I am less of a coder myself and more of a lurker, but I'm familiar with the
app development scene for games on mobile phones, and I would suggest
taking a look at http://xamarin.com/, which not only provides a platform
for cross-platform development in C# (code once and it runs on darn near
anything), but also has a service for cloud testing on simulated devices,
so that you can test your app without having a bunch of different tablets
and phones on hand. I don't know what the prices are like; I know that a
license for Unity, the game engine that's based on this platform, can be a
bit pricey (though cheap compared to other engines).

On Tue, Oct 7, 2014 at 7:17 PM, Will Martin <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Lots of good info here, thanks.
>
>  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.
>>
>
> That's the idea: make our stuff available through phones. And I agree, an
> app makes little sense.  Sadly, it's not my choice to make -- that decision
> was made further up the chain of command, without consulting me.
>
>  Your website looks homegrown [...] you might consider Drupal or WordPress
>> ...
>>
>
> Ye gods, I wish it were homegrown.  I'd have done a better job of it.  Or
> rather, I'd have done it in Drupal, which I worked with for years at a
> different institution, including developing custom themes and modules.
> Drupal's a solid system.  I miss it.
>
> But no, we're stuck in a poor excuse for a CMS called "OmniUpdate", which
> is written in an unholy mixture of XSLT and Cold Fusion.  It was selected
> by the marketing department, is mandated across the campus, and makes my
> job way harder than it has to be.  OmniUpdate is damage to work around, not
> a system to work with.
>
> I've done the best I can with it, but there are limits.  In theory, an
> OmniUpdate site can be made responsive -- but in this case, that means
> making the entire campus web infrastructure responsive, because we share a
> common template with the entire university.  That's a good idea which
> probably needs to happen, but also a MASSIVE undertaking -- largely because
> it rapidly gets into some fairly heated campus politics.
>
> So in the meantime, I'm going to do research on this and put together a
> project prospectus laying out the possible approaches and challenges, to
> see if my bosses really want me to do this.  If the really do, it'll
> probably eat all of my time and then some for the foreseeable future.
>
> Will Martin
>