Transcript Creating a FREE mobile website for your library

Taking Your Library Website
Mobile
Doug Baldwin
Systems Administrator
Cranbury Public Library
How many of you of YOU are
using a mobile device to access
the Internet these days?
Doug Baldwin talking about mobile
something or other. Can’t take my eyes
off him  #NJLAconf @govchristie
Wait…I thought it was still lunch time?
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Why have mobile website?
What is wrong with the one I have?
What are my options?
Mobile content
Q&A
We librarians love our stats…
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Morgan Stanley analysts predict that the mobile web
will be bigger than desktop Internet usage by 2015
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There will be 4.6 billion mobile cellular subscriptions
globally by year end 2009 (International
Telecommunications Union)
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Web visitors using mobile devices increased 34% from
2008-09. Interestingly, the largest demographic to
increase usage over that period were teens and
seniors. (Nielson Media)
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The number of US households using mobile devices to
access news and information more than doubled (to
63.2 million) between 2008-2009” (Comscore.com)
Among those users, 35% did so on a daily basis,
more than double the number from the year before
Oh yes, can’t get enough stats!!
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1/3 of US residents have used a cellular
or smart phone to access the Internet for
emailing, IM, or information seeking
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One a given day, 19% of Americans use
the Internet on a mobile device. This an
increase of 43% from 2007
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Among those using phones to access
the Internet, 46% say mobile access is
very important for getting information
online.
Information taken from 2009 Pew Internet and American Life
study entitled,
“Wireless Internet Usage”
What is wrong with my current
website “Mr. Know It All”?
Nothing!! I am sure it is fine… but,
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Web users are inpatient, so size matters
What is lost in the resizing of a site?
We design for the hardware, but the
hardware is changing
We are in the user experience business!
What can I do about it, I do not code for
mobile and I do not have time?!?
How does my current site look to the
“mobile” world
Instant Mobilizer
http://instantmobilizer.com
W3C Mobile Checker
http://validator.w3.org/mobile/
DotMobi Emulator
http://mtld.mobi/emulator.php
Mobiready
http://mobiready.com
User Agent Switcher for Firefox
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/59
Mobilizing Current Site: Tips and Tricks
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Conditional style sheet (not very easy)
Use percents, not absolute values
Use smaller images, link out to the larger
ones (or no images at all!)
Simplify your design
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Short links
Make content easy to find (navigation)
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One column layout
Limit multi-media, widgets, and dynamic
elements (link out)
Singular navigation
Most used content at the top
Click to call link
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<a href="tel:1-888-888-8888”>1-888-888-8888</a>
Creating a mobile website…
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Prioritize your content
 Make the tough choices
 Right content for the right medium
 Provide services that make “mobile sense”
Decide on your platform and hosting
 Vendor hosting vs. third party hosting
 Editor vs. hand coding
Test, test, test !!!!
 Patrons and staff
Promote, promote, promote !!!
 Flyers, website badge, bookmarks, social
networks
Think about maintaining content and editing
Wirenode.com
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Very easy WYSWYG editor
Low learning curve
Limited customization (color, template)
Integration of RSS, Twitter, one-click call,
Google maps, forms, and images
Ad supported for free version
Create multiple sites / “mobilize” blog
Remote hosting
Stat tracking
Test Drive / Live Site
Wapple.net
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Remote hosted (no export available)
Highly customizable (styles, content)
Content is modular
One size fits all (customized to multiple
mobile devices)
Higher learning curve than Wirenode
User statistics
RSS, comments, and other dynamic
content available as modules
Test Drive / Live Site
UNC Mobile Site Generator
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Developed by Chad Haefele at the Univ. of
North Carolina
Uses online form to create tiered navigation
for your site (a shell for the site)
Gives you framework for the site, content is
provided by you in coding environment
REQUIRES working knowledge of HTML
Highest level of flexibility and customization
Must host the site yourself
V1.1 allows integration of RSS feeds (still in
testing phase though)
You will want to plan you site layout B4 you
use the tool!
Test Drive / Live Site
How to we get users to our mobile site?
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Link on your website
Conditional CSS
Redirect via user agent string
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Detects whether user is on a
mobile device or not and directs
them to appropriate site (mobile or
non-mobile)
Is there a shortcut, Yes for some..
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Using Wordpress?
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Using Joomla?
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WPtouch
WP Mobile Edition
WPTap
MobileBot
Using Drupal
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Mobile for Drupal
And if your really in a pinch…
Try Google Mobile Optimizer
http://www.google.com/gwt/n
Try Mippin
http://mippinmaker.com
Providing mobile content…
Can you think of any others???
Questions
I would have skipped my own wedding
for this.. Love that Doug Baldwin 
#NJLAconf @govchristie
Cited Resources
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http://www.itu.int/newsroom/press_release/2009/39.html
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http://blog.nielson.com/nielsonwire/online_mobile/mobile-web-up34-percent-july-09
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http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2009/3/Da
ily_Mobile_Internet_Usage_Grows
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http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/12-Wireless-InternetUse.aspx
http://mashable.com/2010/04/13/mobile-web-stats/
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Contact Info
Doug Baldwin
Systems Administrator
Cranbury Public Library
[email protected]
Twitter / @baldwind1976
Facebook / http://facebook.com/cranburypl
Linked In / http://www.linkedin.com/in/db1976
Square 2 / http://tinyurl.com/sq2doug
609-655-0555
Presentation, links, and resources can be found at:
http://tinyurl.com/mobilelib