Most institutions think they have a solid mobile strategy, however most are wrong. Discussion will include decision making strategies for articulating your mobile vision, implementing responsive design, and deciding between building a "native" application versus mobile web applications.

3. Where There Is No Vision,
The People Perish
David J. Hinson, EVP & CIO
Hendrix College

4. Alternate Translation:

5. Where There Is No Vision,
The People Cast Off Restraint

6. Mobile First, Responsive Web
Design, Native Apps, And The Whole
Vision Thing

7. Mobile First

8. Luke Wroblewski, product designer,
entrepreneur, author and speaker
Design with Mobile in mind,
rather than the Desktop, First
With millions of mobile device activations
per day, people more likely to see your site
on mobile devices before they do on
desktops
Leads to better “full site” designs:
simplify, prioritize, pick out the things
that really matter
Forces you to get down to the bare essence
of what makes your content work
Capabilities that don’t exist on personal computers

9. Really big change to people’s processes
and mindset
It’s a lot of work

10. Responsive Web Design

11. Ethan Marcotte, web designer and
developer
Process of arranging layout so that
important information is presented in a
user readable way, on any kind of device
or screen size
Design meant to be viewed along a
gradient of different experiences
Fluid grids, flexible images, media queries
Same code and content used
throughout your site

12. It’s a lot of work
Common-denominator approach; even
though it is meant to provide a “gradient
of experiences”, not all experiences are
created equally.
Some duplicated content may be
necessary; you may need to move
content into areas that CSS can’t (now)
accommodate (CSS Regions may provide
some relief here).

13. WARNING: Humble brag, next 5 minutes

14. HTML5 / CSS3 Applications

15. Web applications written in
HTML, Javascript,and CSS
Often easier to develop than
native applications
Generally avoids device-specific
development
Favors “reach” over “richness”
Single code base across all platforms
Titanium, Sencha, PhoneGap, and Mosync are examples of HTML
frameworks designed to support this model of development

16. A little more work to monetize
No single authoritative
source for application
“discovery”, beyond SEO
They look, act, and “feel”
differently than native mobile
apps
An active internet connection is (mostly) a must
Cautionary (???) Tale: Facebook Mobile and HTML 5

17. Native Applications

18. A smartphone application that
is coded in a specific
programming language,
such as Objective C for iOS
and Java for Android
operating systems.
Fast performance and a high
degree of reliability
Access to a phone's various devices, such as its camera, accelerometer,
compass, GPS, and address book
Native apps can be written to be used without an internet connection
Tailored to the native capabilities of the device for which it
is written: native APIs, specific hardware, and display form factors

19. For each native platform,
expertise must be developed
Platform specialists are
more expensive per hour than
web developers (generally)
iOS development requires
Mac OS X development
machines to run Xcode;
Android may be developed using either Mac or PC; and so on
Device capabilities will prevent a uniform user experience from platform
to platform
Artwork and design assets, while sharable to some extent, must be
specialized by platform
Code re-use between platforms? Aside from service / server side APIs,
it’s a nice bed-time story to tell your kids

20. Yeah, Yeah Yeah.
So What?

21. Before doing
anything,

22. Define the problem
you’re solving, and what
would constitute a
successful outcome.

23. Who is your audience?
What are their expected
behavioral patterns?
What kinds of devices do they carry?

24. Who “owns” your app?
Who will maintain it?
What skillsets do you currently
have in-house?
What is the expected lifetime
of this app?

25. What will it cost to develop?
Where does the money come from?
Who decides on feature set?
Who handles customer support?

26. Who performs QA?
Who are your evangelists?
Who is responsible for PR?
Who declares “victory?”

27. Mobile Development Prime Directive:
Strategize, then Operationalize
What is the story you are trying to tell?
NOT
I have a hammer. Where are the nails?

28. Where There is
No Vision,
The People Perish

29. Questions?

30. Thank You!
Twitter: @davidjhinson
Email: hinson@hendrix.edu
http://www.slideshare.net/davidjhinson/where-there-is-no-vision-the-people-
perish

31. Image Credits
http://www.etilox.com/img/main01.png
http://www.psmassages.com/v2/images/vitruvian_man_600.png
http://www.mosync.com/sites/all/themes/mosync/css/img/banner-nov12-devices.png

32. Sites and Tools Mentioned
http://www.abookapart.com/products/mobile-first
http://www.netmagazine.com/interviews/luke-wroblewski-mobile-first
http://www.edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2012/09/3-college-websites-
responsive-design
http://www.ektron.com/Press-Releases/Hendrix-College-Wins-Ektron-2012-Site-
of-the-Year-Award/
http://www.abookapart.com/products/responsive-web-design
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/responsive-web-design/
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/fluidgrids/
http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/tutorials/fluid-grids-in-responsive-design/
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/fluid-images/

33. Sites and Tools Mentioned
https://www.sencha.com/
http://phonegap.com/
http://www.mosync.com/
http://www.html5rocks.com/en/mobile/nativedebate/