Mobile Admin Panel

[nNJ]

Are there any templates or plugins for a "mobile friendly" vBulletin Admin Panel? It doesn't need to be WAP/WML, most newer phones support html browsing anyway.

I searched vBulletin.com and came up with one post from '05..

I'm looking for something simple; it doesn't need to hve the full features of the Web version.
Just something low bandwidth that I can use my phone with.

[Marco van Herwaarden]

AdminCP is only text, so i doubt you can gain any more bandwidth and if any it is probably marginal.

[nNJ]

I agree with you on the bandwidth point, however, there are 3 major factors that make the panel difficult or completely inaccessible to mobile devices.

1, - The size of the admin panel would not display very nicely on smalls screens, like that of the sidekick or blackberry. When the panel is scaled down to resolutions as small as 320 x 240. This is especially true of mobile browsers that do not support left/right scrolling.

2, - The navigation menu on the left side of the screen would be difficult to load on some mobile browsers. A text version would work much better, with sub categories indented.

3, - The admin panel's setup is inaccessible on most mobile browsers. I believe its called iFrames, (but I'm not sure). If you notice, when you click on a link in the admin panel, the url does not change, rather the frame changes, on the same URL. This is why when you refresh the page, you are taken back to the

(Please correct me if I'm wrong on point 3)

There is also a large amount of data/features that aren't essential, such as the administrator Notes and the stats displayed under the "Welcome to the vBulletin Admin Control Panel" box.

The admin Panel IS low bandwidth, but it is far from mobile friendly. I assume from the lack of replies to this thread that there hasn't been anything like this developed. It would be nice to have, (although it isn't essential) but I'm very surprised more attention hasn't been spent on this subject, especially due to the seemingly large interest in a "mobile friendly" version of the forums.

As I type this, I'm seeing myself move away for the initial purpose of the thread, and move towards a rant/suggestion of a new feature/plugin.

I'm not sure how much work creating a mobile admin panel would entail, but for the cost of the software, I don't see why there shouldn't be a feature like this.

[Marco van Herwaarden]

I think a lot of users do not trust a mobile device for something sensitive as an AdminCP.

[nNJ]

I can agree with that. Of all the vBulletin users, not many will access any part of their forum with a mobile device. Even fewer would access the admin panel (if they could).

But, I still think that a mobile plugin would benefit a significant amount of people. The percentage of all vBuletin users that would use this plugin is releatively low, but there are alot of people that use vBulletin.

[Hex_legend]

I have an iPhone and I am using ACP just fine.
With the iPhone, you can zoom in and out and the ACP looks the same as if you were viewing it on a browser.

[nNJ]

The iphone is a very advanced phone, there aren't many onpar with it. I've learned a bit while browsing these forums and setting up my forum.

A simple solution would be to create an admincp skin similar to the one already available for cellphones, iphones, pda's, and other mobile devices.

Creating such a skin, would not be easy, but I would still very much like to see one available. Id definatley use it.

There are a lot of templates; many of them I do not know what they do. But, maybe after I learn a bit more I'll take a crack at it (assuming something like this hasn't already been created).

[WebmasterSimds]

Well I have a suguestion, and if you have a cell like Motorola Q or other phones with good sized screens. there is a browser out there that acts exwactly like a web browser should.

http://www.skyfire.com/ Skyfire is a awsome Browser. it acts exactly like a full fledged browser. and you can zoom into it, if has flash, and javascrip as well. unlike the regular phone browsers.

I use it all the time, and it is the best.