This is not an official app! There are "official" apps for reading CF on your iOS or Android device. The forum also works with ForumRunner. This web-based reading app is for people who do not have a compatible device. If that's you, read on.
Hello e-citizens.
Please read this ENTIRE POST.
I know many people have been asking for a way to read CF on smartphones and tablets. Problem is, there is no way to do so. That is, there wasn't a way until now. I have taken it upon myself to create a solution to our problem. A web application, optimized for mobile devices, sits between CF and your phone or tablet. It transforms the intense, bulky HTML of the desktop version into something slightly more friendly for devices with limited bandwidth and hardware resources.
Screenshots
Home screen
Thread list
Thread view
Latest Changes
Feb. 5th, 2011:
Some things to know about this app
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
Is this officially affiliated with CF?
No. To that end, don't post questions, bug reports, etc about this app in the CF Questions or CF How-to forums or anywhere else. Post them in this thread.
Is it free?
Yes.
Will it ever be non-free?
No.
Are there ads?
Not at this time. I may add (ha, pun) them in later in order to defray costs for running it on App Engine if I start pushing quota limits too much.
Does this require an account?
Not at this time. I may add Google Accounts later as an optional feature for syncing data or hooking into other functionality that would require an account.
Will this application steal my identity/credit card/baby/dingo?
The CF mobile app will not and cannot steal your Google identity, your CF identity, or your dingo (if you have one). Google does not expose personal information to App Engine (it does expose your email). See Google's Privacy FAQ for more information. The application is also technologically prohibited from accessing your CF login information, as it runs on a separate domain from CF.
Does this application track my browsing habits?
No, aside from whatever gets tossed into the logs. Every time you load the forum list, an individual forum, or a thread, the application makes a request to CF. This is logged automatically by App Engine at the "info" level. As there is no account required to use this app, the only identifiable information sent is your IP address. The logs will be used to help pinpoint errors and the like, but not for any other purpose.
You won't steal my dingo, but will you horribly violate my privacy in any other way?
No. Never. Ever. I am paranoid about my privacy online as it is. The privacy policy of this application is best summed up as: we will never give away or sell any of your information for any reason ever, excepting obvious things like legal reasons.
Can I post replies with this?
No, at least not yet. I am investigating ways to do this, but it is a long road to travel down.
Will this be updated?
Most certainly. Aside from bug fixes, the interface could definitely use more tweaking.
Something broke! How do I report it?
Post it in this thread. I require a description of how you arrived at the point that caused the error, what thread/forum you were viewing, and what browser, device, and OS version you are using. Anything less will not be enough to accurately reproduce the error. Depending on the error, an error message may appear in an alert box. If that shows up, I'll require that too unless it's something useless like "Internal server error."
Can I help develop this?
If you have software development skills and are interested in helping, please send me a PM. Relevant skills would be: Java (J2EE with Spring), JavaScript (particularly jQuery), and XQuery. If you have prior experience with App Engine that would be good too, but that is really a minor consideration.
I have secured my dingo and am ready to try this!
Excellent! Remember again that this is ALPHA quality software. In order to "install" this app, you need only visit one of the following addresses in your mobile device's web browser:
Mobile App:
http://3-beta.latest.thermetics-fx.appspot.com/app/mobile/home
Click here to visit on your computer
If you are using an iOS device, add the app to your home screen to get a "native" experience. Other users will have to live with a bookmark.
Basic Mobile Website:
http://3-beta.latest.thermetics-fx.appspot.com/app/mobile/basic
Click to visit on your computer
This version is for devices that can't handle the full app experience. Its features are limited, but it will work on older/less powerful devices.
Known Issues
Some threads will fail to load because of a problem scraping the username.
Subforums that don't show up on the homepage will not be available in the forum list.
Going beyond the last page of a thread will return you to the first page.
Shortcomings
There isn't any real way to bookmark a thread.
It could probably stand to load less forums in the main list. Needs categories instead.
Hello e-citizens.
Please read this ENTIRE POST.
I know many people have been asking for a way to read CF on smartphones and tablets. Problem is, there is no way to do so. That is, there wasn't a way until now. I have taken it upon myself to create a solution to our problem. A web application, optimized for mobile devices, sits between CF and your phone or tablet. It transforms the intense, bulky HTML of the desktop version into something slightly more friendly for devices with limited bandwidth and hardware resources.
Screenshots
Home screen
Thread list
Thread view
Latest Changes
Feb. 5th, 2011:
- Added "basic" version for devices that don't have great web browsers.
- Removed Google Account requirement. The app can now be used without logging into anything.
- Added caching for forum list. After downloading it once, it will load near instantly on subsequent uses.
- Added the ability to bookmark forums (and delete them, of course).
- Removed the collapsible headers in threads as they caused scrolling issues.
- Changed interface slightly. (That means screenshots are out of date)
Some things to know about this app
- It is ALPHA QUALITY SOFTWARE. This means it is unstable! You should not expect things to work right 100% of the time. Indeed, there are some bugs I'm aware of already.
- This application runs on Google App Engine, a cloud computing environment.
- There are two versions of the app: smart and basic.
- The "smart" version is a fully-featured mobile app designed for iOS, Android, etc. Theoretically, it will work on other smart devices, but iOS and Android are the only ones I have access to and are the only ones I'm testing on. In theory, this app is compatible with a number of devices. Full compatibility chart is here. In practice, I'm not really sure what it's compatible with. If you have one of the devices I don't have, I would be interested in test reports.
- The "basic" version is a simple mobile website designed for devices that don't have the power or standard-compliance to handle the full app.
- You cannot post replies with this application, at least not yet.
- You cannot view forums that require you to be logged in (staff forums, etc). This is unlikely to change.
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
Is this officially affiliated with CF?
No. To that end, don't post questions, bug reports, etc about this app in the CF Questions or CF How-to forums or anywhere else. Post them in this thread.
Is it free?
Yes.
Will it ever be non-free?
No.
Are there ads?
Not at this time. I may add (ha, pun) them in later in order to defray costs for running it on App Engine if I start pushing quota limits too much.
Does this require an account?
Not at this time. I may add Google Accounts later as an optional feature for syncing data or hooking into other functionality that would require an account.
Will this application steal my identity/credit card/baby/dingo?
The CF mobile app will not and cannot steal your Google identity, your CF identity, or your dingo (if you have one). Google does not expose personal information to App Engine (it does expose your email). See Google's Privacy FAQ for more information. The application is also technologically prohibited from accessing your CF login information, as it runs on a separate domain from CF.
Does this application track my browsing habits?
No, aside from whatever gets tossed into the logs. Every time you load the forum list, an individual forum, or a thread, the application makes a request to CF. This is logged automatically by App Engine at the "info" level. As there is no account required to use this app, the only identifiable information sent is your IP address. The logs will be used to help pinpoint errors and the like, but not for any other purpose.
You won't steal my dingo, but will you horribly violate my privacy in any other way?
No. Never. Ever. I am paranoid about my privacy online as it is. The privacy policy of this application is best summed up as: we will never give away or sell any of your information for any reason ever, excepting obvious things like legal reasons.
Can I post replies with this?
No, at least not yet. I am investigating ways to do this, but it is a long road to travel down.
Will this be updated?
Most certainly. Aside from bug fixes, the interface could definitely use more tweaking.
Something broke! How do I report it?
Post it in this thread. I require a description of how you arrived at the point that caused the error, what thread/forum you were viewing, and what browser, device, and OS version you are using. Anything less will not be enough to accurately reproduce the error. Depending on the error, an error message may appear in an alert box. If that shows up, I'll require that too unless it's something useless like "Internal server error."
Can I help develop this?
If you have software development skills and are interested in helping, please send me a PM. Relevant skills would be: Java (J2EE with Spring), JavaScript (particularly jQuery), and XQuery. If you have prior experience with App Engine that would be good too, but that is really a minor consideration.
I have secured my dingo and am ready to try this!
Excellent! Remember again that this is ALPHA quality software. In order to "install" this app, you need only visit one of the following addresses in your mobile device's web browser:
Mobile App:
http://3-beta.latest.thermetics-fx.appspot.com/app/mobile/home
Click here to visit on your computer
If you are using an iOS device, add the app to your home screen to get a "native" experience. Other users will have to live with a bookmark.
Basic Mobile Website:
http://3-beta.latest.thermetics-fx.appspot.com/app/mobile/basic
Click to visit on your computer
This version is for devices that can't handle the full app experience. Its features are limited, but it will work on older/less powerful devices.
Known Issues
Some threads will fail to load because of a problem scraping the username.
Subforums that don't show up on the homepage will not be available in the forum list.
Going beyond the last page of a thread will return you to the first page.
Shortcomings
There isn't any real way to bookmark a thread.
It could probably stand to load less forums in the main list. Needs categories instead.
Last edited:
