Support NeoGAF

[later]

Would you open source this? This theoretically would work with any vbulletin forum right?

 

[Shins]

I like it.

 

[PiecesOfEight]

really nicely done - thought the link to the regular thread in safari for posting was a good compromise. thanks for working on it!

 

[Ghost]

This works really well on windows mobile devices as well (doesn't look quite as pretty but it functions really well). Great work!


If you ever need donations to pay bandwidth costs or anything, I'm down.

 

[Olivier]

What would be the advantages of making this a native app instead of a web app? It's pretty darn near perfect to me right now

 

[mattiewheels]

I hope evilore and them are talking with you about hosting this on the official server and working with you on making improvements and making this thing 'official'.

 

[RubxQub]

I hope evilore and them are talking with you about hosting this on the official server and working with you on making improvements and making this thing 'official'.

Or obliterating it from the face of the earth, as the advertisements don't come along for the ride!

This...is how the world ends.

 

[ckohler]

Update:

- Added number of replies and views to thread list screen
- Moved "Go To Page" button to top. Replaces "Last Page" button

know it's at the top but when you're at the bottom and you have the jump to a page, that info would be handy rather than having to jump back to the top.

I moved the "Go To Page" button to the top instead. I figure that just tap of the title bar anywhere in the thread will take you to the button and since the number of pages is listed at the top also, it should be more convenient now. Sound good?

Would you open source this? This theoretically would work with any vbulletin forum right?

No, my scripts only work with NeoGAF because they screen scrape the raw HTML code in order to parse out the data. If NeoGAF changes their skin in the future, I'll have to adjust my scripts to compensate.

However, with some tweaks, one could turn my page layout into a skin for vbulletin or any other forum if they wanted. They wouldn't even need my scripts; just "view source" the html.

 

[Marty Chinn]

Update:

- Added number of replies and views to thread list screen
- Moved "Go To Page" button to top. Replaces "Last Page" button


I moved the "Go To Page" button to the top instead. I figure that just tap of the title bar anywhere in the thread will take you to the button and since the number of pages is listed at the top also, it should be more convenient now. Sound good?

Excellent. Just checked it out and that totally works. Thanks for taking the time to do that. Also I like how you've added the number of replies and views in a nice neat way too. Great work.

 

[Solaros]

Better web apps > G3

Great job though, if you want to set up a paypal I would be glad to support you.

 

[LCfiner]

namaste.

you are doing a great thing, sir.

 

[The Chef]

great job. Been wanting something like this.

 

[SephCast]

No, seriously dude, answer us, DO YOU WANT MONEY?

 

[ckohler]

No donations, thanks. I'm not comfortable accepting money for this effort considering what it does. I've not heard so much as a peep from an admin but should the grand poo-ba GAFers request I take this down, I'd feel obligated to do so. Let's hope they'll see the benefit of this and approve.

In the mean time, if hosting bandwidth ever becomes a problem maybe we'll talk again about donations. So far it doesn't look like it will be an issue, though.

Also, let me be clear that I could not build native iPhone app myself. I don't have that level of programming knowledge. Building this web app represents the upper limits of my skill. It would take someone like Phoenix or another iPhone developer to build a real app based on my XML schema. And by then, we'd certainly need some kind of buy-in from the admins before it was released, I'd think.

 

[Marty Chinn]

Could someone tell me what the benefit of a native app would be to the end user? I can't imagine it looking much different and it seems to function as one would hope. So why would we build a native app again?

 

[jenov4]

The admins should at least give this man a tag or something! Freaking scrooges

 

[sonycowboy]

The benefit of a native app would be to allow replies, pm's, searching, etc.

But I've got to say I'm loving this thing. It makes me angry that my bank, enterprise apps, and hosted family site aren't web apps.

 

[Spruchy]

Thanks a lot, awesome app.

 

[mattiewheels]

The admins should at least give this man a tag or something! Freaking scrooges

sounds like they're not privy to this yet, since he said he hasn't heard word from anyone. you'd think they would've by now, this will effect them eventually anyway.

well hey ckholer, lemme send ya 99¢ and we'll call it even, okay?

 

[AndersTheSwede]

The benefit of a native app would be to allow replies, pm's, searching, etc.

But I've got to say I'm loving this thing. It makes me angry that my bank, enterprise apps, and hosted family site aren't web apps.

Really? There would be no way to have replies in a webapp? Seems weird, considering just loading up standard neogaf in mobile safari lets you reply.

 

[Sean]

Wow, this keeps getting better and better. I've got a few (reasonable IMO) requests:

- Display admin/moderators names in red (just like the real forum)
- There's no way to see if a thread is locked, perhaps put a <strike> through it like this?
- "Go to Page" should be a drop down to select the page rather than making you manually type in a number

 

[elostyle]

I love this. Thanks so much, I think I might even prefer reading gaf like this.

 

[sonycowboy]

Really? There would be no way to have replies in a webapp? Seems weird, considering just loading up standard neogaf in mobile safari lets you reply.

NOTE: I'm not an admin and have no privy to the business side of NeoGAF. The following is just my own conjecture/thoughts.

It's not about whether it's a web app or not. A webapp can be coded to do those things as well. It's more a factor of security. You should NEVER put user authentication into a proxy server (like ckohler's app). Not that he would do anything nefarious by any means, but he could collect all the usernames and passwords before passing them onto this site. As it is, he can already run a substantial traffic analysis that would probably be considered private, NeoGAF info. Depending on how many iPhones / iPod touches there are out there.

There are also specific functions that vBulletin can perform, plus some extensions that have been loaded that aren't available.

Finally, while it may not be instantly obvious to many of you, the site is free to all users. To pay for the server, hosting, bandwidth, maintenance, etc NeoGAF does use ads to help pay the bills. Using the iPhone distorts the page views as it's likely not going after the images so the ads aren't counted and NeoGAF doesn't get credit. Now before you go too crazy, Ad revenue is incredibly, incredibly tiny on a per user, per day basis. You'd laugh if you saw it and say no way does that have any impact.

In any case, a native web app could insure that the business requirements of NeoGAF are considered along with the usability requirements. Imagine if the search button were also on the "home page" along with a button to see current users online or other reasonable things you guys might want to see. There's a ton of functionality that could be worthwhile.

However, again. I'm absolutely loving it and unless I hear that it's any sort of a problem, I'll keep using it as I'm frequently stuck in long ass meetings and this is a great way to pass some of the dead time. Or when I have my daughter on my lap asleep and can't really use the laptop. Or when I'm on the throne

 

[permutated]

Uh.......RAD!

I'm gonna use this on my iTouch all the time, thanks a bunch for the effort guys!

 

[M_A_C]

Heard Jon talk about this in the 1up per show. Thanks!

 

[Cronox]

Nice.

 

[Yixian]

Could someone tell me what the benefit of a native app would be to the end user? I can't imagine it looking much different and it seems to function as one would hope. So why would we build a native app again?

Faster.

Plus bigger viewing area as no Safari UI.

 

[mattiewheels]

because of this app, I stopped using my laptop so much. Just stopping in to say you're awesome again.

 

[Xater]

Heard Jon talk about this in the 1up per show. Thanks!

Yreah that's how I heard about it too. Awesome work ckohler!

The first step to a real app is done? God I hope so.

 

[MercuryLS]

I've got a few simple requests too.

- the "go to page" thing should link to a scrolling number bar rather than bring up the keyboard.

- there should be a button to go to OT from the Gaming Discussion and vice versa

 

[Hitokage]

Would it be possible to add a browser check to your proxy page to make sure it's accessible only by iphone?

 

[ckohler]

I've got a few simple requests too.

I'll look into it.

Would it be possible to add a browser check to your proxy page to make sure it's accessible only by iphone?

Sure. I'll add this tonight. Just iPhone or are other mobile phone browsers okay also?

 

[Xater]

I'll look into it.


Sure. I'll add this tonight. Just iPhone or are other mobile phone browsers okay also?

Just make sure it doesn't block my iPod touch. :lol

 

[captmcblack]

Please make it still work with Pocket IE and Opera on Windows Mobile. I was using it yesterday from a friend's phone and it's brilliant in Opera.

 

[Solaros]

Would it be possible to add a browser check to your proxy page to make sure it's accessible only by iphone?

I am curious to your reasoning behind this

 

[AirBrian]

Just make sure it doesn't block my iPod touch. :lol

Oh, this is a good point. I assume the Safari version in the iPod Touch and the iPhone are the same though, so it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[sc0la]

I am curious to your reasoning behind this

bypasses all ads that contribute to GAF stating afloat? *shrug*

 

[Vyer]

Just used this for the first time today.

So awesome.

Great job.

 

[elseanio]

Bookmarked on my LG Viewty, works great!

 

[Xeke]

Bookmarked on my LG Viewty, works great!

Would it be possible to add a browser check to your proxy page to make sure it's accessible only by iphone?

Not for long.:lol

 

[ckohler]

I added the cell phone browser check (that's why the LG works also, Xeke). Desktop browsers are redirected to the official site.

 

[aidan]

Just so iPhone/Touch users know, you can add this a bookmark for this web App as an icon on the 'Desktop' of your Phone/Touch, meaning you don't have to open safari and browse to the address.

Makes it closer to an actual App as opposed to a web App.

 

[Kabuki Quantum Lover]

If this continues to be a web app, could you possibly allow for PSP browser access? The main page works, but loads the regular full-size page when you go to Gaming or OT.

...

I know, I know, I'm still waiting for the iPod Touch to go down in price (or up in capacity).

 

[CrunchinJelly]

Massive, massive props for this. I am using it on a daily basis. So awesome.

 

[Soybean]

Awesome work, thanks!

So you're not releasing source for this? I'd love to adapt it for other forums I visit. I could write my own scraping scripts but if you already have the foundation and are willing to share it'd save a lot of time.

 

[BocoDragon]

oh man this is mega!! Perfects my iPhone! Thank you!

 

[mrklaw]

seems to work well on my N95.

I'd donate $10 if you stopped calling it an iphone app, and called it a mobile app instead quite a few people have normal mobile phones too.. (I know iphone is flavour of the month though)

 

[DaCocoBrova]

I've got a few simple requests too.

- the "go to page" thing should link to a scrolling number bar rather than bring up the keyboard.

- there should be a button to go to OT from the Gaming Discussion and vice versa

I stopped using it solely because of this. It was cool when it said 'last page' but manually entering a page number is not good at all, since I have no idea how many pages there are, or what page I want. If I can jump to the last page I can at least whittle my way backwards.

 

[ckohler]

Update:

I've changed the Go To Page button into a dropdown list as requested. Tell me what you think. I'm kind of on the fence about it. For smaller threads it's fine, but for big 100+ pagers, it is a bit cumbersome.

 

[LCfiner]

I stopped using it solely because of this. It was cool when it said 'last page' but manually entering a page number is not good at all, since I have no idea how many pages there are, or what page I want. If I can jump to the last page I can at least whittle my way backwards.

Under the title of the thread, it says how many pages are there and where you are located (page xx of yy). The number of pages are shown both from the list of threads and from within the thread itself.

With that said, using the tumbler to scroll from page 1 to, say, page 150 is pretty slow compared to entering a number. However, it does provide the new and very useful ability to jump to the last page of thread wherever you are in the thread.

My preference would be a number entry form to pick the page (keypad entry only, no letters) but with a link at the bottom to go the last page in a thread (making the links prev, next,last, reply, return to forum)

ckohler may also want to look into making the page numbers on the top of a thread a bit more prominent since it seemed that they can be missed.