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Sweetie
Metalhead

Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2014 1:19 am
Posts: 1091
Location: United States
PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 12:56 pm 
 

Have you guys ever thought of making a Metal Archives app, downloadable for smartphones (particularly I-phone)? It would be convenient when shopping for music, if you stumble across albums you don't know much about to read reviews on them first, before purchasing. It would also make it convenient to read reviews and forums when on the go (such as when I'm on break at work). And the resource for bands is right there at any time, should you ever need to look something up.

I don't know, just an idea that I thought of that may be useful.
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Diamhea
Eats and Spits Corpses

Joined: Wed Feb 14, 2007 7:46 pm
Posts: 9275
Location: At the Heat of Winter
PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 1:08 pm 
 

Well, there is one for Androids. I am smartphone ignorant, so I can't comment much on the specifics, but you obviously aren't the first to suggest this: https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... ives&hl=en
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Erosion of Humanity
Destroyer of the Gods

Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2012 5:12 pm
Posts: 5898
Location: over yon hill
PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 1:53 pm 
 

I've never used the app either but is it really that hard to just bookmark the MA homepage on your phone and go from there? I mean it's literally as easy as tapping the screen for me to load MA and then type in said random band which I'm assuming you'd have to do anyways. The only way I can see the app being handy is if it would give you multiple search bars at once a la the advanced search function but really then that's just being lazy because it would only save you a matter of seconds when searching for bands.
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Derigin
The Mountain Man

Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2006 6:25 am
Posts: 5998
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 2:03 pm 
 

As others have noted, there's an unofficial mobile app for Android phones, although it is somewhat broken and it appears the person behind it hasn't paid it much attention.

We do have a moderator (Alhadis) who has been working on an official mobile version and app, but lately he has been pretty busy with offline responsibilities and understandably the app shouldn't be a priority for him. Folks are more than welcome to create apps of their own if they like, though - respectfully - we wouldn't want them to be marketed as official.

@Erosion of Humanity, for some people (myself included) apps can come in handy for very quickly finding the information I need when I am out and about. I wouldn't call it being lazy, call it convenience instead.

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Erosion of Humanity
Destroyer of the Gods

Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2012 5:12 pm
Posts: 5898
Location: over yon hill
PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 2:10 pm 
 

I guess it would depend on how the app is set up. What I was trying to get at is the way I have my phone set up MA works pretty much like an app already. As I said all I do is tap the screen and I've got the home page or the forums (whichever I'm going for) and I'm ready to search for bands or post as I'm set to auto login to the forum. I don't really see how you could much improve upon that.
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captain2man
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Tue Jan 16, 2007 9:00 pm
Posts: 19
PostPosted: Sat Apr 04, 2015 8:35 pm 
 

I used to love the Android app. It was a really easy way to navigate the discographies and lyrics, but for the past few months it automatically crashes as soon as you tap an album title.

The app has essentially become useless.

There are numerous complaints about it in the reviews in the PlayStore, but it seems pretty clear that who developed the app has zero interest in fixing its bugs and is always unresponsive to crash reports.

I'm glad I came here to read this since I assumed the app was officially associated with the website, but I suppose not.

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Shadechaser
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Mar 09, 2013 4:06 am
Posts: 211
Location: Russia
PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2015 5:01 am 
 

Hi guys. Sorry but now there's no application of Metal Archives on Google play.
And the second version - please think about mobile version of your site!
22nd century is coming close at hand and almost everyone use mobile internet, it is very inconvenient to browse your site via 4.7" :[

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Derigin
The Mountain Man

Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2006 6:25 am
Posts: 5998
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2015 10:30 am 
 

The only member of our staff capable of making mobile applications is, unfortunately, quite busy these days. Thus far there have been no official apps from us.

Perhaps this is something worth pursuing, but we'd need people skilled in making apps to show an interest in doing it.
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Alhadis
Madder Max

Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2008 8:35 am
Posts: 4014
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2015 10:44 am 
 

Derigin wrote:
The only member of our staff capable of making mobile applications is, unfortunately, quite busy these days. Thus far there have been no official apps from us.

Perhaps this is something worth pursuing, but we'd need people skilled in making apps to show an interest in doing it.

I would be the staff member in question, and yes, I'm still pinned down by real-life commitments; I have, however, been chipping away at something that WILL eventuate into a nice, beautifully slick mobile-friendly version... but this is being done out of my love for the site, and not because I'm being paid to do it. Real life commitments come first, as we all know. :p

And just an FYI, this isn't like tweaking a few lines of code. :lol: This is involving heavy-duty reconstruction.

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droneriot
cisgender

Joined: Sat Aug 28, 2004 1:17 pm
Posts: 10812
Location: Spahn Ranch
PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2015 12:43 pm 
 

Was thinking though, wouldn't it be pretty simple to make an app that makes the forum easier to navigate on Android? Found it to be quite a pain. Something like they have at skyscrapercity.com, if anyone is willing to look at it to see what I mean.
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Shadechaser
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Mar 09, 2013 4:06 am
Posts: 211
Location: Russia
PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2015 2:07 pm 
 

Alhadis wrote:
but this is being done out of my love for the site, and not because I'm being paid to do it.

Well, you could place a "donate" button in this forthcoming application, maybe I'd found a couple of cents :)

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Alhadis
Madder Max

Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2008 8:35 am
Posts: 4014
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Sun Aug 02, 2015 3:53 am 
 

droneriot wrote:
Was thinking though, wouldn't it be pretty simple to make an app that makes the forum easier to navigate on Android? Found it to be quite a pain. Something like they have at skyscrapercity.com, if anyone is willing to look at it to see what I mean.

phpBB is being used to power the MA board, whereas that site you've linked to is powered by vBulletin. Both are different sets of third-party software, and the latter obviously has an option for mobile-optimisation (possibly even paid for as a premium feature). I'm not sure what phpBB offers by way of mobile-friendly optimisation, but you can bet your arse it probably isn't a simple matter of hitting a checkbox.

Shadechaser wrote:
Alhadis wrote:
but this is being done out of my love for the site, and not because I'm being paid to do it.

Well, you could place a "donate" button in this forthcoming application, maybe I'd found a couple of cents :)

If people are serious about this, my PayPal address is [email protected] ... make no mistake, though, showering me with donations isn't going to have the mobile-optimised site wheeled out in a week, but it might put pressure on me to reallocate what spare time I have these days. :p But I'm not doing this out of a desire to profit from it.

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benmca
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Sat Aug 01, 2015 12:10 pm
Posts: 1
Location: United States
PostPosted: Sun Aug 02, 2015 1:07 pm 
 

I'm thinking about an app that pulls Rhapsody/Bandcamp/Spotify/etc playback experience alongside the Encyclopaedia. I have the site open side by side with one of these sites alot of times, but most of these services don't let you surf by record label, band member, producer etc.

I've been playing with the API here: https://code.google.com/p/metalarchives/ Is this the best starting point for building an app with MA data? I can throw my code up on github if anyone wants to collaborate.

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Alhadis
Madder Max

Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2008 8:35 am
Posts: 4014
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Sun Aug 02, 2015 7:07 pm 
 

FOR THOSE DISCUSSING APPS:

The mobile-optimised version of the site will mean any browser will be able to peruse it without having to install a platform-specific application. This is what's known as "responsive design", and it'll render virtually any vendor-specific app redundant.

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2DevCats
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2018 11:09 pm
Posts: 3
PostPosted: Sat Oct 27, 2018 5:45 pm 
 

I have published an Android version of Metal Archives on Google Play. It's "Metal Archives" by 2DevCats developer.

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Spider_X
Metal newbie

Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2006 1:48 pm
Posts: 175
PostPosted: Thu Nov 01, 2018 7:00 pm 
 

Erosion of Humanity wrote:
I've never used the app either but is it really that hard to just bookmark the MA homepage on your phone and go from there? I mean it's literally as easy as tapping the screen for me to load MA and then type in said random band which I'm assuming you'd have to do anyways. The only way I can see the app being handy is if it would give you multiple search bars at once a la the advanced search function but really then that's just being lazy because it would only save you a matter of seconds when searching for bands.

Agreed. It's what I do, plus in doing it this way, it also saves room on your phone. :)
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sicboy
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Sun May 13, 2012 12:22 pm
Posts: 10
Location: United States
PostPosted: Wed Jan 30, 2019 12:11 am 
 

Alhadis wrote:
FOR THOSE DISCUSSING APPS:

The mobile-optimised version of the site will mean any browser will be able to peruse it without having to install a platform-specific application. This is what's known as "responsive design", and it'll render virtually any vendor-specific app redundant.


I may have missed it, but is there a responsive design version of the site yet? Thanks!

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HellBlazer
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Aug 10, 2002 6:48 am
Posts: 2119
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Sat Feb 09, 2019 2:29 pm 
 

sicboy wrote:
I may have missed it, but is there a responsive design version of the site yet? Thanks!


Not yet, Alhadis kinda disappeared on us... But we're working on a new one.

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PrateekRM
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Thu Oct 12, 2017 12:18 am
Posts: 6
Location: United States
PostPosted: Tue Jan 07, 2020 9:57 pm 
 

Hello all

I am a mobile app developer, interested in developing official version of app targeting both Android and iOS with Xamarin forms as technology. As reading this thread seems it is/was in plan, if not app at least responsive website.

If I could get hold of people who are taking care of this website then I can do it over the weekends

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Midnightwards666
Heavy Metal C-3PO

Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 7:05 am
Posts: 975
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Tue Jan 07, 2020 11:25 pm 
 

As said by Derigin, anyone is welcome to create an MA app, and the effort is commendable and appreciated. We would rather such apps weren't called "official" though, as they're not created by the site owners nor even their staff.
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PrateekRM
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Thu Oct 12, 2017 12:18 am
Posts: 6
Location: United States
PostPosted: Wed Jan 08, 2020 11:32 am 
 

Midnightwards666 wrote:
As said by Derigin, anyone is welcome to create an MA app, and the effort is commendable and appreciated. We would rather such apps weren't called "official" though, as they're not created by the site owners nor even their staff.


I mean to say I want to create official app by connecting with the site owners and staff.


Last edited by PaganiusI on Wed Jan 08, 2020 11:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
fixed quote

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Midnightwards666
Heavy Metal C-3PO

Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 7:05 am
Posts: 975
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Wed Jan 08, 2020 7:29 pm 
 

None of the current staff are skilled nor interested in designing apps. At best we might list the app as an unofficial add-on in our list, depending on how well it works.
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Derigin
The Mountain Man

Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2006 6:25 am
Posts: 5998
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Wed Jan 08, 2020 7:54 pm 
 

Your best bet would be to contact the webmasters directly: [email protected]
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DogPollen
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Wed Nov 28, 2018 5:49 pm
Posts: 1
Location: United States
PostPosted: Thu Sep 03, 2020 7:22 pm 
 

Any movement on this? I'd be down to throw a few monthly recurring dollars at this site to help.

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