pouët.net

Hi there,

I dunno about you folks, but im catching myself browsing Pouet on my Android phone every other day for whatever reasons.
Everytime I do so Im a bit pissed off at the amount of scrolling/zooming/touching I have to do to get to where I want.
The obvious Idea: A standalone App that gets all the data from the pouet website and presents it in way which is less troublesome for mobile use.
The obvious question (from a person without too deep of wisdom about webby stuff): Is this possible in a reasonable amount of time without being too 'hackish'?

I'd love to do it myself even tho my coding skills are more than rusty, my web-dev-skills are nonexistent and I never developed anything for Android. I think it might be a good way to get a sneak-peak into mobile development without getting over my head and actually producing something of use, but I have doubts if I have the time and patience to pull it off all alone.

Since I have an Android based phone that would be the obvious platform for me, but maybe the web-part of the code can be shared/portet to iOS and other OS as well?

Is there somebody interested in such an app and willing to help and if its just by pointing out a good and easy-to-use framework or painting some UI-Elements to not make it look plain ugly? Maybe there even is an (open source) app that can easily be modified for that purpose?
Anyone?

Mobile web would've been ok

For frameworks and an easy start, you might want to check for Titanium Framework or PhoneGap

I'd go for mobile-compatible web-UI too. All platforms (that have decent browsers) served.
But pouet.net 2.0 probably has that anyway... ;)

do not use titanium...it's a massive piece of crap with no support and outdated documentation that crashes randomly. just do not use it...

The markup on http://new.pouet.net/indeks.php is slightly better yeah.

Why does it have to be an app? Wouldn't it be enough to just offer a good CSS for small screens?

Of course a server-based solution would be fine as well, I was just under the impression that everybody who is responsible for maintaining the site is too busy to do anything but hasty hotfixes and occasional bg/oneliner-default-text changes ;).
Even tho, whats important when youre online with your phone and dont have decent 3G coverage is to keep the amount of transmitted data as small as possible. Connections tend to stall and timeout so 50kb vs 10kb def. make a noticable difference at times.
I don't have any measurements or numbers ready but logic tells me that a 100% web-based solution would still need to transfer more layout/gfx-data/etc than a local UI.
Maybe the difference is too small to be of importance, anyway...

For a mobile version of the website maybe JQuery Mobile could be a solution. It morphes HTML pages per JS and CSS into mobile app lookalikes:

http://jquerymobile.com/demos/1.0/

Good thing: These pages work also with HTML4 and even without JS/CSS (then they behave like the old WAP).

I find pouet pretty good on my phone already, and pretty fast too. It's one of the better sites anyway, nice and fast and easy to navigate.

Just to derail the thread a little bit, I'll be testing the Android App service of Reverbnation during 2012. Check out the free app here. Any comments are welcome but please do mail me instead of replying here. Any feedback will help me to evaluate whether such a content pushing app is of any use and worth the money spent.

Talking about dough, unfortunately the iApp is way more expensive than this Android one. Prior to committing with both I'll gather experiences with the Android version first. Knowing how little I earn with my music, parting with all the extra ka$h isn't justified in any way. Yeah, I'd rather use that money to buy a synth or some plugins ;)

..and I don't even have a phone to evaluate this app myself, so I'm _really_ counting on that feedback ;)

from my blackberry perspective, www.pouet.net look rather good, lot of zooming of course, but acceptable. new.pouet.net on ther other side is "absoluterry skkrewed" up.

Medd tables, only one column of content, bigger buttons un the top, etc.

anything "above" custom css or query mobile or phone gap or whathaveyou would need some interfaces on the server to get to the raw data anyhow...i guess that would be work for the pouet-coders. maybe a web view and some custom css are the way to go if you want the least hassle for the pouet-guys.

oh, and on "cross platform frameworks" again: titanium isn't really cross-platform afaics. it gives you functions for android and iPhone but unless you write really, really abstract code you will have your code cluttered with "if(devicetype == iPhone)"...everywhere. phone gap is basically just web views with custom css, that may work but won't get the html you fetch much smaller...jsyk

I also opt for the "adapt website to smaller screens" idea.. I don't get why every other web site needs a specific smartphone app, when almost every smartphone has a browser with desktop-like capabilities..

I use single column mode in opera mobile and it works great. No zooming and the layout isn't (that) broken.

How do I export all the information on pouet anyway? Just looked into the xnfo format and it looks promising but seems there hasn't been worked on this since 2005. Can one rely on that export or is there a better api to get all infos in plain?

Bitchard, I suppose you app will be available for free right? If so, and if you would like to make an iOS version without spending any cash, get in touch. I could not find your contact email on your website...

In theory yes, but the pouet homepage alone is such a terrible example of shoving too much shit in the user's face. It would take more than a stylesheet and some media queries to solve that.

I'm not sold on scrolling half a goddamn mile to get to the bottom of the page on any kind of phone.


No it's not. It's a solution for people who cannot make a native app. It has little to do with the concerns of making websites optimized or accessible for mobile devices.

Id take a mobileweb over an app for a content rich site. Apps Are only feasible for adding extra functionality!

As a webOS user (and one who is generally happy to stick with webOS), i'd appreciate a platform agnostic mobile website over an android or iOS app.

You are right. I contacted the developers and they confirmed: JQuery Mobile is made for desktop browsers running full screen in 1080p HD resolution, mouse handling only!

What would this mobile app do? Or: what problem would it solve that browsing Pouet on, say, iOS Safari, won't do?