2011/11/14 Ian Walls <ian.walls@bywatersolutions.com>: ...
Some questions to ask:
CSS-based, or a new template?
I have been working on a non-Koha specific mobile web app for libraries based on WordPress and searching through Z39.50/SRU ( http://demo.mobibl.no/ ). I have used jQuery Mobile (JQM) to do the interface, and I'm very happy with it, so maybe it could be a good basis for working on a mobile version of the Koha OPAC too? It would require new/extra templates, though, since JQM has quite rigid expectations for the HTML it works with.
What features first? Search and biblio details seem obvious. What about user logged-in features?
Seems natural to start with the non-logged in parts and then progress to the logged in parts?
Specific features for mobiles, like integration with GPS, compass, accelerometer and camera?
Do we need them? I don't think we do if all we aim to do is reproduce the functionality of the current OPAC for mobile browsers.
This may require OS-specific apps, but would make the model tool that much more appealing
I think we need to focus on building a mobile web-app version of the current OPAC, since this is something that would work out of the box for every library using Koha, and something that would build on the current code. A native app (at least for iPhone) would have to get through the whole approval process etc. Would there be one app per library, or would there be one Koha app to rule them all, where you'd just choose your library? If so, who would "own" the app in the app store? This would be more of a stand alone project as far as I can see, that would communicate with Koha over Z39.50/SRU and ILS-DI, perhaps. I'm not saying we should not do it, I just don't see this as a natural part of the main Koha project/codebase... Just my NOK 0.02... Best regards, Magnus PS Here's the source code for my moBibl project: https://github.com/MagnusEnger/mobibl-wp-plugin https://github.com/MagnusEnger/mobibl-wp-theme https://github.com/glitre/glitre It's far from being wrapped up in one coherent, easy to install package, as you can see...