to sound aggressive. I would assume that as a web developer, those who are in charge of the LTT domain would have known about this and likely decided against it like a proper app. 

The whole concept is still somewhat new, and I (as a web developer :P) only recently learned about it as well. So I figured I'd point it out here, since it could likely have a practical application.

 

But oh well, if @colonel_mortis thinks it won't work, I guess this won't be happening...

[myselfolli]

40 minutes ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

I know some apps can give push notifications through chrome (facebook mobile does) 

 

Could this be possible? I feel like this plus like a chrome based app that only opens the forum would be all it takes to make an LTT forums "app"

And that is actually precisely what a progressive web app is. You instruct the browser to open only one single website (so the LTT forum for example), plus you have what's called a "service worker", a small js-script, that keep executing after the page (forum) is closed. Which is what ends up ending push notifications.

 

Twitter (I think) has a nice implementation of a PWA

[RollTime]

Call me silly, but can someone articulate why we can't have a mobile app? Just curious.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

4 hours ago, RollTime said:

Call me silly, but can someone articulate why we can't have a mobile app? Just curious.

Cost and time of development outweighs the benefit. We don't have a fully employed team working on the forums.   

 

Exact words:

A forum app
Due to limited resources available, and the functional mobile site, there are no plans to develop an app for the site at this time.

 

 

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

A PWA seems like a great idea so long as it has push notifications.

[RollTime]

11 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Cost and time of development outweighs the benefit. We don't have a fully employed team working on the forums.   

 

Exact words:

A forum app
Due to limited resources available, and the functional mobile site, there are no plans to develop an app for the site at this time.

 

 

Thanks.

[suchamoneypit]

19 hours ago, colonel_mortis said:

The only real benefit, as I understand it, would be push notifications (it doesn't make sense to make the site work offline), but unfortunately despite putting in a reasonable amount of effort to change it, they aren't really practical with the current forum software (because the existing notification system, which only works when the site is open, would interfere).

If you think it would be sufficiently beneficial in other ways, I'm not opposed to implementing it though.

How hard is it to implement the PWA (progressive web app)? If it isn't that hard to do then I for one would love it. I fully understand that it wouldn't really be worth if it requires any significant amount of work.

[Xanthe_2871]

On 3/27/2018 at 3:00 AM, colonel_mortis said:

push notifications

A dream, I know, but I would love this so much.