Creating a Mobile Library Presence

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 PCs
and 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

SPC’s Mobile Web Site was planned for the lowest common denominator. A “touch version” is coming soon (iPhone, Android etc.)
<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 />

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

Links to Google mobile maps.
Used http://xm.my/ to create short URLs to Google Maps.

Small Screen Rendering (260 px)
Small Screen
Desktop

QR (Quick Response) codes quickly guide people from physical objects to something digital.
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!
Photo by CoCreatr

QR codes can help promote your mobile/digital presence
Flyers
Handouts
Contact Info

Other QR Code ideas …
Office Door
Posters
ID Badge
Books

QR Generators and Readers
BeeTagg QR Generator: http://generator.beetagg.com/
BeeTaggMulticode Reader: http://www.beetagg.com/downloadreader
NeoReaderhttp://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 Opportunities
Challenges:
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

W3C mobileOK Checker http://validator.w3.org/mobile/

Ready.mobi http://ready.mobi

Important: ask your users what they want and watch them using your mobile site.

Select ResourcesMehta, 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 Helsingorhttp://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

Contact Information
mairn.chad@spcollege.edu
(727) 341.7181
+ 1 (727) 537.6405
chadmairn@gmail.com
@cmairn
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

Creating a Mobile Library Presence

by St. Petersburg College on Jul 13, 2010

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Creating a Mobile Library Presence — Presentation Transcript