^Yeah, You can just go to the site... why get an app?

There's no phone app because it takes a lot of time, effort, and expertise. I do not have any of the three. Nor do I believe that anyone here does. And if they do, they don't have the inclination to make it.

What might be more reasonable though is to discuss ways that the site could be more phone-friendly. The layout is great but was obviously designed before smartphones were so ubiquitous.
I find very few issues when on my phone except that
1. I will sometimes hit draw/pause/cancel when scrolling
2. It is almost impossible to scroll through the map by year when on my phone

Anywho, just my two cents there.

While the site is accessible and the graphics work, an app would allow the size of the site to be adjusted for less cumbersome use.

@yonni A mobile site would do pretty much the same thing as an app with less work involved, particularly if CSS was used correctly originally. That would be something to consider

Ehh...a team should come together and create a mobile app. It's actually easier than you might think; just need to change some CSS and reformat the pages to fit in a smartphone/tablet's screen.

Perhaps we could pray to Kestas for an Android App.

If kestas needs some help, I'm a website developer and programmer.

Legatus - Do you develop web services and web apps? Or just web sites? In short, are you a real developer who knows an actual language and eats, sleeps, and breathes SQL, XML, AJAX, JSON, and JQuery? Or are you a wanna be who does little websites for churches and such and thinks he knows his shit but would look at a 2700 line SQL SP and go "Huh?"

^Draugnar... I couldn't tell what half of what you just said meant... So I went ""Huh?""

Ah, b ut achilies, you aren't a software developer, web or otherwise, so you wouldn't know half of what I said. :-)

Normally I wouldn't even be bothered to respond to such adolescent prodding as I have no real need to prove myself to anyone here or otherwise. Nevertheless, because I truly enjoy this game and I have the utmost respect the work that Kestas (and others?) have done here, I will reply solely for his benefit of knowing what type of a programming knowledge base I can bring to the table and potentially assist with.

I am, as you called it, a 'real developer' in the sense that my primary job is the maintaining of a 200K account SQL database and associated government website as well as a variety of custom built desktop applications. I am intimately familiar with not only SQL, AJAX, XML, JSON and JQuery..., but also HTML & HTML 5, CSS, ASP.NET C# and VB, ADO, Java, Javascript, VBscript, ArcGis, not to mention Python, C/C++, and the PHP you guys have used to run this game.

Again, I don't pretend to offer to be a full-time programmer for this site..., I have way too many other projects of my own for that. Still, if my assistance can be used, then I would be more than happy to give it.

@Legatus

Don't mind Draug; he can get very cranky.

This is an webdiplomacy is an open source project. You could certainly just take the code and start developing your own app.

The reality is that this site doesn't have a full-time dev community (although vdip continues to make minor improvements). The answer to your question is: Because no one is willing to take the time to do it.

Welcome to the site!

Thanks for the invite, Abgemacht.

@Legatus - Sorry. Yes I get cranky because we see people all the time who think that, because they did their church's website in HTML or some limited FrontPage work, they are web developers. Clearly you are fully qualified and I apologize for the aspersions cast in your direction. Oh, and you have one or two up on me with the PHP, Python, and ArcGid skill sets. I'm Sun certified in Java and working on my MS certification in .Net (C# and ASP with C# backend are my preferred environment, but I did VB for a lot of years for business clients and C/C++ for engineering clients).

@abgemacht - He could try it that way, btu then he'd be screen scraping and even a small change to the screen layout would break his app. No, he needsto get involved with Kestas to develop web services that his app could consume.

@Legatus - If you are thinking about taking this on, which platform are you leaning towards? I might be able to help out some if it's Android and/or Windows Mobile. Don't knwo if I'd be any help with iPhone/iPad apps.

There are 2 Android phone apps for Diplomacy, but not specific for this sit. Droidippy and Little Dipper.

SQL, XML, AJAX, JSON, JQuery - Who uses JSON anyways?
SQL, AJAX, XML, JSON, JQuery, HTML & HTML 5, CSS, ASP.NET C# and VB, ADO, Java, Javascript, VBscript, ArcGis, Python, C/C++, PHP - More impressive than anything I got. I can do C, C++ a bit of Python, JavaScript, DHTML, XML, PHP, BASIC and of course VBscript. Learning C#.

Never used JSON, I never really got the hang of it.

and HTML5 and HTML.

@Draugnar - I would definitely work on the Android version first... since I have an android phone. LOL

Well it does sound like there's quite a bit of talent at this site... it should be fully utilised to make it an even better place for all to use. I'll start looking into the code and putting some thoughts into it. Like I said, I have a lot of other projects, but it would be a fun little project to work on the side.

It would be nice to have another wave of updates on this site. :-)

Usually optimizing the site is even better than developing a complete new app, as the app might render useless if it does rely on certain aspects of the website.
I use an iPad at home, and and iPad-app is certainly not possible because of copyright issues.
But a full screen web app should be possible with not much changes needed and should improve the usability on all mobile devices regardless of the system (iOS or android).

Right now Kestas has been slowly working on what sounds to me like major refactoring of the code for language localization or some such thing. I've have several user interface improvements that I've submitted but are pending his changes. (Oli/Sleepcap integrated one of them into vdip already.) I hope that once Kestas gets through this current project we can get more improvements over time. Note that when I say "we" I mean people who donate code that Kestas accepts.

Well, I intend to look thoroughly into the code and see where I can be of assistance though being a newbie at the site, I want first to fully experience the site "as is" for a little while before changing anything.

I have nothing to offer in terms ofprogramming, but due to copyright, I was thinking a mobile site would be better. That is my two cents.

smcbride1983: You're right. Come to think of it, I remember that writing a code that gives you a browser notification for an in-game event is banned as well. I don't think that an App, which would do the same sort of thing, would be allowed either.

For the potential developers who might want to contribute, the source code is available here:

https://github.com/kestasjk/webDiplomacy

@JECE
Wait, why are browser notifications banned? I always assumed it was a hosting/money issue, as the extra bandwidth going out from the site telling 7 people that something updated would get quite heavy.

Why could just pay some one to make an app. We have raised funds before for the dedicated server. We could have another donation drive for an app. Then once the app is made it sell for a couple of dollars with the funds going towards the ongoing maintenance of this site.
How much money would we need?

@spyman- it works fine on the iPhone atm, but that doesn't stop your idea being a good one! A fine thought.

Then again Sleepcap is probably on the money with his point about copyright, plus app would have to be redevoped each time changes are made to the site. So perhaps making the site more mobile friendly is the best solution? (I think it is fine myself)

On the subject of copyright, there are Risk like games in the Apple Apps store, so maybe it is not that big a deal?

Thanks BrownPaperTiger, I think it worth thinking about at least.
How much would it cost for some development? Anyone care to hazard a guess?

Depends. The Apple Developer SDK is $99 to join but the SDK is free. Android's is free as well. Paying someone to implement the game could be from $500 to $10,000. playDiplomacy payed someone $10,000 to implement/change/get webDip's code working on their site.

@spyman - It's a good thought, but adapting the site to mobile would be much easier and affordable.

You can run iPad-websites in full screen and make a desktop-icon. That way it does exactly look like an app.

piping_piper: I don't actually know; I was under the impression that it was because of the unfair advantage someone would get by using it.

@JECE - Everyone has access to a function of the site therefore no unfaoir advantage exists. An unfair advantage is, by definition, something one person has access to but not everyone. So there would be no unfair advantage. An email notification is available to everyone as you have to have an email address to play the game here.

Then again, we could always write the app such that Draugnar would not be able to see the French A that is closing in on his home SCs...

Draugnar, being a programmer, already has some secret apps of his own that allow him to submit orders that get him successful convoys without fleets, territory swapping without bounces, and unsupported holds that can withstand full on assaults with multiple holds. He just chooses not to use them.

I was assuming the reason was because the app would be refreshing all of the player's games every few seconds causing an excessive load on the old shared host server. A couple of folks had written some widgets or apps to do such a couple of years ago. And if everyone did so that would probably also cause a problem even on our current dedicated server. Note that these apps didn't just indicate when a phase had changed but also when you got a game message. And then someone else talked about writing an app that would monitor everyone's profiles to see when they were online to be able to figure out who was who in anonymous games and other such things.

It is the sort of thing that on the simplest level doesn't seem too bad but then when it is taken too far it causes problems. A solution where the system sends out a notification would be much better than having an external app constantly refreshing pages.

Yes, push is always better than poll/pull when it comes to monitoring state.

What would everyone want to see in an app? Personally, I think the rendering of the map could be done by the app, to cut down bandwidth from ~2 mb to several kb. Is the general consensus something that simple, or are people looking for added features?

piping_piper: You're saying that everyone who played would have to download an app?

No, I think the app is just to make it easier to see the turn results on a phone than the current UI which sucks on small screens. Kind of like an m. site alternative but as an app that talks to a web service to get the raw data it needs and reduces the download size by rendering on a previously downloaded map background with icons.

I would still prefer an alternate CSS for mobile on the browsers instead of 2 complete new apps.
An alternate map-display using SVG was started, but never completed.

Just developing an m. site would work. But that is dependent on Kestas to put online. An app that screen scrapes doesn't.