Mobile Options for vBulletin & a New Server

[Jonah Weiland]

Hey All,

Now that the Community has been successfully rebooted, it's time to spend some money on making this community more accesible.

First off, a new server has been ordered today. It'll probably take a week to get here, then another to get it set up and ready to go, but that's coming. Should help with the slow loading, that's for sure.

When we decided to reboot the community, we held off getting a new server hoping that the smaller database size would help responsiveness. Well, that didn't happen and while the new Community is a bit faster than it was, it lags too often. Thus the upgrade.

Secondly, we're investigating mobile options. The default available via vBulletin is pretty bad. vBulletin does have a mobile suite for sale, but I honestly don't know how much better it is. We're investigating.

Additionally, it seems there are two different mobile app offerings available for vBulletin -- Tapatalk and Forum Runner.

Tapatalk looks good, but it actually hurts forum owners. For one, there's no way for forum owners to monetize the app and no way for forum owners to claim the traffic in the app in Google Analytics. Tapatalk DOES serve ads, but all the money for those ads goes to Tapatalk. Everytime you read a post via Tapatalk, it costs the forum owner in bandwidth, lost ad revenue and also in traffic. This is a no go, unless they have a paid version which we've not been able to discover.

Forum Runner used to offer customized apps as recently as a year ago, but their site doesn't contain any info about that at the moment. I've written their support account to find out, but at the moment it appears Forum Runner may be no better than Tapatalk, but I'm not giving up hope.

For those of you who frequent other forums that are of the same size/scale of the CBR Community, what do you see people using for mobile? Does anyone have any feedback on vBulletin's mobile suite? What other forums do you use that use either Forum Runner or Tapatalk?

Thanks in advance for your feedback. We definitely want these forums to be mobile optimized, but it needs to be the right option for all involved.

[Jonah Weiland]

It turns out that Forum Runner no longer does custom branded apps. Instead you have to use their app, which they monetize and forum owners get nothing.

So, time to keep looking.

[klinton]

This, right now, with the full site available on mobile is perfect!

Thank you for shutting off that painful mobile function! It's much appreciated.

[Jonah Weiland]

Based on my searches today, the options are pretty limited for mobile optimized versions of vBulletin (forum software). The mobile version you all saw seems to have been universally hated. It appears vBulletin 5 (we're running 4) has a slightly better mobile suite, but it still doesn't give you the option to choosing desktop view without a plug-in.

If anyone has a forum they visit that runs vBulletin 4 or 5 with a good APP or mobile view, please suggest them below so we can investigate.

[Jonah Weiland]

One possible option is to install the Metro theme:

http://themeforest.net/item/metro-mo...tin-42/4013274

We could pretty it up a bit (mostly placing our logo in there), but beyond that it is what it is. It's inexpensive, so I don't mind trying it. Also, it includes links to full site if you don't like it.

[Sub-Zero MKA]

This right here is just perfect. I'll happily make due with this.

[hypkin]

This, right now, with the full site available on mobile is perfect!

Thank you for shutting off that painful mobile function! It's much appreciated.

Perfect? How do You read Spoilers in your phone?

[Ciriaco]

Perfect? How do You read Spoilers in your phone?

Yup, that's a pain! Copy/paste does work though, highlight the spoiler and copy/paste into Notes or something equal. Cumbersome and I skip threads with too many spoiler tags.

[tedbragg]

Im aware CBR is a custom written site, and a request like this is a tall order. You can't just pop in a new theme or change a style sheet or two. However, I find myself using CBR on mobile devices more than on a desktop.

The areas I primarily use are the news articles, and issue previews--those are my favorites. The forums are usable but I don't like using them on mobiles (but that's true of any forum). When using an iPhone, the simplified 'reader' view is disabled--so lots of pinching and scrolling :-)

Please don't go tapatalk...that app is awful. I'd rather put up with the way the forums are now than deal with that...

[hypkin]

i know how much work it is to get your site responsive, but not having a mobile site and forum or be responsive in the year 2015 is just lame.

[Batman Fan]

i know how much work it is to get your site responsive, but not having a mobile site and forum or be responsive in the year 2015 is just lame.

Making the forums mobile friendly would take a few minutes. It just needs to be enabled. In fact after the forums were rebooted they did have the mobile theme enabled and it was awesome. It was taken off a week or two after the reboot.

Like you say very lame. Usually the mods say its up to Jonah but I think he's busy doing other things now.

[Kristoffera]

I agree with everything. The site is a mess to read on mobile and I would like a place where I could see all the treads I participate in.

[Mundungus]

I would love to get an update on the mobile forum. I mostly use CBR on my phone now and would love to peruse and comment on the forums in a mobile friendly format.

[tedbragg]

Any word on if or when CBR will get a mobile /alternate layout? Ive switched to an RSS reader but its a pain compared to simply using the site. Pinch-zooming aside, some ads will crash Chrome or send it into a reloading loop. I would gladly pay for a cbr app.

[penguintim]

Any update on this?