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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: SoF support for iPhone?
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Ahleal V
Shipmate
# 8404
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Posted
Dear Hosts,
I realised that my almost three-year lapse in posting on the Ship was down to the fact that I do most of my 'general browsing' on an iPhone, and only use a normal browser on the laptop for specific websites.
I'm not sure if the UBB software has a specific Safari-compatible mode, though an idle browse has brought up a mention of something called tapatalk - as it seems that just about everyone and their dog has a smart-phone these days, is the Ship likely to upgrade the software anytime soon?
x
AV
[ 14. July 2013, 17:23: Message edited by: Ahleal V ]
Posts: 499 | From: English Spires | Registered: Aug 2004
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Tubbs
Miss Congeniality
# 440
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Posted
I'm not holding my breath. ![[Biased]](wink.gif) I read and post on the Ship using an iPhone / iPad without any problem tho'.
Tubbs
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"It's better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than open it up and remove all doubt" - Dennis Thatcher. My blog. Decide for yourself which I am
Posts: 12701 | From: Someplace strange | Registered: Jun 2001
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
Reading and normal posting are fine on my iPhone, most times. I have encountered weirdness, but not typically.
Including quotes from another post can be an issue, especially multi-quotes or reducing long posts in a quote.
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Marvin the Martian
Interplanetary
# 4360
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Posted
Yes, the only problem I have with using the iPhone to post is when lots of UBB code or quote editing is needed. But that's due to the shitty keyboard/text selection ability of the phone, not the board software.
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Hail Gallaxhar
Posts: 30100 | From: Adrift on a sea of surreality | Registered: Apr 2003
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agingjb
Shipmate
# 16555
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ahleal V:
Dear Hosts,
I realised that my almost three-year lapse in posting on the Ship was down to the fact that I do most of my 'general browsing' on an iPhone, and only use a normal browser on the laptop for specific websites.
I'm not sure if the UBB software has a specific Safari-compatible mode, though an idle browse has brought up a mention of something called tapatalk - as it seems that just about everyone and their dog has a smart-phone these days, is the Ship likely to upgrade the software anytime soon?
x
AV
Posted from iPod touch. Not easy but possible.
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Refraction Villanelles
Posts: 464 | From: Southern England | Registered: Jul 2011
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
We're talking devices or applications when you mention iProducts? I think you're talking applications. Possibly Apple could be asked about applications for their devices that support what you want to do. Understanding that Apple packages their applications and products rather tightly that it's hard to distinguish between the two.
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
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Posted
The Ship works fine on my iphone. What ywould you want to see cahnged?
Its not an ideal environment for making posts but thats because the limited text editing capabilities of the iphone aren't really up to writing more than small bits of text. I have soemtimes but it gets frustrating. The screen is too small, there is no keyboard (obviously), and the cut-and-paste facilities are rather primitive. (In particular its really erally difficult to select part of a word. Very frustrating) But that's not really Safari's problem. The same software works much better in the ipad simply because the screen is larger.
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Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
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dj_ordinaire
Host
# 4643
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Posted
I find things are fine on my iPad, except I seem to end up double-posting quite a bit. I'd say that's down to my clumsy fingers and the fact that it's quite new rather than any software issue!
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Flinging wide the gates...
Posts: 10335 | From: Hanging in the balance of the reality of man | Registered: Jun 2003
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The Silent Acolyte
Shipmate
# 1158
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ken:
What ywould you want to see cahnged?
Dunno. Maybe something to do with your chubby fingers. Or, perhaps the miniscule keyboard.
Posts: 7462 | From: The New World | Registered: Aug 2001
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orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
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Posted
Tapatalk is indeed a thing that is used to make message boards more mobile device friendly. I'm aware that at least one board I'm a member of has Tapatalk, but I've not used it myself.
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Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
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Vulpior
Foxier than Thou
# 12744
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Posted
I've just done a quick search and, as far as I can tell, Tapatalk doesn't work with the software that runs the Ship. It sounds like it's a simple implementation where it is supported.
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I've started blogging. I don't promise you'll find anything to interest you at uncleconrad
Posts: 946 | From: Mount Fairy, NSW | Registered: Jun 2007
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The Midge
Shipmate
# 2398
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Posted
I've tried on my Android phone. The biggest problem is not having scalable pages (ones that adjust to fit the size of a smart phone screen). Therefore the text is small than the footnotes or I have to keep scrolling left and right to read a post.
I just wait until I can get to a device with a bigger screen. I'm also getting to the point when the large print section in the library is becoming of interest.
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Some days you are the fly.
On other days you are the windscreen.
Posts: 1085 | Registered: Feb 2002
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Yorick
Infinite Jester
# 12169
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Posted
You have an android? That's awesome.
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این نیز بگذرد
Posts: 7574 | From: Natural Sources | Registered: Dec 2006
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Amorya
Ship's tame galoot
# 2652
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ken:
The Ship works fine on my iphone. What ywould you want to see cahnged?
Personally? The Ship's layout is fixed width, and the width is fixed at something appropriate for desktop computers. I'd like to see a mobile friendly layout (with avatars and usernames above the posts rather than to the side, and a larger font size, but without having to horizontally scroll).
For posting, I'd like to see a text area that is an appropriate size to show up on a mobile phone above the keyboard. Currently you have to scroll about across the message you are typing, because the posting box is too large.
Ideal would be an app, rather than a mobile web site. You could even do one that used screen scraping to access the posts, which would mean that no changes to the Ship's board software were needed. I doubt developing such an app would be cost effective though.
Amy
Posts: 2383 | From: Coventry | Registered: Apr 2002
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Spike
Mostly Harmless
# 36
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Amorya:
quote:
Originally posted by ken:
The Ship works fine on my iphone. What ywould you want to see cahnged?
Personally? The Ship's layout is fixed width, and the width is fixed at something appropriate for desktop computers. I'd like to see a mobile friendly layout (with avatars and usernames above the posts rather than to the side, and a larger font size, but without having to horizontally scroll).
For posting, I'd like to see a text area that is an appropriate size to show up on a mobile phone above the keyboard. Currently you have to scroll about across the message you are typing, because the posting box is too large.
Ideal would be an app, rather than a mobile web site. You could even do one that used screen scraping to access the posts, which would mean that no changes to the Ship's board software were needed. I doubt developing such an app would be cost effective though.
Amy
Are you volunteering?
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"May you get to heaven before the devil knows you're dead" - Irish blessing
Posts: 12860 | From: The Valley of Crocuses | Registered: May 2001
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Nicolemr
Shipmate
# 28
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Posted
I've read the ship from my phone but never posted. I am now. Doesn't seem to hard.
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On pilgrimage in the endless realms of Cyberia, currently traveling by ship. Now with live journal!
Posts: 11803 | From: New York City "The City Carries On" | Registered: May 2001
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
quote:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Strata stateth:
UBB.classic (formerly Ultimate Bulletin Board) - Social Strata's original internet forum system written in Perl and using a flat file system. End-of-lifed on June 15, 2006.
Possibly the owner of UBB.classic could be asked if someone could develop a small device (like iphone) version, but get their permission I think. -- I did a bit of search, and I can't figure out who owns the rights to UBB.classic. It was sold, reveloped as UBB-threads, sold again, and I couldn't track it further. It makes me wonder that if delay in making a shift to a newer forum software might mean that the old content could never be upgraded(?!)
Better might be that the ship decided to embark on a project to modernise the forum to something more recent that handles mobile devices by default.
This upgrade question was asked at least twice in my recall, with it seeming to me that there was either no wish to modernise, or fear that some valued things like member numbers might be lost. An upgrade might take at least 2 forms. One would be to use a commercial product which might be able to simply move the old content to new. Another might be to use a noncommercial (open source, and free) which might need a budget if the transfer of content is not so automatic and requires a worker. Possibly a third will combine the costs of both due to age of the UBB.classic.
Has anyone researched it? Does anyone know the costs of these or other alternatives? Thoughts of getting a donation project going to modernise the forum software package so it would fully support mobile devices? (which outstrip computers of all kinds in sales now)
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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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Alan Cresswell
Mad Scientist 先生
# 31
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Posted
Software upgrades are, indeed, something that comes up on a regular basis.
Yes, there are oodles of options for software to run the boards. Each has it's own particular sets of strengths and weaknesses. The sticking point has often been not that it would be great if the whole data base (threads, profiles etc) could be ported straight in - because if we need to start from scratch (as we did moving from Neoworks to UBB) we can. The sticking point is that we would like, if at all possible, to integrate the entire Ship into a single system. To my knowledge, at present there is nothing available that will even replicate the limited integration of the boards with the Cafe that we currently have, let alone take the extra steps we'd like to make to seamlessly link in the main site with the articles, MW reports etc.
Ease of use on mobile devices is another point on our wish list.
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Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.
Posts: 32413 | From: East Kilbride (Scotland) or 福島 | Registered: May 2001
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
quote:
Wikipedia, quoted no prophet: UBB.classic (formerly Ultimate Bulletin Board) - Social Strata's original internet forum system written in Perl and using a flat file system. End-of-lifed on June 15, 2006.
I guess there is life after death after all!
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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Amorya
Ship's tame galoot
# 2652
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Spike:
Are you volunteering?
I sincerely doubt I'll have the time. I'm sure the same is true for everyone else and that's why it hasn't been done already ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
However, if the powers that be could indicate that they would be OK with screen-scraping the site/boards, I could add it to my list of possible weekend projects. I'll reiterate the lack of time, but it's just possible that I might find myself procrastinating from something more important at some point…
Amy
Posts: 2383 | From: Coventry | Registered: Apr 2002
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Alan Cresswell:
Software upgrades are, indeed, something that comes up on a regular basis.
Yes, there are oodles of options for software to run the boards. Each has it's own particular sets of strengths and weaknesses. The sticking point has often been not that it would be great if the whole data base (threads, profiles etc) could be ported straight in - because if we need to start from scratch (as we did moving from Neoworks to UBB) we can. The sticking point is that we would like, if at all possible, to integrate the entire Ship into a single system. To my knowledge, at present there is nothing available that will even replicate the limited integration of the boards with the Cafe that we currently have, let alone take the extra steps we'd like to make to seamlessly link in the main site with the articles, MW reports etc.
Ease of use on mobile devices is another point on our wish list.
This is a clear statement of what is wished for that I had never seen before. I am on another forum that runs phpbb (https://www.phpbb.com/) and it runs Ajax chat. The web page integration is a whole other idea.
Thanks for the info.
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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Pancho
Shipmate
# 13533
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Alan Cresswell:
The sticking point is that we would like, if at all possible, to integrate the entire Ship into a single system. To my knowledge, at present there is nothing available that will even replicate the limited integration of the boards with the Cafe that we currently have, let alone take the extra steps we'd like to make to seamlessly link in the main site with the articles, MW reports etc.
Ease of use on mobile devices is another point on our wish list.
Would using WordPress be a solution to this? They have plug-ins for chat rooms and forums and have their own forum software (http://bbpress.org/). I think they also have plug-ins for using mobile devices, too.
[ 19. July 2013, 00:36: Message edited by: Pancho ]
Posts: 1988 | From: Alta California | Registered: Mar 2008
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