How Do You Access EC?

I'll throw my reply into this thread seen as the other thread has been locked whilst I was asleep.

The situation regarding an EC app isn't necessarily dependant on x amount of people supporting its development, and the poll itself doesn't really help reflect any opinions on how quickly EC should invest in an app. As Hexagon said, the poll should be multiple choice, and should instead be asking how people would access EC. The poll at the moment shows under 20% accessing EC mostly from their phone, and that paints a completely different picture than, say, 95% of people who *would* access EC from an app if that was available to them.

Saying that, I don't think the app itself is being held up by any admins who think it isn't a good idea and/or isn't needed. You're not going to encounter any objections from me for creating it, nor have I heard any objections from others that would veto or delay the apps development significantly. Unfortunately, the biggest obstacle the app has to overcome is that it's high on a list of priorities alongside other major changes to the website. These changes would, if implemented after an app, render it pretty much useless and would require the app to either be remade, or to undergo some serious re-designing to make it work. For example, some people have pointed out that vBulletin Mobile is a simplistic programme that we could get today and have it set up rather quickly. However, there's no guarantees that vBulletin will continue to be our forum software in the near-future, as the site upgrade (which has been going on since the beginning of time) has been significantly affected by vBulletin's announcement that vB4 will no longer be developed further and is essentially an unfinished product, and that vB5 will now be the version that they focus on. vB5 itself would be good if it actually worked, but it's so volatile and buggy that I'm not even contemplating having it set up on a test site at this point in time.

An app for EC is definitely on the to-do list, but it's up near the top alongside other major things that need sorting before we can focus on an app. It's no use marketing an app for x amount of months just to then undergo software and design changes that render it useless, which then requires us to develop a new app for you all to download. Additionally, the app presents various security concerns that prevent us from just going to other sites (whether it be Amazon, Tapatalk etc), as we need to ensure that our custom-made security features are integrated into any app that we send out for downloading and marketing. There are also concerns regarding how to keep the app discreet so that it doesn't stand out should the wrong eyes be browsing your phone or tablet. That's why our design of the app would likely focus on the 'EC' logo, rather than the Empty Closets logo you see above, and we'd likely need to give the app a name such as ECCS (Empty Closets Community Services - our registered non-profit name) that only you would know.

I do appreciate that people are interested in seeing an app developed. I access EC from my phone and tablet myself, so I too would benefit from it as I'm on the go and have to check in. Unfortunately, there's just a lot of things that need piecing together before we see everything fall into place. It'll get done, but they're not the type of decisions we can make overnight, nor would anybody want them to be made that quickly in such an unprepared manner.

Martin.