You don't say what this app is supposed to do, and that might influence your decision.
If you are going to provide services that are on your website, it likely makes little sense to build apps. Your website looks homegrown, so you might want to consider using your resources to rebuild it in a CMS system, preferably free and open-source, and since you are comfortable with PHP and LAMP, you might consider Drupal or WordPress, both of which offer responsive themes and are supported in the library community.
Cary
On Oct 7, 2014, at 11:51 AM, Will Martin <[log in to unmask]> 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!
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