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Heya, Lots of good suggestions from everybody in the thread so far. Great resources. So, I am in the camp that's generally opposed to libraries going the native app route - unless they already have a solid mobile-first responsive website and blah blah blah. First thing's first. I am going to self-plug, here, so--er--sorry. A few years ago I gave a talk on future friendly web design that was a direct response to the call to spin-up library apps - mostly for libraries with limited resources to spin-up library apps. It's a little dated, but you can find it here: http://talks.ns4lib.com/future-friendly/. The big tl;dr is a slide on Designing Ethically, which sez: * Developing for specific platforms targets only the handful that own the device. * Developing for enough platforms to be inclusive is costly. * Designing for specific screens--for instance, a desktop website and a mobile website--will inevitably miss the mark. * It is a disservice if a library pursues a web strategy that inevitably caters to less than the majority of its patrons * It is wasteful if a library pursues a web strategy that requires substantial retrofitting or a redesign more than once a year. * Seek ubiquity Years later, Brian Pichman, Amanda Goodman, and I talk about web vs. native on the #libux podcast here: http://libux.co/005-web-vs-native-brian-pichman/ Michael -----Original Message----- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jonathan Rochkind Sent: Tuesday, October 07, 2014 3:31 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Library app basics It's perhaps a little bit outdated by now, since things change so fast, but there is a Code4Lib Journal article on one library's approach a few years ago, which you may find useful. http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/5014 And, actually, googling for that one, I found several other ones too on library app mobile development, which I haven't actually read myself yet: http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/7336 http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/2055 http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/2947 On 10/7/14 2:51 PM, Will Martin wrote: > My boss has directed me to start looking into producing a phone app > for the library, or better yet finding a way to integrate with the > existing campus-wide app. Could I pick the list's brains? > > 1) Is there some tolerably decent cross-platform app language, or am I > going to be learning 3 different languages for iOS, Android, and > Windows phone? I've dabbled in all kinds of things, but my > bread-and-butter work has been PHP on a LAMP stack. Apps aren't > written in that, so new language time. > > 2) The library's selection of mobile devices consists of 2 iPads and a > Galaxy tablet. We don't have phones for testing. My personal phone > is a 12-year-old flip phone which doesn't run apps. Can I get by with > emulators? What are some good ones? The budget for the project is > zero, so I don't think dedicated testing devices are in the cards > unless I upgrade my own phone, which I probably ought to anyway. > > 3) What are some best practices for library app design? We were > thinking the key functionality would be personal account management > (what have I got checked out, renew my stuff, etc), hours, lab > availability, search the catalog, and ask a librarian. Anything > missing? Too much stuff? > > Will Martin > > Web Services Librarian > Chester Fritz Library > > P.S. I sent this a couple days ago and wondered why it hadn't shown > up > -- only to realize I accidently sent it to [log in to unmask] rather > than the actual list serv address. Whoops, embarrassing! > >