Creating a Mobile Library Presence
Presented July 13th by Chad Mairn for Trendy Topics 2010. http://www.slideshare.net/chadmairn
In this session learn:• Why libraries should have a mobile presence.
• How to use Google Analytics or some other web analytic tool to decide what to include on your mobile web page.
• To code or not to code using WYSIWYG editors and other mobile tools.
• To create links to Google, Yahoo! and other mobile maps.
• Ways to generate and use QR codes to help promote your mobile presence.
• Solutions to common challenges in mobile development.
Why libraries should have a mobile presence.
“Mobile phones create new kinds of bounded places that merge the infrastructures of geography and technology, as well as techno-social practices thatmerge technical standards and social norms." (Moll, 2007, p.12)
The mobile web is connecting people to information while they are on the go, so this is a great space for libraries!
Plus mobile phones have surpassed PCsand landline phones combined, so your potential audience is huge!
“Fundamentally, 'mobile' refers to the user, not the
device or application.”
Barbara Ballard Designing the Mobile User Experience
… can help one decide what to include.
Note: with Google Analytics you can determine how your user’s are accessing your mobile site (e.g., mobile devices, carriers, browsers , OS’s, screen resolution etc.)
Important: ask your users what they want.
Example Mobile Library Websites
<p><a class="call" href="tel:17273417177" accesskey="0">Call the Library</a> | (727) 341-7177<br />
<a href="wtai://wp/ap;+17273417177; SPC%20Library">[Add to Phone Book]</a><br />
SPC’s Mobile Web Site was planned for the lowest common denominator. A “touch version” is coming soon (iPhone, Android etc.)
To code or not to code using WYSIWYG
editors and other mobile tools.
Editors and Tools• You can use a simple text editor (e.g., Notepad) or a more sophisticated application
(e.g., Dreamweaver).
• Adobe Device Central is part of Adobe’s CS.
• iUI: http://code.google.com/p/iui/ for iPhone.
• MIT Mobile Web Open Source Project http://sourceforge.net/projects/mitmobileweb/
• Device detection? http://detectmobilebrowsers.mobi/
• To see your browser's HTTP Headers. Works on mobile browsers. http://rabin.mobi/http
• Web Developer Toolbar in Firefox: Select Miscellaneous >>> Small Screen Rendering (260 px) >>> the layout will be reformatted to simulate rendering by a mobile browser.
Small Screen Rendering (260 px)Desktop Small Screen
Emulators/Simulators: • dotMobi Emulator - http://mtld.mobi/emulator.php
• Opera Mini Simulator - http://www.opera.com/mobile/demo/
• Mimic - emulates European and Japanese models: N400i and N505i. http://pukupi.com/post/2059
• Android Emulator - http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/emulator.html
• BlackBerry Device Simulators - https://www.blackberry.com/Downloads/entry.do?code=060AD92489947D410D897474079C1477
• iPhone Dev Center: http://developer.apple.com/iphone/
• Palm Pre - http://developer.palm.com/
• Windows Mobile - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsmobile/default.aspx
• JAVA ME - Java Platform Micro Edition was termed J2ME. It is considered one of the most ubiquitous application platform for mobile devices. http://java.sun.com/javame/reference/apis.jsp
Emulated Website
Mobile Site Desktop Site
Small Screen Rendering (260 px)
Desktop
Small Screen
QR (Quick Response) codes quickly guide people from physical objects to something digital.
Photo by CoCreatr
1. Install a QR Reader on your phone.
2. Take a quick photo of the code.
3. Be directed from physical reality to something digital!
QR codes can help promote your
mobile/digital presence
Handouts
Flyers
Contact Info
Other QR Code ideas …
ID Badge
Posters
Books
Office Door
QR Generators and Readers
• BeeTagg QR Generator: http://generator.beetagg.com/
• BeeTagg Multicode Reader: http://www.beetagg.com/downloadreader
• NeoReader http://www.neoreader.com/
• NeoReader Code Generator: http://www.neoreader.com/code.html
• ZXing Project: http://zxing.appspot.com/generator/ [Can generate codes for calendar events, contact information, email address, Geo location, phone number, SMS, text, URL, and Wifi network.]
Solutions to common challenges in mobile
development.
Challenges and OpportunitiesChallenges: small screen size difficulty of data input user agent (browser) inconsistencies markup rendering
Opportunities: location specific data on-the-go messaging voice communication
Source: (Moll, 2007, p.21)
Four Methods (http://www.cameronmoll.com/archives/000428.html)
1. Do nothing and hope the site is rendered okay.
2. Reduce images and styling. (Mowser.com and Skweezer.net - reformats sites for mobile.)
3. Use handheld style sheets.
<link href="mobile.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="handheld" />
CSS can remove unnecessary styling and content.
For example: /* Handheld styles */ body {background-image:none;} #sidebar-ads {display: none;}
4. Create Mobile-optimized content. If your mobile site can’t be used while on the go, then you may want to consider removing it.
Testing and validation
Page Speed in Firebug
Important: ask your users what they want and watch them using your mobile site.
Select Resources
Mehta, N. (2008). Mobile web development: Building mobile websites, SMS and MMS messaging, mobile payments, and automated voice call systems with XHTML MP, WCSS, and mobile AJAX. Birmingham [England: Packt Pub.]
Moll, Cameron. Mobile Web Design: A Web Standards Approach for Delivering Content to Mobile Devices. Salt Lake City, UT: Cameron Moll, 2007. Print.
Stark, J. (2010). Building iPhone apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Farnham: O'Reilly.
Ting, R., & Cartman, J. (2009). Strategic mobile design: Creating engaging experiences. Berkeley, CA: New Riders.
Mobile Friendly Library Websites by Fleur Helsingor http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/digicoll/libraryweb/mobile-websites.pdf
Developing the MIT Mobile Web: http://www.nercomp.org/data/media/3.%20Developing%20the%20MIT%20Mobile%20Web.pdf
2010 Horizon Report: http://wp.nmc.org/horizon2010/
Mobile User Experience (MEX) Conference (Manifesto: http://www.mobileuserexperience.com/?p=326
XHTML Mobile Profile / XHTML MP Tutorial http://www.developershome.com/wap/xhtmlmp/
Comparison of CSS 2.1, CSS MP, WCSS and CSS Level 1 http://mobiforge.com/designing/story/comparison-css-21-css-mp-wcss-and-css-level-1
Mobile Browser ID (User-Agent) Strings http://zytrax.com/tech/web/mobile_ids.html
User Agent Switcher extension for Firefox http://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/59/
Page Speed works in Firebug http://code.google.com/speed/page-speed/
APIs and Mashups For The Rest Of Us http://www.digital-web.com/articles/apis_and_mashups/
Mobile Marketing Association http://mmaglobal.com/main
(727) 341.7181
+ 1 (727) 537.6405
With your phone take a quick photo of this code and you’ll be directed to my mobile contact page. For the software, visit http://www.beetagg.com
Contact Information
@cmairn
