App for MLP Forums

[Solid 1,326]

Well, Equestrian Daily has its very own app so I figured why not get an app for mlpforums?

 

It would be much more convenient for fellows who have phones that are not good at loading webpages.

[~Rule 63~ Lyeco 527]

This is one of the most popular suggestions in the forums.

 

But they don't actually want to make it at all

[XxConfusedUnicornxX 832]

(edit) having an app would be cool.

Edited February 14, 2014 by XxConfusedUnicornxX

[Legacy Dash 438]

It would be cool - but making an app is alot of work. And they'd also gotta maintain it. They'd probably need to hire a team of experienced iOS and Android developers.

 

There is an IP.Board app which would work - but apparently it isn't available in the Australia store.  :okiedokielokie:

[Redneck 64]

It would definitely be cool though, my phone wont let me sign in.

[long gone 8,929]

 

 

They'd probably need to hire a team of experienced iOS and Android developers.

 Don't forget about Windows Phone too.

 

I'd like an app for MLP Forums too as MLPF is almost unusable on my phone when using it in the browser, but I don't believe they have any interest in making one. I'll ask later, unless an admin comes in here and states their official stance on a mobile app.

[Sky Cutter 294]

It would be cool - but making an app is alot of work. And they'd also gotta maintain it. They'd probably need to hire a team of experienced iOS and Android developers.

 

There is an IP.Board app which would work - but apparently it isn't available in the Australia store.  :okiedokielokie:

 

They could recruit volunteers from the forum to make the app for iOS, android and kindle (kindle seems to be rising in popularity... and I like it better than iPads, because it's what I have.)

[mars 4,861]

Yes yes yes!! I need this. I'm constantly on MLPForums while in school, and it's so laggy and unusable. We definitely need an app.

*hint hint*

[Jokuc 8,172]

@,

To answer OP here I will just leave this quote from our site creator Feld0.

 

An app is something we'd love to make available someday; unfortunately, our development resources are not unlimited, and are better put toward developing web applications that will run on anything with a web browser. These things cost time and money to make, neither of which our dev team has in unlimited supply.

 

If anyone's interested in financially sponsoring the development of an app, it could happen sooner.

 

Currently we are more interested in improving Poniverse and its sites and that alone requires a lot of time.

 

 

It would be cool - but making an app is alot of work. And they'd also gotta maintain it. They'd probably need to hire a team of experienced iOS and Android developers.

 

There is an IP.Board app which would work - but apparently it isn't available in the Australia store. :okiedokielokie:

Pretty much this. The IP board app works, however it is not really good at all and I would not recommend using it. Edited February 15, 2014 by Jokuc

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,521]

I'd like to say something. I love mobile apps as much as the next guy. Seriously, they're great, and I'd really love to have one available for MLP Forums. Please do not interpret the lack of an app as an expression of disinterest from our staff in having one. There are simply economical reasons that make it like trying to square a circle.

 

 

 

Please keep reading.

 

 

They could recruit volunteers from the forum to make the app for iOS, android and kindle (kindle seems to be rising in popularity... and I like it better than iPads, because it's what I have.)

 

Finding staff is difficult enough. Finding developer staff is harder still. If it was that easy to get professional software engineers to take hundreds (if not thousands) of hours out of their lives to build stuff for free, it would be amazing, and Poniverse would have been running every software project in the world by now - but it's not that easy. The time of competent software developers is in extremely high demand by the software industry, and we cannot compete with that... read on...

 

 

Well, Equestrian Daily has its very own app so I figured why not get an app for mlpforums?

 

The comparison to Equestria Daily is unfair. First off, being for-profit and having full-time staff, it's quite safe to assume Equestria Daily's revenues and especially profits are substantially higher than those of Poniverse & MLP Forums. The great thing about profit is that it's money you can choose how to spend - and it's entirely possible that EQD chose to contract a professional developer to build their app (in fact, this is highly probable as their business model is based on advertising, which goes hand-in-hand with content presentation - if your livelihood depends on people engaging with your content and ads, it makes sense to invest some cash into having it done well).

 

We are not in the position to provide a livelihood to someone in exchange for building and maintaining a mobile app for us. Our only option for getting one is to find a willing volunteer, which, as I explained above, is easier said than done. Last time this came up, I openly stated that I'm happy to talk to such a person, but no one volunteered to do it despite lots of support for the idea. The last public call we made for developers didn't turn up a qualified volunteer, either.

 

Which brings us to the last option, having it built by the developers we already have...

 

 

The issue is that our developer staff would need to purchase Macs and iPhones to develop with, since the iOS development environment isn't available for Windows. The hardware investment needed to properly develop an iOS app is something we cannot make.

 

Making apps - especially good apps - calls for a significant investment of both time and money. We're bootstrapped, volunteer-run, and not-for-profit; our surplus resources of both are very slim. We don't have venture capital, we don't have a stash of R&D funds in the bank, and we don't have full-time developer staff. All of our developers are either in school or employed, so when we say we can only work on pony projects in our free time, we do mean it. And we're generally only going to be doing such development with hardware and software that we purchased with our personal funds for other purposes, and just so happen to be usable for Poniverse projects, too.

 

In a professional software development environment - one where developers make a living from their work - the developer staff are usually provided with the resources they need to do their job. We do have some degree of financial flexibility, but the necessary funding to do this for our own staff - let alone give them competitive financial compensation - is on another order of magnitude.

 

If you are willing to financially support a developer to acquire the necessary hardware and make their living from developing an MLP Forums app, please get in touch with me and we can make the necessary arrangements. That's the surefire way to make our app happen for the community.

[The Pulse 210]

There is the possibility of trying to run a fundraiser to acquire the money to hire a developer. Kind of like we did to get Poniverse to Bronycon. If people want the app, they have to provide the capital to invest... It's sounds harsh, but the only way it seems an app is a possibility is to pay for it. 

[long gone 8,929]

I have no programming experience myself, but I'm willing to use my phone as a testbed device for a mobile Poniverse app while it's in beta. Provided one is made for Windows Phone, that is.

 

If a mobile app enters development you guys would make one for Windows users... right?

[Legacy Dash 438]

I wish I could contribute to helping develop an app for the MLP Forums, but I'm only experienced with web languages like PHP and HTML.

 

I'd make iOS apps - but damn Apple doesn't let you on Windows.

I'd also make Android apps but I hate Java.

[Lavo 780]

I'd also make Android apps but I hate Java.

 

 

 

 

 

On a serious note, Java isn't THAT bad and since android isn't going away it's a necessity unless you use jruby.