Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Mobile catalog?
Quoting Buzzy Nielsen bu...@hoodriverlibrary.org: Hi everyone, Does anyone out there have a TPAC mobile catalog? We've been tentatively exploring the possibility of having a mobile catalog here in the Sage Library System, but we don't quite know where to get started. Is there already a mobile skin included with 2.2 or 2.3? If not, would anyone care to share templates of their mobile catalog with us? Bill Erickson demoed something very briefly at the last conference. It was a proof of concept mobile interface built on tpac. I have lost the details, perhaps Bill can chime in? Thanks for any help that you can provide! Cheers! Buzzy Nielsen Library Director Hood River County Library District 502 State St Hood River, OR 97031 541-387-7062 http://hoodriverlibrary.org -- Jason Stephenson Assistant Director for Technology Services Merrimack Valley Library Consortium Chief Bug Wrangler, Evergreen ILS
Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Mobile catalog?
On Thu, Nov 08, 2012 at 09:06:13AM -0500, Ben Shum wrote: I think you're thinking of the Bill Erickson's Beanstalk simple TPAC that was a sample mobile catalog. http://git.evergreen-ils.org/?p=working/Evergreen.git;a=shortlog;h=refs/heads/collab/berick/beanstalk Also, I guess Bill Ott, GRPL took that code and ran with it some. See http://catalog.grpl.org/eg/tinypac/home which is what I get when browsing them from my phone. Yep. I will admit to deliberately not mentioning beanstalk in my initial response because I think the approach of carving out different sets of HTML for different browsers (whether mobile or desktop based) is difficult to test and maintain, versus defining the content that you want in your HTML once and changing the layout via CSS based on the display capabilities of the consuming browser. And it seems that Google, at least, agrees that responsive design is the best practice: https://developers.google.com/webmasters/smartphone-sites/details
Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Mobile catalog?
On 11/08/2012 09:06 AM, Ben Shum wrote: I think you're thinking of the Bill Erickson's Beanstalk simple TPAC that was a sample mobile catalog. http://git.evergreen-ils.org/?p=working/Evergreen.git;a=shortlog;h=refs/heads/collab/berick/beanstalk Also, I guess Bill Ott, GRPL took that code and ran with it some. See http://catalog.grpl.org/eg/tinypac/home which is what I get when browsing them from my phone. You were one step ahead of me Ben. I just pushed those files out for anyone interested. It was an itch I was scratching one day, and is largely unstyled, but very lightweight. The additions I made to the Beanstalk concept were the myopac features. https://github.com/grpl-eg/rel_2_2/commit/c4aa4a5939806bb557a53bde6f712b45d118e996
Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Mobile catalog?
Hi all, I don't know the best way to develop and maintain an Evergreen mobile site, but I wouldn't say the native catalog is particularly mobile friendly. The GRPL example is much closer to what I would call a mobile friendly site. I would expect the mobile catalog to be more stripped down than the native tpac skin. I visited some 2.3/master catalogs after reading the initial e-mail, and I still need to do zooming as soon as I reach the catalog to read the screen. What I would envision on a truly mobile site is: 1. On the main catalog page, I am immediately presented with a search box front and center, similar to what happens when I arrive at Google's mobile site. Font sizes should be bigger so I don't need to zoom. I would expect the filters to be below the search box to fit to the screen better, as we see in the GRPL mobile site. However, even on the GRPL site, I need to zoom to get that search box front and center. A prominent link to My Account would also be needed. Many libraries use the bottom space of their main page for graphic images, search tips, or other extraneous material. I wouldn't want to see that piece of the page displaying on a mobile site because it takes up valuable real estate. 2. On the search results page, I want to see a list of titles that, once again, is front and center without the need to do any zooming. I think the bibliographic information should be minimal on a mobile site and the place hold link prominent. I would also like to see the call number for the library I am searching here. We often think of users searching a mobile catalog from home, but, as a library user, I never use the public catalogs in my library anymore. I find it much more convenient to walk around the stacks with my iPhone in hand. I would either entirely scratch the facets on the search results page or find another way to provide access to them. For example, in a typical browser, Amazon provides limiters in the left sidebar of its search results. When I access Amazon on my phone, those limiters are located at the bottom of the screen, and I get a Choose a Department option at the top of my search results that brings me to those limiters. 3. The mobile catalog should also have the ability to link to the full version of the catalog (as I saw in the GRPL example) so that people who want to access added content or features can do so. In those cases, the person is actively choosing to do that pinching and zooming dance. 4. Geolocation would also be a great addition to the catalog, particularly for consortia and multi-branch libraries. It could identify the library that is nearest to the user and possibly set it as the default search location. I don't remember where I saw them, but I recall seeing some screenshots last summer from the GSOC project to build an Evergreen Android app. If I remember correctly, the app did a lot of the things identified above. Personally, I prefer a mobile site over an app because I'm guessing some users won't want to go through the trouble of downloading an app to search the catalog. Also, as an iPhone owner, the Android app wouldn't be useful to me. I'm curious if others have thoughts on what would make the catalog more mobile friendly. Kathy Kathy Lussier Project Coordinator Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative (508) 343-0128 kluss...@masslnc.org Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier On 11/8/2012 9:34 AM, Dan Scott wrote: On Thu, Nov 08, 2012 at 09:06:13AM -0500, Ben Shum wrote: I think you're thinking of the Bill Erickson's Beanstalk simple TPAC that was a sample mobile catalog. http://git.evergreen-ils.org/?p=working/Evergreen.git;a=shortlog;h=refs/heads/collab/berick/beanstalk Also, I guess Bill Ott, GRPL took that code and ran with it some. See http://catalog.grpl.org/eg/tinypac/home which is what I get when browsing them from my phone. Yep. I will admit to deliberately not mentioning beanstalk in my initial response because I think the approach of carving out different sets of HTML for different browsers (whether mobile or desktop based) is difficult to test and maintain, versus defining the content that you want in your HTML once and changing the layout via CSS based on the display capabilities of the consuming browser. And it seems that Google, at least, agrees that responsive design is the best practice: https://developers.google.com/webmasters/smartphone-sites/details
Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Mobile catalog?
On Thu, Nov 08, 2012 at 10:46:53AM -0500, Kathy Lussier wrote: Hi all, I don't know the best way to develop and maintain an Evergreen mobile site, but I wouldn't say the native catalog is particularly mobile friendly. The GRPL example is much closer to what I would call a mobile friendly site. I would expect the mobile catalog to be more stripped down than the native tpac skin. I visited some 2.3/master catalogs after reading the initial e-mail, and I still need to do zooming as soon as I reach the catalog to read the screen. What I would envision on a truly mobile site is: 1. On the main catalog page, I am immediately presented with a search box front and center, similar to what happens when I arrive at Google's mobile site. Font sizes should be bigger so I don't need to zoom. I would expect the filters to be below the search box to fit to the screen better, as we see in the GRPL mobile site. However, even on the GRPL site, I need to zoom to get that search box front and center. A prominent link to My Account would also be needed. Many libraries use the bottom space of their main page for graphic images, search tips, or other extraneous material. I wouldn't want to see that piece of the page displaying on a mobile site because it takes up valuable real estate. 2. On the search results page, I want to see a list of titles that, once again, is front and center without the need to do any zooming. I think the bibliographic information should be minimal on a mobile site and the place hold link prominent. I would also like to see the call number for the library I am searching here. We often think of users searching a mobile catalog from home, but, as a library user, I never use the public catalogs in my library anymore. I find it much more convenient to walk around the stacks with my iPhone in hand. I would either entirely scratch the facets on the search results page or find another way to provide access to them. For example, in a typical browser, Amazon provides limiters in the left sidebar of its search results. When I access Amazon on my phone, those limiters are located at the bottom of the screen, and I get a Choose a Department option at the top of my search results that brings me to those limiters. 3. The mobile catalog should also have the ability to link to the full version of the catalog (as I saw in the GRPL example) so that people who want to access added content or features can do so. In those cases, the person is actively choosing to do that pinching and zooming dance. 4. Geolocation would also be a great addition to the catalog, particularly for consortia and multi-branch libraries. It could identify the library that is nearest to the user and possibly set it as the default search location. I don't remember where I saw them, but I recall seeing some screenshots last summer from the GSOC project to build an Evergreen Android app. If I remember correctly, the app did a lot of the things identified above. Personally, I prefer a mobile site over an app because I'm guessing some users won't want to go through the trouble of downloading an app to search the catalog. Also, as an iPhone owner, the Android app wouldn't be useful to me. I'm curious if others have thoughts on what would make the catalog more mobile friendly. Thanks for the concrete suggestions. Almost all of this can be achieved via CSS, possibly with some changes to the underlying HTML (e.g. tables to divs or whatever so that Place Hold appears under the bib info instead of way over to the right). I don't see anything that suggests a need for two distinct versions of HTML in your wish list. Geolocation functionality could be supported for desktop browsers too, but be careful in how you implement it. If you go to branch1.example.com in your browser and get redirected to automatically searching branch2 instead of branch1, that's probably going to break user expectations.
Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Mobile catalog?
Thanks, everyone, for this very productive discussion. I especially like Kathy's recommendations. Providing a more mobile-accessible interface for My Account to allow for easier renewing would also be nice. As Kathy mentioned, larger font sizes would help immensely and probably some slightly different layout. Personally, I'm trying to avoid the need for some sort of app. I know that Boopsie has designed iOS and Android apps for systems running Evergreen, But I think it's a lot more accessible, and less hassle, for our patrons if we don't require them to go out and download a separate app to access something that can be made accessible without one. Thanks for all of your great work on this! Cheers! Buzzy Nielsen Sadly not a web or application developer, but a pleased Evergreen user Library Director Hood River County Library District 502 State St Hood River, OR 97031 541-387-7062 http://hoodriverlibrary.org On 11/08/2012 08:24 AM, Dan Scott wrote: On Thu, Nov 08, 2012 at 10:46:53AM -0500, Kathy Lussier wrote: Thanks for the concrete suggestions. Almost all of this can be achieved via CSS, possibly with some changes to the underlying HTML (e.g. tables to divs or whatever so that Place Hold appears under the bib info instead of way over to the right). I don't see anything that suggests a need for two distinct versions of HTML in your wish list. Geolocation functionality could be supported for desktop browsers too, but be careful in how you implement it. If you go to branch1.example.com in your browser and get redirected to automatically searching branch2 instead of branch1, that's probably going to break user expectations.
Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Mobile catalog?
On Thursday, November 8, 2012 at 2:30:59 PM Buzzy Nielsen bu...@hoodriverlibrary.org wrote: I think it's a lot more accessible, and less hassle, for our patrons if we don't require them to go out and download a separate app to access something that can be made accessible without one. It also includes those (like myself) who use other mobile platforms (such as Windows Mobile) that aren't based on iOS or Android Aaron Z Jr. Systems Administrator Pioneer Library System 2557 State Rt. 21 Canandaigua, New York 14424 Phone: (585) 394-8260
Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Mobile catalog?
On Thu, Nov 08, 2012 at 04:10:38PM -0500, Aaron Zsembery wrote: On Thursday, November 8, 2012 at 2:30:59 PM Buzzy Nielsen bu...@hoodriverlibrary.org wrote: I think it's a lot more accessible, and less hassle, for our patrons if we don't require them to go out and download a separate app to access something that can be made accessible without one. It also includes those (like myself) who use other mobile platforms (such as Windows Mobile) that aren't based on iOS or Android And as one of the token Canucks in the room, Blackberries / Playbooks :)
Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Mobile catalog?
On Nov 7, 2012 6:58 PM, Buzzy Nielsen bu...@hoodriverlibrary.org wrote: Hi everyone, Does anyone out there have a TPAC mobile catalog? We've been tentatively exploring the possibility of having a mobile catalog here in the Sage Library System, but we don't quite know where to get started. Is there already a mobile skin included with 2.2 or 2.3? If not, would anyone care to share templates of their mobile catalog with us? Is there anything specifically non-mobile about the TPAC on 2.3 that you've encountered? Apart from possibly disabling the JavaScript so that it wouldn't have to download the meg of code for auto suggest (which we provide a config var to do), I would be interested in knowing what you think a mobile skin would need, as the TPAC works quite well with the Android devices at my disposal. Note: in 2.3 we put a fair amount of effort into reducing the fixed-width design of the TPAC, improving its accessibility and localisation support, making it easier to skin... and that effort has continued beyond 2.3. I hope we can maintain our focus on producing one good user experience. Maybe one of the next steps is to work towards a more responsive design?
Re: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Mobile catalog?
On Nov 7, 2012 8:11 PM, Dan Scott d...@coffeecode.net wrote: On Nov 7, 2012 7:42 PM, Buzzy Nielsen bu...@hoodriverlibrary.org wrote: Mostly its formatting. I'm currently looking at it on the stock browser on a phone running CyanogenMod 10, and in order to use it effectively, it requires a lot of pinching and zooming. The results also appear below the facets (screenshot attached). We are running 2.2, though. I'll check out a catalog running 2.3. We're hoping to upgrade in September. Thanks! Here are two TPAC 2.3-ish screenshots. I think the move away from fixed widths definitely helps with the pinching/zooming, although at skinny enough resolutions the facets still get annoying. The first uses Firefox Beta on the Nexus 7 in portrait mode. No facet problem, but there is some weird crowding of the pagination widget for some reason. Then there's the screenshot of Chrome, which does suffer from the facet-at-the-top effect... but fixing that problem would fix the same problem on low-resolution desktops too. So... I still think the answer is to just invest a bit more energy in improving the TPAC. It's come a long way already. Contributions welcome! Oh... I should also note that at Conifer we somewhat exacerbated the problem by shifting to a base font of 15 px instead of the default 12 px. At http://www.concat.ca (where the default is in effect), the facets don't cause the same problem in Chrome.
