Tapatalk Retired - No Longer Available for this Cycling Forum
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Re: Tapatalk Retired - No Longer Available for this Cycling Forum
Postby AUbicycles » Fri Apr 22, 2016 12:11 pm
Tapatalk was discussed regularly in the forum feedback section and the nature of the change and restriction of the tapatalk service meant that I was not able to push notifications to tapatalk users. With the change, two threads were created to announce this.
The forum no longer requires third party apps for access on smart phones... and even better, I was not happy with the tapatalk injection of content and ads which I feel unethical considering I specifically disabled these for the forum - aiming for a balanced integration of 'non-interruption' cycling relevant advertising.
The reason for not emailing all members is that the hosting service is at capacity and I am still working on the migration to a service which can better handle the size of the website and deliver speedy content. Presently, the site is under substantial load from bad bots. This is in progress now.
In short, consider the hundreds of hours I spend as volunteer, an effort which is fuelled by passion to create a great cycling community. While most of the requirements and wishes of members are accommodated, it is difficult (time, money) to perfectly satisfy everyone all the time.
With the fantastic support of the moderators to keep the forum ticking smoothly, be rest assured that I am continuing to work with the interests of the community first.
Cheers
Christopher
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Re: Tapatalk Retired - No Longer Available for this Cycling Forum
Postby 39x25 » Wed Apr 27, 2016 12:59 pm
I'm a tapatalk devotee and do visit this forum at lot less now since the change.
We do appreciate the time and effort you put into this site. I do understand the trouble tapatalk causes to many forums with their requirements with experiences on other sites.. so understand the decision to cut it.
As another have said.. the timeline/newest post to oldest view is a default view for many of us and it would be great if you could implement or at least consider this on the forum as an option for the future.
This would make alot of tapatalk users happy and able to spend time on this wonderful resource.
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Re: Tapatalk Retired - No Longer Available for this Cycling Forum
Postby AUbicycles » Wed Apr 27, 2016 2:30 pm
I checked in with tapatalk was got a confirmation that ALL advertising settings (from tapatalk) were off, though this had no effect on the reality that I was seeing ads from tapatalk anyway.
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Re: Tapatalk Retired - No Longer Available for this Cycling Forum
Postby Kalgrm » Wed Apr 27, 2016 3:43 pm
G'day 39,39x25 wrote:As another have said.. the timeline/newest post to oldest view is a default view for many of us and it would be great if you could implement or at least consider this on the forum as an option for the future.
This would make alot of tapatalk users happy and able to spend time on this wonderful resource.
If you click on your account settings in the heading of this page, you'll be able to modify your board preferences. Within that, you can edit display options so that the newest posts in a thread appear first. That might be what you're after.
cheers,
Graeme
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Music was better when ugly people were allowed to make it ....
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Re: Tapatalk Retired - No Longer Available for this Cycling Forum
Postby AUbicycles » Wed Apr 27, 2016 7:41 pm
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Re: Tapatalk Retired - No Longer Available for this Cycling Forum
Postby 39x25 » Sat Apr 30, 2016 3:04 pm
The view is called timeline in Tapatalk..
All the most recently updated threads are listed from newest to oldest across all subs. Not just the sub you are in.
Cheers
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Re: Tapatalk Retired - No Longer Available for this Cycling Forum
Postby hiflange » Sun May 01, 2016 10:39 am
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Re: Tapatalk Retired - No Longer Available for this Cycling Forum
Postby find_bruce » Sun May 01, 2016 1:31 pm
View new posts search.php?search_id=newposts
&
View unread posts search.php?search_id=unreadposts
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Re: Tapatalk Retired - No Longer Available for this Cycling Forum
Postby DaveQB » Mon May 02, 2016 9:06 am
I had the same experience. I was thinking there was a connection issue and so just kept checking. After about 4-5 days I figured I should check the site and then I found out.gabrielle260 wrote:Maybe I missed it but I did not get any warning at all that Tapatalk was being retired. I have been trying to log in for a week or more - there is no message, no notification, no nothing.
Ah well, what are you going to do....
Sucessful Trades --> files.dward.us/Cycling/BNA-Trades.txt
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Re: Tapatalk Retired - No Longer Available for this Cycling Forum
Postby AUbicycles » Mon May 02, 2016 2:51 pm
While have tapatalk and an account, it is playing games and showing no forums.
All of the views - read, unread and active topics are available from inside the forum tool menu.
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Re: Tapatalk Retired - No Longer Available for this Cycling Forum
Postby ianganderton » Mon May 02, 2016 6:04 pm
AUbicycles wrote:Can someone post or email me a screenshot of the timeline view.
While have tapatalk and an account, it is playing games and showing no forums.
All of the views - read, unread and active topics are available from inside the forum tool menu.
Well that was a pita
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Re: Tapatalk Retired - No Longer Available for this Cycling Forum
Postby ianganderton » Mon May 02, 2016 6:08 pm
Timeline- shows all threads by last post no matter whether you've read them or not. Makes it easy to find a post you have recently read but not interacted with. No view currently replicates this
Participated - same as my posts
Subscribed - lists in timeline style by last post. No current view I've found replicates this
Worthy of not is that in all views taping anywhere on the thread listing takes you straight to the last unread post. The current design is difficult as the icon is tiny.
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Re: Tapatalk Retired - No Longer Available for this Cycling Forum
Postby AUbicycles » Mon May 02, 2016 7:47 pm
Might be tricky - but first to understand as I never used this on Tapatalk.ianganderton wrote:Timeline- shows all threads by last post no matter whether you've read them or not. Makes it easy to find a post you have recently read but not interacted with. No view currently replicates this
Essentially it has the thread title and below it, an excerpt from the last post. Is that right?
What is the criteria for a Timeline post - is it a post you participated in or subscribed to?
Available in the menu Forum Tools > My Postsianganderton wrote:Participated - same as my posts
...As of phpBB 3.1, bookmarking is more like subscribing to a topic. You can be notified when a bookmarked topic is updated. Subscribing, however, will notify you when there is an update to a topic or forum on the board. Notification options for bookmarks and subscriptions can be configured in the User Control Panel, under “Board preferences”.ianganderton wrote:Subscribed - lists in timeline style by last post. No current view I've found replicates this
In the notifications - you get to see any activity.
With this forum software - it is the default format to click on a thread and start at post one.ianganderton wrote:Worthy of not is that in all views taping anywhere on the thread listing takes you straight to the last unread post. The current design is difficult as the icon is tiny.
If you click on the date of the last post (which is listed in the overview) you get straight to the last post.
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One thing I should note - I do want to understand all of the requests though this forum is not aimed as an evolution of tapatalk, rather tapatalk was an addition and had other functionality. To build there are some considerations, whether it is required, whether it is, whether it is realistic, how long does it take to build and how hard will it be to upgrade following each of the modifications.
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Re: Tapatalk Retired - No Longer Available for this Cycling Forum
Postby ianganderton » Tue May 03, 2016 8:35 am
The key difference between tapatalk and this current design is that the whole user interface of tapatalk was optimised for touch screen mobiles (large buttons for accurate selection, key options did not scroll off the screen, tap and hold menus for editing etc etc) . Yes this new design reformats itself for viewing but that is far from the whole story, it's feels fundamentally that it is very much optimised for use with a big screen and mouse (lots of detailed options easily to hand that require the accuracy of a mouse and layouts that make the most of large screen real estate). As a result there are certain aspects of the forum that are very frustrating for mobile users (all this is only my opinion of course so feel free to disregard!!)AUbicycles wrote:Might be tricky - but first to understand as I never used this on Tapatalk.ianganderton wrote:Timeline- shows all threads by last post no matter whether you've read them or not. Makes it easy to find a post you have recently read but not interacted with. No view currently replicates this
Essentially it has the thread title and below it, an excerpt from the last post. Is that right?
What is the criteria for a Timeline post - is it a post you participated in or subscribed to?
Available in the menu Forum Tools > My Postsianganderton wrote:Participated - same as my posts
...As of phpBB 3.1, bookmarking is more like subscribing to a topic. You can be notified when a bookmarked topic is updated. Subscribing, however, will notify you when there is an update to a topic or forum on the board. Notification options for bookmarks and subscriptions can be configured in the User Control Panel, under “Board preferences”.ianganderton wrote:Subscribed - lists in timeline style by last post. No current view I've found replicates this
In the notifications - you get to see any activity.
With this forum software - it is the default format to click on a thread and start at post one.ianganderton wrote:Worthy of not is that in all views taping anywhere on the thread listing takes you straight to the last unread post. The current design is difficult as the icon is tiny.
If you click on the date of the last post (which is listed in the overview) you get straight to the last post.
----
One thing I should note - I do want to understand all of the requests though this forum is not aimed as an evolution of tapatalk, rather tapatalk was an addition and had other functionality. To build there are some considerations, whether it is required, whether it is, whether it is realistic, how long does it take to build and how hard will it be to upgrade following each of the modifications.
My take at the moment is that actually reading the forum is ok. I've adapted to looking at unread posts and my posts most of the time. There are frustrations with this though. The views don't show the last post info (who and when) or how many posts. The icon for selecting first unread post is tiny and requires concentration to select it. I guesstimate I select the link to the first post around 10% of the time.
For readers there are some things that could be done based on the size of the buttons (eg page numbers) that would help. As a suggestion I would look at the size key board buttons are for the correct sizing for this kind of thing on a mobile device. Same for the link to first post icon
Actually contributing is a very frustrating however. The whole user interface is fundamentally flawed I'm afraid. The only real option for a mobile user is a simple text based one like this one. This is why I haven't quoted your post and answered your specific questions. It's just too clunky
I really wish I could be more positive about this subject. I understand the issues around maintaining a forum as I have done it and I could see tapatalk not playing fair in lots of ways including advertising.
Based on what I have read recently on this my understanding is that approx 30% of Internet users now use a mobile device as their primary access. I can see from my own usage changes how this affects things. It's really interesting.
Based on all this my conclusion is that if you want to include that 30% (and undoubtably growing) of mobile users as active participants (not just lurkers) in this forum then there is a lot of work to do on the UI. Time line view is actually the least of your worries.
I am more than willing to help. I do have experience as a manager of forums and ecommerce solutions so completely understand the issues but code turns my brain to mud and while I can recognise good design when I see it I'm no designer.
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Re: Tapatalk Retired - No Longer Available for this Cycling Forum
Postby rodneycc » Tue May 03, 2016 2:41 pm
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Re: Tapatalk Retired - No Longer Available for this Cycling Forum
Postby queequeg » Wed May 04, 2016 11:55 am
I can read stuff, but replying or contributing is just too much mucking about. Tiny icons to click, and some items like the Page Number icons go off the side of the screen and can't accessed (no scroll function to get to them).
As a result, my daily usage of the forums has dropped by about 90%.
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Re: Tapatalk Retired - No Longer Available for this Cycling Forum
Postby AUbicycles » Wed May 04, 2016 12:56 pm
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Re: Tapatalk Retired - No Longer Available for this Cycling Forum
Postby silentbutdeadly » Thu May 05, 2016 2:28 pm
Yep. I used to browse BNA using TT on a tablet. And I've adapted the same...by selecting unread posts plus by reording threads so that the latest post is shown up top rather than scrolling through. The major pain with this approach is that, when in Unread Posts, the Forum Tools drop down does not have a 'Mark Forums Read' option...so its a two step operation to do so by going back to the Home screen.ianganderton wrote: My take at the moment is that actually reading the forum is ok. I've adapted to looking at unread posts and my posts most of the time.
I've found this to (and on a tablet!!). However, the 'solution' is to turn the tablet to landscape orientation. Suddenly, the post info comes back. But the site is so screen greedy that this view only gives you about a half dozen threads...so much scrolling is required. And the 'buttons' remain tiny.ianganderton wrote: There are frustrations with this though. The views don't show the last post info (who and when) or how many posts.
So as with others...my time spent here has become limited and infrequent since it happens (mostly) only when I'm using a desktop machine...
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Re: Tapatalk Retired - No Longer Available for this Cycling Forum
Postby ianganderton » Thu May 05, 2016 4:32 pm
Unfortunately this doesn't work on my iPhone 6ssilentbutdeadly wrote:the 'solution' is to turn the tablet to landscape orientation. Suddenly, the post info comes back. But the site is so screen greedy that this view only gives you about a half dozen threads...so much scrolling is required...
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Re: Tapatalk Retired - No Longer Available for this Cycling Forum
Postby Dezza » Sun May 08, 2016 6:22 pm
iPhone access is just plain hard for me. Tapatalk wasn't great but it was good for a short of time user.
Not knowing about the change was a let down only because your running the forum so well means I expect a high standard of comms!
Last, I find LFGSS on the iPhone pretty good, pretty easy, has a Today view and generally I can find what I want.
Ok I hate technological change with an incremental intensity. But these changes are hard going. I'm going back to desktop viewing, so about 50% less.
Cheers
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Re: Tapatalk Retired - No Longer Available for this Cycling Forum
Postby AUbicycles » Mon May 09, 2016 9:18 am
Tapatalk didn't give me the option of properly notifying members - so I was stuck with in forum notification. I would have prefer a direct notification and letting tapatalk members know.
Regarding timing, as a community forum I did a lot of test runs - we have a comparatively restrictive hosting package so it is always a big job doing tests and changes. For minimum impact I try and do these after 10pm and it was an all-nighter. There is more to go (lot of hosting stuff) and it is about timing and energy.
I have covered a lot of the surrounding issues - so I get that tapatalk had some nice features however for a comparatively small audience, to provide a duplicate viewing experience, tapatalk requires too large an ongoing time investment and I disagree with some of their fundamental changes which do not work in the favour of the site and community.
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Re: Tapatalk Retired - No Longer Available for this Cycling Forum
Postby gabrielle260 » Sat Jul 30, 2016 10:49 am
It is, I think, a comment on the useability of the forum that I have only just discovered the conversation continued substantially after my post. In between times I have accessed the forum via laptop and phone briefly a couple of times for old times sake.
Has anything happened to improve things? Has useage/traffic/readership declined and if so, by how much?
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Re: Tapatalk Retired - No Longer Available for this Cycling Forum
Postby RonK » Sat Jul 30, 2016 11:33 am
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Re: Tapatalk Retired - No Longer Available for this Cycling Forum
Postby AUbicycles » Mon Aug 01, 2016 12:05 am
In anycase, traffic is good - site is running faster since the move to the new server.
While I have compelling reasons to justify the change - if the new look forum isn't for you - that's ok. I put in a lot of time make specific updates and adding features for members.
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Re: Tapatalk Retired - No Longer Available for this Cycling Forum
Postby Ferrovelo » Fri Aug 05, 2016 8:13 pm
How do I access the unread posts view? Can someone educate me?silentbutdeadly wrote:Yep. I used to browse BNA using TT on a tablet. And I've adapted the same...by selecting unread posts plus by reording threads so that the latest post is shown up top rather than scrolling through. The major pain with this approach is that, when in Unread Posts, the Forum Tools drop down does not have a 'Mark Forums Read' option...so its a two step operation to do so by going back to the Home screen.ianganderton wrote: My take at the moment is that actually reading the forum is ok. I've adapted to looking at unread posts and my posts most of the time.
I've found this to (and on a tablet!!). However, the 'solution' is to turn the tablet to landscape orientation. Suddenly, the post info comes back. But the site is so screen greedy that this view only gives you about a half dozen threads...so much scrolling is required. And the 'buttons' remain tiny.ianganderton wrote: There are frustrations with this though. The views don't show the last post info (who and when) or how many posts.
So as with others...my time spent here has become limited and infrequent since it happens (mostly) only when I'm using a desktop machine...
Thanks
Edit, never mind, found it.
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