Hello,

I am the proud new owner of an iPhone (we're a bit behind our US-cousins over here in Aus ;) All I can say is WOW - it's cool!

So before today I was planning on writing a Compact Framework (CF) handheld app (.NET for PocketPC or any mobile device running Windows Mobile) that would allow you to manage your poker league/upload scores etc. while you were sitting at the poker table. You could then connect to the web and publish your results to your PokerDIY league, all for free. If you don't know what PokerDIY does it allows you to manage your poker league and connects poker players - here is our home league in Sydney, Aus (I am currently on top so I must be doing something right).

Don't worry, this is not an advert ;) The point is, I got to thinking about spending 1 month+ writing a brand new CF app (it would be quite easy to adapt to work on Windows/laptops etc) and after seeing the new iPhone I think I may be better off putitng my time into a iphone version of PokerDIY. It seems like in a couple of years time we'll all be connected 24*7 wherever we are, so I think I may be better off focusing on the long-term goal and assume that it will be an online app.

Of course, you can already view http://www.pokerdiy.com in your iphone/mobile browser but after seeing the Facebook iphone version (although they use a client for their iPhone app, which I will not be able to do) I think I need a scaled-down version of PokerDIY. Bear in mind that it is a web app (people are adding scores, making friends etc) so it is not just static pages that need to look nice.

So, my goal is to make a VERY simple UI for PokerDIY. It won't have advertising and any extra blurb (I'll asume the users already know about PokerDIY so I can cut out all my content and just focus on the core league management side of things). A lot of the current PokerDIY site assumes the user is fresh off Google and tries to educate him on the site purpose. My goal is to allow users to log in (with a Facebook-style dashboard of their PokerDIY profile) and then manage/view their league. The first version will not be anything fancy - just enough so that I can finally upload my scores real time at my next poker game (and shut up my mate Benny who keeps laughing at my Pocket PC when I take notes and upload them via the site later).

So, with this in mind, my questions are (as a iPhone NOOB):

1. Should I do a completely new version of PokerDIY for the iPhone? (e.g. iphone.PokerDIY.com could point at another portal)
2. If not, do I try to make the current version look nice in both browsers, or do I look at MobiNuke and offer up 2 different versions of the site depending on who's looking?
3. If the latter, whohas experience of MobiNuke? It sounds pretty cool but I'd like to see some examples (preferably through my iPhone!)
4. Do any skinners specialize in iphone skins? There must be a market for this?

I am leaning towards Point 3. Does MobiNuke work with the Ifinity URL Rewriter, PageBlaster and DNNSTuff's Aggregator (key components of my site). What's the best way to get started, and most importantly - does anyone have any DNN examples of pure iPhone sites (or webapps to be precise).

I apologise if this post is a year too late ;)

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Entrepreneur

PokerDIY Tournament Manager - PokerDIY Tournament Manager<
PokerDIY Game Finder - Mobile Apps powered by DNN
PokerDIY - Connecting Poker Players

 Hi Rodney

In our experience the only Menu that works well with iphone, is Telerik. which is why we switched our own sites such as salaro.com, properties.co.uk and meny of our customer sites to Telerik. The problem is that the behaviour you are after in PokerDIY is not available with Telerik. So I will do some research.

 

Salar

 

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Rodney,

Personally this is going to be a bit of a tough one.  I have personally tried MobiNuke and it did work quite well, but you still have some "issues" to deal with, but a smart skin design would work quite well.

Most sites DO have a specific iPhone version, take for example iphone.fandango.com.  With a DNN site, I almost think it would be needed as well, simply due to the very small screen size, if you want to present content that doesn't require them to scroll left to right.  Like the Facebook app.  You might need to make a few modifications to modules or something to allow the setting of an "Active Portal" to query cross portal. 

The first step might be to try mobinuke and see if it will get you want you want, if not, you will still at least have a DNN skin to work with that can be used on the mobile site as you go to build it up.

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-Mitchel Sellers
Microsoft MVP, ASPInsider, DNN MVP
CEO/Director of Development - IowaComputerGurus Inc.


Visit mitchelsellers.com for my mostly DNN Blog and support forum.

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