I'm trying to follow this forum from within my android phone, but unfortunatly tapatalk tells me that forum.kde.org isn't supported and using the phone browser isn't the best way to interact with a forum.
Although tapatalk isn't an oss licensed application, it may deserve some consideration.

And what exactly is Tapatalk?

Tapatalk is some gateway app for mobile devices to be able to browse as many forums as possible in one central app on the go. Interesting concept, but i am curious about the use case for us.

First it would mean we need to install another modification to our code. This for itself is not unusual. But we have certain modifications that alter the display/usage of certain forum areas (i am thinking of brainstorm, for example). This is a rather unusual modification, so i am unsure tapatalk would support that.

Having a different look on mobile devices is less an issue, at least it is not unusual. What is unsure though, let's assume we subscribe over at tapacrap, can that be seen as link exchange? They have us in their supported forums list, and we refer mobile users to them.
There is one policy for KDE websites, and that is "No link exchange". And after i read the FAQ of tapatalk i am really not sure if that would be a good idea.

It is a plugin system for phpbb3, vbullettin etc.. allowing to interact with the forums using a mobile app. AFAIK it is a lot easier and really faster than having to deal with a mobile browser. That being said I am aware of the concerns would arise enabling a proprietary application to access the community forums and really don't know if it's feasable but at least the API is open. kubuntuforums.net is tapatalk enabled

Quote from kubuntuforums:

Kubuntuforums.net is an independent, privately owned forum, and is not sponsored by Ubuntu or Canonical Ltd.

This does not count for us, however. Using the API "might" be an option, though i probably would prefer to implement a mobile friendly version of this forum than using some obscure API. The faq doesn't explicitely tell me what my rights and duties are. This probably needs some more information before even considered.

neverendingo wrote:Tapatalk is some gateway app for mobile devices to be able to browse as many forums as possible in one central app on the go. Interesting concept, but i am curious about the use case for us.

First it would mean we need to install another modification to our code. This for itself is not unusual. But we have certain modifications that alter the display/usage of certain forum areas (i am thinking of brainstorm, for example). This is a rather unusual modification, so i am unsure tapatalk would support that.

Having a different look on mobile devices is less an issue, at least it is not unusual. What is unsure though, let's assume we subscribe over at tapacrap, can that be seen as link exchange? They have us in their supported forums list, and we refer mobile users to them.
There is one policy for KDE websites, and that is "No link exchange". And after i read the FAQ of tapatalk i am really not sure if that would be a good idea.

Hey neverendingo, I think you should do some more research on tapatalk. I am not that familiar with the tapatalk api, but I would hardly call it ****.

Personal preferences aside, I am not sure on the specifics of your link exchange policy, but as far as I know, you do not have to specifically link to tapatalk any where on the site. Users would receive a pop up instructing them to purchase the app from iTunes/Play Store with the ability to confirm or deny. However, your concern seems to come from being listed in the tapatalk database. If you have looked at the registration process, you should see you have the option to opt in or opt out of being shown in the public listings. You will still be listed in the database, but will only be shown when a user searches for your site specifically. So if I go to Technology->Software, feel free to sub out the categories for your preference. KDE Forums will not be listed. It may be worth noting that, as I recall, tapatalk does not force you to place a link in the footer like phpbb does.

As for working with the brainstorm forum, I am not seeing anything unique about it. Perhaps what you're referencing is on a second page after hitting submit but it seems straight forward phpbb to me.

If tapatalk free is not an option, what about buying there rebranding package? I assume it is of the table as it costs. Perhaps Forum Runner is an option? Another alternative, as you said, is some sort of mobile friendly css. I assume by the copyright that you are running phpbb2? Surely there is a free mobile style out there, if not some complete mobile make over technology. However, nothing compares to tapatalk imo. It is more then just the fact of consolidating multiple forums in to one app, it is the perfect formating and easy to use ui that make it great.

Woah, my apologies, it was not my intention to call it ****, that was seriously a typo... I was already wondering what you meant when i noticed it.

neverendingo wrote:Woah, my apologies, it was not my intention to call it ****, that was seriously a typo... I was already wondering what you meant when i noticed it.

All good. It didn't offend me as I have nothing to do with the project but wondered how any one would call it **** lol. I was mainly hopping to bring some reconsideration to the idea of tapatalk support or a mobile friendly css at the least as most forums do not work well, atleast on my aging Droid 2 Global, and tapatalk is an easy way to accomplish this with out writing a an entirely new css or heavy source code or template modification(atleast in plug in enabled forum software). As I recall, it requires a simple edit to a header type template and insert 2 lines of html. I know some forums even shyed away from adding tapatalk,at one time, due to a previous security bug(seemed serious but not sure the extent of it). However, even the security concerened admins ended up adding it at one point.

Xplorer4x4 wrote:As for working with the brainstorm forum, I am not seeing anything unique about it. Perhaps what you're referencing is on a second page after hitting submit but it seems straight forward phpbb to me.

If tapatalk free is not an option, what about buying there rebranding package? I assume it is of the table as it costs. Perhaps Forum Runner is an option? Another alternative, as you said, is some sort of mobile friendly css. I assume by the copyright that you are running phpbb2? Surely there is a free mobile style out there, if not some complete mobile make over technology. However, nothing compares to tapatalk imo. It is more then just the fact of consolidating multiple forums in to one app, it is the perfect formating and easy to use ui that make it great.

We had an AJAX brainstorm interface before, which we recently removed. And we run the latest stable release of phpBB3.

As for tapatalk, the popup is a no-go, and we have no plans to buy it either. Although we will look into the possibility of implementing a mobile friendly CSS.

sayakb wrote:As for tapatalk, the popup is a no-go, and we have no plans to buy it either. Although we will look into the possibility of implementing a mobile friendly CSS.

The later, I can understand. As for the popup, I assume this is due to the link exchange rule? I really do not see the harm in a link exchange of this type, but if that is the concern, why not disable the pop up? Alternatively, modify the pop up in a way it does not link to tapatalk.

Xplorer4x4 wrote:As for the popup, I assume this is due to the link exchange rule?

No, the popup in general is something we don't want to have.

Xplorer4x4 wrote:but if that is the concern, why not disable the pop up? Alternatively, modify the pop up in a way it does not link to tapatalk.

We can definitely do that, it just means modifying the JS file from the plugin. But I don't want to go in that route at all. Having users install a 3rd party application just to view a mobile friendly version of the forum isn't quite desirable.

I would add, having users to install a non-Free application to view the forum on other devices is also a no go.

einar wrote:I would add, having users to install a non-Free application to view the forum on other devices is also a no go.

Actually, Tapatalk(app) itself is free, Tapatalk Pro(app) costs. The difference between free and paid is free allows viewing of the forums, but the Pro app allows you to submit posts. Not sure that makes much difference, but just throwing that out.

einar was probably referring to the free as in free speech. Please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratis_versus_libre for more information.

Is there any updates on the support of tapatalk?