Early discussion of the 2020 survey

General Go Discussion
41

It really doesn’t matter whether an app is faster or a browser is faster to get on OGS since it comes down to what device you have access to. I personally don’t feel the need to push for an app to be created, but it definitely would be helpful if there was one.

42

The survey has closed and the results can be viewed at:

4 Likes
43

You have to login every time? Are you clearing your history between visits or something?

1 Like
44

As much as the web interface is useful/works in mobile, it has many shortcomings.
An app can provide:

  • notifications
  • properly sized UI elements (most notably, back/forward buttons)
  • ability to set preferences (e.g., white/black, no sound, etc. get reset in Safari in iOS every now and then).
  • general decluttering of the menus/options in the game page that are difficult to use in mobile

Again, as much as the site is useful in mobile, it pales in comparison with the interface you can get with a dedicated app.
This being said, I use OGS almost exclusively in mobile (and almost exclusively for correspondence games) and have found ways of being happy with it as is. I’m not necessarily advocating for an app to be the top priority for the developers. I would however guess that an open source effort to build an app might attract enough developers to collaborate on it.

Just my €0.02.

4 Likes
45

My browser (Firefox) shows notifications

UI design is not only possible with Apps. Most of the proposed app features are easier done by improving the website. An dedicated app doubles/tripples the work and binds valuable development time, since one has basically to rewrite the whole site.

3 Likes
46

I have an OGS bookmark in iOS (Safari) on my main screen. It does not support notifications (I really only want a badge with the number of games in which it is my turn to play). I will investigate whether other browsers under iOS support this (I doubt they can).

Again, I have not defended that a high level of priority should be given to an app. As I said, even with the current shortcomings, OGS is perfectly functional in mobile and my preferred server for correspondence games. I do however think it is quite obvious that an app interface is normally much more responsive and overall better than a mobile-optimised website. Tetsuki (now Panda Tetsuki) is a good example of how even an almost ten-year old application, with few features and outdated (skeuomorphic) design language, can beat a mobile site in terms of UI.

2 Likes
47

One like for expanding my vocabulary c:

1 Like