Low Effort, High Impact Mobile Web Development

Chad HaefeleReference Librarian for Emerging Technologies

UNC Chapel Hill – Davis LibrarycHaefele@email.unc.edu

7/23/09

Mobile use stats

32% of all Americans have gone online with a mobile device at some point in their lives

19% of Americans said they had yesterday accessed the internet on their mobile device 

Mobile use stats

44% of Americans do one or more of these tasks on their mobile phone in an average day:

Up from 32% in 2007

Source: “Wireless Internet Use”, Pew Internet & American Life Project, 7/22/09 (data gathered 4/09): http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/12-Wireless-Internet-Use.aspx

Text messaging

Taking a picture

Playing a game

Checking e-mail

Accessing the web

Recording Video

Instant Messaging

Playing Music

Getting Directions

Watching Video

Mobile stats

Informal survey on the UNC Davis Library website:

Plus 44 ‘other’ responses

Device differences

iPhone/Smartphone/Featurephone/Other

?

Device differences

Plain old phone

Device differences

Plain old phones have browsers too!

Development approaches1. Full iPhone application

http://www.screencast.com/t/yzFoclXdq7M

Development approaches1. Full iPhone application

Development approaches2. Web app - HTML

Development approaches3. Third-party

development

Worldcat mobile, developed and hosted by Boopsie.com

http://www.worldcat.org/m

UNC Mobile

Developed University-wide:

UNC library project

http://www.screencast.com/t/qrlHjGhnF

iUI

http://code.google.com/p/iui/

HTML development

Intro how-to article: http://www.k10design.net/articles/iui/

iUI

iUI - files

iUI – sample code

Main page:

<ul id="home" title="Home" selected="true">

<center><img src="header.jpg" width="320px" /></center>

<li><a href="#hours">Library Hours</a></li>

<li><a href=“#contact">Contact & Find Us</a></li>

<li><a href="#catalog">Catalog</a></li>

…

</ul>

iUI – sample code

Secondary page:

<ul id="hours" title="Davis Hours">

<center><img src="header.jpg" width="320px" /></center>

CONTENT HERE

</ul>

Which would you rather write?

UNC Library project Plain old phone:

UNC Library project Plain old phone:

UNC Library project Plain old phone:

Other examples:

NCSU University of Virginia

Other considerations

Local population Branding – what URL? Redirection – check user agents Promotion, or serendipity? Coolness factor

Our future plans

Adapting DCPL app Mobile catalog Test more widely Launch for fall Explore other platforms

Palm Pre Android

Lessons learned

Test, test, test! Develop partnerships on campus Get a device in your hands, and the hands of

stakeholders Piggyback off the work of others Iterate Use User-Agent switcher in development Pull in outside systems

Links UNC Library iPhone page (beta):

www.HiddenPeanuts.com/iPhoneTest3 UNC Library Plain Phone page (beta):

www.HiddenPeanuts.com/plain UNC Mobile:

m.unc.edu NCSU Library mobile page:

www.lib.ncsu.edu/m/ Duke Mobile:

m.duke.edu DCPL iPhone application:

www.dclibrarylabs.org/projects/iphone/ University of VA iPhone page:

m.lib.virginia.edu

Questions?

Photo credits: Phones: www.flickr.com/photos/27048731@N03/3506681531/ Plain phones: www.flickr.com/photos/joshb/27437522/ Plain phone browser: www.flickr.com/photos/kevincollins/1415091562/

Presentation online at: