By: Alice Sneary

Alice Sneary — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:46:37 +0000

Thanks Chad. We’ve been talking about these very issues with the WorldCat.org site and making it more mobile-ready. So your comments help reinforce what we’ve also been thinking. That said, I do want to make sure your readers know–the WorldCat Mobile pilot IS available as an app for phones that support apps, but is ALSO available as a Web “lite” version for phones that do not support apps. (The http://www.worldcat.org/m page automatically sniffs what your phone accepts.) The Web “lite” version is not as robust as the full WorldCat.org site functionality, scaled for mobile use. BUT anyone with a Web-enabled phone should at least be able to try out the WorldCat Mobile pilot and send feedback–which is very much encouraged. (No one should be left out in the cold!) We’re still very much in “pilot” stage and take feedback very seriously about the direction we need to go in for mobile.

By: Brian Payst

Brian Payst — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 03:06:59 +0000

As you might guess, I couldn’t agree more! Much simpler to use a mobile web interface to pick up a variety of devices and reformat for those as needed. It makes porting new content to mobile dead simple. For example, I took ITS’s labs page, ran it through a little PHP to cut out just the content I wanted and had a mobile computer lab app in under 15 minutes. The native app route would have meant republishing the app through the various stores, getting users to update, etc. Mobile web apps are way more flexible and allow you to roll out new stuff by simply updating the page. Next time someone visits they get the new tools.

Comments on: Mobile apps vs. Mobile web

By: Alice Sneary

By: Brian Payst