vBulletin Mobile Suite

This is kind of a convenience item. If people are willing to donate toward it, great, let's get the upgrade! However if they aren't, we aren't at a disadvantage or loss. A mobile version of the site is not necessary.

Most smart phones can access the site anyway. There may be a little inconvenience, but if the alternative is paying $200 when not enough people want to donate, than I bet all of us can deal with the inconvenience.
 
I access on my phone via a browser. I'm responding on the phone now.

A bit of screen zooming and scrolling but not really a big problem.
 
XionTawa said:
Uhm, then why are we even bothering with vBulliten anymore?
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Because we already paid for a vBulletin 4.x license. When vBulletin 5.0 is released and vB 4.x support ends, we will most definitely be looking at XenForo.

But let's keep this thread on track, please.

If people are interested in donating the money to purchase the vB Mobile Suite and the prerequisites, excellent. If not, we can look at tweaking the forums to make the site look better on mobile browsers (e.g. get a mobile browser-friendly skin when we move to vB 4.x, shorten or remove forum descriptions, etc.).
 
Kendrik said:
Am I the only one who thinks Mobile Suit when reading Mobile Suite? Yes? Darn.

On topic: That's quite the pretty penny. For a non-commercial site, I'm skeptical of it being worth the cash (especially when there are already recurring server bills to be paid).

Then again, being the only guy in America who doesn't have so much as a basic cell phone, I'm not so sure my thought on the matter is really worth much. haha
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Marinus said:
I'd use it if it were available for free - but to be completely honest, it's not something I'm interested in paying for.
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Joshinator said:
This is kind of a convenience item. If people are willing to donate toward it, great, let's get the upgrade! However if they aren't, we aren't at a disadvantage or loss. A mobile version of the site is not necessary.

Most smart phones can access the site anyway. There may be a little inconvenience, but if the alternative is paying $200 when not enough people want to donate, than I bet all of us can deal with the inconvenience.
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Abba San said:
I access on my phone via a browser. I'm responding on the phone now.

A bit of screen zooming and scrolling but not really a big problem.
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What these members said.

I do view the forums from my phone occasionally, but that's only to see who said what.

I think members should donate money to use towards something more gaming related.

Edit: Would the price be $379 up front and then $99 at the anniversary of the purchase or would it be $379 +$99 to get the mobile suite?

Either way its a massive rip off for something that works just fine as it is.
 
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$199 first year total and $99 each year after. Sorry if that wasn't clear.
 
I thought we were talking about the 4.0 forum only + mobile. That package is $379 and $99.

I see that we can purchase 4.0 from them for $195 and add the mobile to it, but I cannot log in to see the prices.

Nothing is $199 unless I'm super blind.
 
Odale said:
I thought we were talking about the 4.0 forum only + mobile. That package is $379 and $99.

I see that we can purchase 4.0 from them for $195 and add the mobile to it, but I cannot log in to see the prices.

Nothing is $199 unless I'm super blind.
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We already have the 4.0 forum license, it's a $199 upgrade to add the mobile option.
 
generalsaudi said:
From what I read, Forum Runner works without vBulletin Mobile Suite.


http://www.forumrunner.com/
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Yes, although I don't feel good about charging all current and future mobile users with a $2 tax to write to the forums. If we ever wanted to do an app we would have to pay ForumRunner $599 (ouch) whereas we get this for $200 from vBulletin (plus native support vs a plugin).

Time for a chipin widget...
 
You can't please everybody

Lloren said:
Yes, although I don't feel good about charging all current and future mobile users with a $2 tax to write to the forums. If we ever wanted to do an app we would have to pay ForumRunner $599 (ouch) whereas we get this for $200 from vBulletin (plus native support vs a plugin).

Time for a chipin widget...
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Some forum owners do not want to have their users pay for the full version of the app. This is understandable and we want to offer an option for these forum owners. You have the option of licensing Forum Runner to be listed as a branded app in the app store. That means that your forum will have its own FREE app with your own icon and splash screen that will bring your users directly into the forum. Your users simply will search for your forum in the iTunes app store or Google Market, download the free app, and be able to immediately access your forum directly through your own native application.
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All lot of people would probably be just fine with reading on the phone and responding on the computer ($2 is not very much considering what people will dish out for games, let alone DLC for some games.) I think it should be given a trial rather than just rule it out because people who have an Android or Apple phone MIGHT not want to pay $2 for an app.
 
I agree I'd rather the CGA community donate to cover the cost of an official plug-in/app solution than recommend pay $2 for a third-party app.

If there's interest in this, we should take another look at it. I don't mean to presume on the generosity of this community, but I can't recall ever having trouble raising funds to cover our annual or one-time expenses before.
 
/bump

Checking again: Any interest in iOS and Android apps for the CGA Forums?
 
I'm still interested in the ForumRunner idea. Or another Android or iOS app that can do it. Again, the forum runner idea is free to implement but to post on the forums, you have to pay $2 for the android app (not sure about iOS). I know you can browse this forum from a mobile web browser or mini web browser on a phone. I have Atrix 4g which has a 4inch screen but it is annoying to use on a non mobile page. I'd be down with helping to support the vBullentin Mobile Suite cost if the ForumRunner way is still out of the question. Also this post is from my desktop.
 
saudi said:
I'm still interested in the ForumRunner idea. Or another Android or iOS app that can do it. Again, the forum runner idea is free to implement but to post on the forums, you have to pay $2 for the android app (not sure about iOS). I know you can browse this forum from a mobile web browser or mini web browser on a phone. I have Atrix 4g which has a 4inch screen but it is annoying to use on a non mobile page. I'd be down with helping to support the vBullentin Mobile Suite cost if the ForumRunner way is still out of the question. Also this post is from my desktop.
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I just really don't like using a third-party app to connect to the forums. Aside from possible security issues, there's also the issue of dependencies, updates, and the like.

An official solution is (more) sure to work and the app would be free for all users.
 
Also if somebody would want to make an app that would make the forums mobile, which might be possible and not have to vBulletin Mobile suite. Does vBulletin mobile suite give an android or iOS app that comes with it if you pay for it?

Also developing for Android is free and much easier I've heard than iOS, which costs I think 99 per year plus you have to pay to put in the App store.
 
Since we have a community member that already has an Apple developer subscription, the total cost would be:

$199 for the Mobile Suite (one-time purchase)
$25 one-time Android developer fee

So we're looking at $225 total.

The issue is that we may one day move to vBulletin 5.x or XenForo, but there's no way to know how far away that day is.
 
saudi said:
So what about a mobile skin? Or does that like violate the vBulletin's TOS?
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Do you mean a skin for the mobile app?

That, I don't know about. I'd be happy with the default skin if the app made the forums less awkward to check and post to.
 
Tek7 said:
Do you mean a skin for the mobile app?

That, I don't know about. I'd be happy with the default skin if the app made the forums less awkward to check and post to.
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No, I mean like some sort of workaround to make the site mobile friendly with have to pay vBulletin for their implementation of it. Like is there code that can make it do that?
 
saudi said:
No, I mean like some sort of workaround to make the site mobile friendly with have to pay vBulletin for their implementation of it. Like is there code that can make it do that?
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/shrug

I don't know.

If such a thing does exist and if it's not a violation of the ToS, I wouldn't be opposed to it, but from what I've seen of the Mobile Suite, I still think a dedicated app would be more user-friendly for smartphone owners.
 
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