Skyscript Astrology Forum

Konrad wrote:I can't recommend both Delphic Oracle and Porphyrius Magus enough. The former for its ease of use, its simplicity in presentation, the range of time-lord systems and the Primary Directions model; the latter for the fixed star modules and the planetary visiblity calculations.

Thanks Konrad! I've made the jump to cross platform so it is only a matter of time before I have native MacOSX, Android and iOS versions out. The whole field is moving in this direction and I expect that most other companies will have cross platform versions of their software out soon. It's no longer the major impediment that it used to be.

zoidsoft wrote:I've made the jump to cross platform so it is only a matter of time before I have native MacOSX, Android and iOS versions out.

I look forward to this Curtis - I'm less concerned about the iOS and Android versions, but a MacOSX version would be greatly appreciated by a lot of people I think.

Yair Alon, like others, I find the list of options given in this poll here very much incomplete - I use a mixture of different softwares depending on what platform I am on and what I am looking to do. I use astro.com when online to draw up a quick chart, I use Morinus to quickly look at a primary direction (because it's available for Mac), and to do anything else, for anything else, particularly for things like zodiacal releasing or when I'm looking at a plethora of traditional techniques in tandem, then I'll use Delphic Oracle.

I think it would have been nice to have included Delphic Oracle in the poll, but really even then I would have wanted to click more than one box either way.

Janus for most work (60%)

Solar Fire for specialty techniques (20%)

Polaris for rectification and Topocentric Primary Directions (20%)

zoidsoft wrote:I've made the jump to cross platform so it is only a matter of time before I have native MacOSX, Android and iOS versions out.

Hi Curtis,

I don't know how experienced are you with cross-platform tools and different devices, but as I told you by email, I've exchanged native cross-platform tools (Qt) for the web. The web is, in my opinion, the ultimate cross-platform framework. Even smartTV's nowadays have a web browser built-in..

However, my suggestion would be for you to focus first on a OSX port if you plan to keep the interface similar to what you have now.

Android and iOS devices need, in my opinion and mostly everyone's opinion you find on the internet, different User Interfaces and new designs. For instance, you have to rely mostly on touch and have touchable areas around 48dp (see google guidelines here). Also, a smaller screen area implies less content displayed at once, so you have to rethink on how to display that information and in what order.

If I were to redo now my work on cross-platforms frameworks, I would plan for two different versions (desktop and mobile) and try to share the maximum of code between both versions (astrology calculations, chart drawings, etc.).


Good luck,
Jo?o Ventura

jventura wrote:

zoidsoft wrote:I've made the jump to cross platform so it is only a matter of time before I have native MacOSX, Android and iOS versions out.

The web is, in my opinion, the ultimate cross-platform framework. Even smartTV's nowadays have a web browser built-in..

Hi jventura,

I agree, AstroApp prove that BUT I could't know how popular would be the web-astrology interface in the future, Facebook astro-app would be the coolest thing all around BUT every decent astrologer would rather like to have it INSTALLED on his HD, it's a matter of integrity and trust in what we call authorship, so my vote goes to Curtis :-)

regards

at999 wrote: BUT every decent astrologer would rather like to have it INSTALLED on his HD, it's a matter of integrity and trust in what we call authorship

Yes, I considered that "perception" too! I think it depends on whether or not you trust the person that has implemented the system.

But these are interesting times that we are living, and sometimes I wish I could predict the future!


Jo?o Ventura

jventura wrote:

at999 wrote: BUT every decent astrologer would rather like to have it INSTALLED on his HD, it's a matter of integrity and trust in what we call authorship

I think it depends on whether or not you trust the person that has implemented the system.

By default, I do trust BUT the product is for seeing not the author!
Anyway, the desktop apps will never die :-)

at999 wrote:By default, I do trust BUT the product is for seeing not the author!

Well, the author makes the product, and that is more explicit on smaller developer teams.

at999 wrote:Anyway, the desktop apps will never die :-)

I hope not, I use quite a lot of them!

Anyway, to clarify some terms, web framework does not necessarily mean the internet. You can have real desktop apps made entirely of web technologies.

For instance, my app Elements is made using web tools but runs natively in a Mac. The screen on the following picture is actually a screenshot of it running on my Mac. The current trend seems to be for increasingly more bluriness on what is a desktop app and what is a web app in the future.

Regards,
Jo?o Ventura (http://www.flatangle.com)

at999 wrote: By default, I do trust BUT the product is for seeing not the author!
Anyway, the desktop apps will never die :-)

Trust but verify . I can give you a free short-term access to AstroApp Pro so that you can check how the system works if that helps . PM me for details.
I guess you can think of AstroApp (or any cloud app for that matter) in terms of regular email services. We have desktop email clients along with Gmail for example and they are able to happily co-exist.
Today everybody is using online email systems but come to think of it, users do not own their emails, never have been and never will. On top of that our government can always subpoena email providers (google, yahoo, etc) and get full access to your emails. Yet this doesn't stop people from using online mail. I realize that with astrology programs the feeling is different but the underlying principles are exactly the same.
As for desktop apps that will never die, in my experience they're dying along with desktops quite literally. 10 years ago my old version of Janus had died when my desktop/HD crashed. That's how AstroApp was born.
But you're right, it doesn't look like desktop apps are ever going to die as a breed.

Happy New Year!

Gene

Hi Gene,

I do understand what you're writing about BUT if you can, please, do share with us the approx. number of active users of AstroApp system (if it isn't a secret) and I'll foretell you the future of web-based astrology apps!
If the number goes above 5000 AstroApp it rocks, if not it's another story then!
Don't let me be misunderstood, there is a rumor that AstroApp compiles the ideas and features from the astrological desktop apps, not vice versa!
I may say there are so many good desktop's astro-apps in English, German, Russian, Spanish and the only one web-based - yours, so far Joao

Regards
Nick

I recognize the list I initially gave is too small and far from perfect. But I thought that it was possible to add options later on, after the poll was created. I hoped people would start mentioning other softwares (like they did) and that I could update the poll. But this is not the case, unfortunately, am I right?

If there is a way to update the poll I'll do so and add options.

at999 wrote: Don't let me be misunderstood, there is a rumor that AstroApp compiles the ideas and features from the astrological desktop apps, not vice versa!
I may say there are so many good desktop's astro-apps in English, German, Russian, Spanish and the only one web-based - yours, so far Joao

Regards
Nick

Hi Nick,

I think that's exactly where the fundamental misunderstanding of cloud vs on-premise software projects lies. The cloud is not about the features, it's about delivery and deployment paradigm shift. Take Google Docs for example. It has the same features as MS Word (a small subset actually). Yet it has its niche of users. There is only so much you can do in the word processing area. Same applies to astrology - whether it's a cloud app or a desktop app both must be able to draw charts, let users configure calculation parameters, do things like progressions and primary directions and so on.

That being said, the cloud does allow doing certain things that would have never been possible with desktop applications (and vise versa). For instance, I created the AstroScribe tool in AstroApp that no other program has. The tool allows you to create session reports in real time and take notes during your working sessions. And by notes I mean charts, tables, diagrams, snapshots of what you're doing and so on. Then all that can be shared in real time with other AstroApp users, online, or with clients. There are plenty of other features in AstroApp that are completely unique but are not specific to the cloud concept. And every astrology program out there has similarities and every program has its unique features regardless of the way customers access it.

thanks
gene