Here is my presentation (well poster) for Pete & C 2013. This year it is on developing apps for the K-16 classroom. I start by discussing the most difficult ways then get into how to do it using simple and free methods
Tag Archives: mobile
Australian university to issue 11,000 iPads next year
Some excerpts from the article:
“The University of Western Sydney said in a statement that it plans to distribute 11,000 iPads next year to every new student and member of the faculty “to support learning and teaching innovations across the curriculum and in informal learning environments.””
“The iPad initiative is part of a curriculum overhaul at UWS that will stress “flexible study options” and “a blended learning model,” The Australian reports. Traditional lectures will be augmented by a more interactive learning approach, Krause said.
“Mobile technologies will be a key part of this strategy,” she said. “We want to support our academic staff to make the most of iPads and custom-designed apps in class so that, even in the largest lecture theater, students have access to just-for-me, just-in-time interactive learning experiences.””
My thoughts:
While I am personally more inclined to use laptops over tablets because they do so much more, I think things like this can be very beneficial if implemented correctly – and that is the key. If they just buy professors and students a bunch of iPads, I would not expect much good to come out of them…at least not a large % anyway. Now if they train the professors and students how to use them, provide good resources, and support, then it could be an awesome initiative.
mailto: html code on a mobile device is actually a good thing
Many times when accessing a website we click on the contact link and it opens up outlook or another email program that we do not use. This is annoying and I cannot stand it. I tell all of my students never to use this code. However one thing one of my students recently pointed out to me is that when viewed on a mobile device, this actually takes you to your default phone email, which is actually a good thing on the mobile device as you are almost forced by google or apple to have a default email. Thus while I hate this on the computer, I love it on the phone. I just thought it was a pretty cool difference and thought I would share.
The code to create this type of link is: <a href=”mailto:someone@example.com”>
New to PhoneGap? Check out these tutorials…
I will going over phonegap tonight in my final CBI course. So I will be showing them how to take their mobile websites and turn them into mobile apps using phonegap. Here are the tutorials. Note they are more for a medium level user. I believe novices may have trouble following these:
http://docs.phonegap.com/en/2.2.0/guide_getting-started_index.md.html
Can you ditch your smartphone for wifi only?
This is a great article by CNET.com. Here are some of the basic reasons why smartphone companies do not allow you to just purchase voice only plans:
*They do not make money on calls anymore. That is why they are now offering unlimited voice calls.
*They make money from data
Here is the part that I found really interesting:
“If you’re willing to ditch Verizon and any of the other major carriers, you could try a new service from Republic Wireless, which costs only $19.99 a month for unlimited talk, text, and data. The carrier buys and resells capacity from Sprint Nextel’s network. But it also uses Wi-Fi networks. And because it uses Wi-Fi to carry the bulk of its data traffic, the company can offer such a low-cost service.
The company launched a beta version of its service about a year ago. But it was quickly so overwhelmed with users interested in the service that it had to shut down. It relaunched its beta service earlier this year. And starting next month, the service will be available to anyone.
The only catch is that, at least for now, it only supports one device, the Motorola Defy XT. That device is available for preorder now and costs $249 (plus $10 activation fee). Other smartphones will likely follow. And there’s even a chance that eventually, customers will be able to bring their own smartphones to the service. But for now, it’s just the Motorola Defy XT.”
How to make an HTML webpage the correct size on a mobile device
I have written about this a few times (just last week) and I wanted to add some details to the discussion. Basically when designing a webpage for the mobile device you want your page to show up as the correct size on the device so the user does not need to zoom. To do it you would use the viewport code. Today I am adding some more details to that:
General width. Keep in mind the ‘780’ changes depending on the size of your actual page:
<meta name="viewport" content="width=780">
This code just matches their device regardless of what you set:
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width">
The following disables zooming altogether:
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, user-scalable=no" /> This sets the zoom level when the page is first opened:
<meta name="viewport" content="initial-scale=1">
This creates no zooming and the user has to move the screen around:
<meta name="viewport" content="maximum-scale=1">
I encourage you to try them all out to see what works for your site and so that you get a better idea of what they all look like.
Developing for the mobile web – size
This is an update to a previous blog post of mine that has now been updated (https://raypastore.com/wordpress/2011/05/developing-a-website-for-the-mobile-web/)
So when developing a website for the mobile web we need to take into consideration the screen’s size. Obviously since we develop on a computer we need to test a lot to make sure our page looks right on the mobile device. So here are a few quick tips which are updated from my previous post:
1. Most phones compress the page (display) 980 pixels in width. That means that a page that is 980 pixels on a browser (desktop) will be compressed to the fit the phone. However, that is not always the case so we add this line of code:
2. The line of code, which is placed in the header (<head>):
<meta name=”viewport” content=”width=780″>
Will make the page compress to 100% of the phones width (a %) rather than a strict defined width. This is a good option for those developing for multiple devices which is usually the case when developing for the mobile web…otherwise you would just develop an app.
Developing for the mobile device chart
I made this little chart for my students as a guide to help them know what options are available for mobile device development:
|
Developing for the mobile device |
||||
| Native Apps | Mobile Web | |||
| Apple | Android | Android Browsers |
Apple Browsers |
|
| xCode | x | |||
| Eclipse | x | |||
| HTML(5) Mobile Packaging software
(ie software that outputs to xCode and Eclipse such as PhoneGap) |
x | x | x | x |
| HTML (5) Development Software (ie software that outputs HTML/HTML5 such as dreamweaver) | x | x | ||
| Flash (any Adobe Air compatible software) | x | x | x | x |
Should your business have a mobile optimized website?
Nice article by mashable. Apparently 10% of internet traffic is now done on a mobile device. That is pretty significant. Here is the article
Apple sells 2x as many iPads as iMacs to schools – Is this a good thing?
Article: http://mashable.com/2012/07/24/apple-ipad-education-sales/
While I think it is great that schools are adopting new technology I have to wonder, did schools jump the gun here? I know that some schools are definitely using the iPad for some really cool things and I love to see innovation. However, I wonder, and this really only applies to schools who bought iPads to replace computers, do all of these schools have enough computers for each student already? I ask because you can purchase a PC for the same price as the iPad (there is no educational discount on iPads so they are $500 for schools). If a school does not have a computer for each student, I would question their purchase of iPads for each student (if that is what they did because just purchasing some iPads is not what I am talking about here in this post). Computers are significantly more powerful than iPads and can do much more. I only recommend that my students by a computer first and if they have more money, then get the iPad. Do not just get the iPad and expect it to replace their laptop. So while I like mobile/tablet technology and think it does have a place in education, I would question anyone who is using that technology to replace computers because it does not and I do know that some schools are replacing computers with iPads which I believe is not a good way to use this technology.