Mobile Development

WiLSWorld 2010
Rebecca J. Holz
UW-Madison
Ebling Library
Mobile Then
IBM Simon in Charging Station - Wikimedia Commons
Mobile Now
Mobile Soon
Why Mobile Matters

or does it?
 % of all American adults who have accessed the internet
on a mobile device: 
• 2007: 24% 
• 2009: 32%
 
% of cell phone owners who go online wirelessly:
• April 2009: 32%
• May 2010: 40%
 
% of cell/pda owners that go online daily:
• 2007: 7%
• 2009: 14%
 
 
Source: Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, April 29 - May 29, 2010
 

 
Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Operating System in 2009
(Thousands of Units). Source: Gartner.
What's your mobile traffic pattern?
Content

• Library Hours & Locations

• Library Catalog
• Floor Plans
• Library Tours
• Computers & Laptops
• Ask a Librarian
• Directories
• Mobile Databases, e-books, and e-journals
Stilleben - Floris van Dyck
Flickr - Mrs. Gemstone
Search is Important
OSU OPAC Search
OSU OPAC Search
Mobile Approaches

• Do Nothing
• Mobile Site
• Web App
• Native App
• Hybrid
Scrape TV http://scrapetv.com
Mobile Site

• traditional approach
• often very basic
• can be developed FOR mobiles (better), or a retrofit (better
than nothing :)
• may be select or otherwise tailored content
• may have mobile-specific CSS (strip images, styling, etc.) 
• easier to obtain device & browser interoperability (LCD)
• low barrier to development
• faster and easier to implement
Web App

• can be device specific, agnostic, but probably somewhere in

between
• HTML5 + CSS3 = crazy delicious
• behaves a lot more like a native app
• looks a lot more like a native app
• often can be added to screen like a native app
• when prettiness counts...
OSU, USA Biomedical Library, and Johns Hopkins Web Apps
Native App

• device-specific
• differences languages, & tools
• development very different from web site
• offline access
• better performance
• integration with device applications
• list in the app store
iPhone/iPodTouch/iPad
Boopsie iPhone Apps
WorldCat Mobile
Mobile Brown University Library
Hybrid
Ebling Library Mobile
it all began with a 2D barcode
Why we targeted iUsers

• it's all about the usage, baby

• …and the usability
• …ok, and a little bit of the hype cycle, too :|
Why we went web app

• iUI
• Good match with my skill set
• I didn’t have time to learn ObjectiveC or Cocoa
• I didn't have a lot of time period
• looks and feels a lot like a mobile app
• all the cool kids were doing it
Our Audience

www.businesspundit.com
Ingredients

• HTML HTML5 + CSS3

• CSS
• JavaScript
• iUI
• PHP
• RSS
Haves and Have Nots

Haves Have Nots

• current content • chat
• hours • library catalog
• ask a librarian • patron record
• SMS • visual galleries
• directories • customization
• study rooms • virtual tours
• available laptops • stacks guide
• e-resources • instructional content
• mobile resources
 
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fall-back plan
Testing: Emulators & Simulators

Device Emulators OS Emulators

• Apple (iPhone) • Microsoft (Windows Mobile)
• RIM (BlackBerry) • Google (Android)
• Samsung • Nokia
• Palm  
• LG Browser Emulators
• Motorola • Opera Mini
• Openwave
 Why, I hardly noticed
that web app under
there at all!

Golding, Harry, editor. Fairy Tales. Margaret Tarrant, illustrator. London: Ward, Lock & Co., 1915.
 Mobile Site

Full Site

Text Only
Looking Forward
• much better device detection
• pay more attention to non iOS devices
• catalog search
• e-research search
• chat
• promotion
• look and feel in sync with site design
• housecleaning
• food!
• user testing and assessment
• robust statistics
RESOURCES

Mobile Access 2010 (Pew Report)

http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Mobile-Access-2010.aspx

IUI Library
http://code.google.com/p/iui/
 
iUI 0.13  - An Overview 
http://www.k10design.net/articles/iui/

M-Libraries, Library Success - a best practices wiki 

http://www.libsuccess.org/index.php?title=M-Libraries
 
iWebKit
http://iwebkit.net/
Mobile Detection Script
http://detectmobilebrowsers.mobi/

Opera Mini Simulator

http://www.opera.com/mini/demo/

Opera Mobile Emulator and Mini Simulator

http://www.opera.com/developer/tools

TestiPhone.com - iPhone Application Simulator

http://www.testiphone.com/

iPadPeek.com
http://ipadpeek.com/

 
Thank You!