Asking the admin here to build an iPhone Discourse app is like asking your Uber driver to build you a new miniature Toyota, just because he gave you a ride in a one. Driving a car makes him qualified to build car engines, right?
It looks like there are a couple Discourse clients in the app store though… so maybe one of those would work? I don’t know if they’re any good, or if they’re up to date, or if they’re compatible with BLF specifically, but perhaps it’s worth a try. Or just using the BLF web site in a browser should work, unless the browser is an old version.
Yep, this is an important point. I’m absolutely not going to subject myself and the whole forum to those additional complications and legal morasses.
As a matter of fact, this forum platform already is technically an app that runs in the web browser. The design of Discourse puts it in the class of Single-Page Applications (SPA):
Right. One of the primary reasons for choosing Discourse is because a large part of our BLF userbase uses the site primarily or frequently on a mobile device, and Discourse was designed from the ground-up to support mobile devices as well as full sized computers.
Hmm, now that you mention that I see that there is a single option to “Open sites with in-app browser” that needs to be enabled:
That will make it load within the Discourse Hub app, which is basically just a stripped-down Chrome browser (on Android, whereas on iOS all browsers have to use Apple’s WebKit engine) that will load the exact same mobile version of the site that would appear in a normal mobile web browser. I think that for most users their normal mobile browser of choice is probably the best option, possibly with a home-screen shortcut, but Discourse Hub might be preferable for some that want a more stripped-down app-like experience with less browser chrome.
Good tip. It should even automatically use a nice upscaled pixelated version of the BLF “starburst” favicon for the launcher.
Bingo! Why in the world would I need or much less want an app for an insurance company or a pizza joint or an airline? Do they not have a website for that functionality? But it’s a lot harder or even impossible to block ads and/or data-hoover scripts that run in a dedicated app, so that’s why companies usually promote them so hard.
Could you please post a screenshot of what you’re seeing on your iPhone?
Well, no attempt has been made to emulate Reddit here, as a matter of fact I’m specifically trying to make it not like Reddit. But adding pictures or videos is now as easy as can be, just put the link to the picture or video on its own line. Or, if necessary, drag your picture to the editor pane or click the Upload button.
Emphasis mine, their raison d’être otherwise performing bog standard functions for websites … that have to be sandbagged in order to encourage app adoption.
I discovered that by accident and forgetfulness. I began a reply on my PC and was called away and forgot. When I picked up my phone later I found the incomplete response. Very cool. I’ve never seen that anywhere before.
Nice! Very cool this Discourse is. I liked the layout since day one but, it’s fun finding out new features that could have never been possible on the old forum. Thanks for all the hard work SB. I imagine it takes quite a bit of your time.
Thanks a lot for saying so, my pleasure. It takes a bit of time off and on. I try to pace myself, which is why I tend to have spurts of activity and then leave some things pending until I have another block of time available.
I just discovered the application and installed it. I’ve always used a browser but now, I’ll use the app. I’m dedicating space on my phone for this… a sign I’m really into this hobby!
