Facebook Gets WhatsApp

This is a question that we go through with nearly every mobile client we work with at Barefoot Solutions. Mobile technology is progressing at breakneck speed right now and it's very difficult to keep up. So to start, what are the technology options for launching a mobile strategy? While there are an infinite number of variations, the options can mostly be put into 4 buckets: Mobile Websites Mobile Web Apps Hybrid Apps Native Apps Mobile Websites are simply websites that have been optimized for mobile devices. A good example of this can be found at http://m.techcrunch.com. Changes to the layout are made by recognizing the user agent as a mobile device and optimizing for its limitations. This can include removing ads, increasing the size of clickable areas, and most importantly, accounting for the smaller screen size. Mobile Web Apps are still mobile websites, and thus must be accessed via a phone or tablets web browser. The difference between a mobile website and a mobile web app is that mobile web apps are built to mimic functionality of native apps. By adding controls like date pickers, tab bar navigation, and other native feeling controls, this gives the user the experience of using a native app. Typically these are built using frameworks such as Sencha Touch or JQuery Mobile. These frameworks are effective because they have already built most of the common controls using HTML5 and Javascript. Building all of those controls from scratch would be a significant undertaking, but JQuery Mobile you can focus on functionality, rather than building the sometimes complex user interaction necessary for mobile devices. Hybrid apps also utilize frameworks, often built with HTML5, Javascript and CSS, to produce native-feeling apps. Some examples are Phonegap and Titanium Appcelerator. The difference between a hybrid app and a mobile web app is that the hybrid apps are actually compiled and treated as native apps. This means that, on your iPhone for example, a hybrid app must be downloaded from the app store, and will live as an app icon on your home screen. Hybrid apps are appealing because they allow you to develop only a single app, but then compile for the various app stores and be available on multiple platforms. Another benefit of hybrid apps is that they have access to the phone's hardware. Access to the accelerometer, image gallery, camera, bluetooth, and other sensors on the phone are often a requirement for the more advanced apps. Finally, we have purely native mobile apps. This means that they are written in Objective-C for iPhones, or Java for Android applications. They are compiled, and submitted to the app store for distribution for that devices particular users. Mostly, native apps have to be built as a separate piece of software for each platform, and are able to share very little code. So if the desire is to make your app available on iPhone, Android, WinPhone, and Blackberry, you would need to build four separate apps. So with those as the options, what factors should go into deciding on a platform? To start, it's important to identify the goals and limitations of your mobile strategy. Then you apply those goals to the four factors below to make a decision. Cost Mobile apps become more expensive as you get closer to the fully native experience. A mobile website can often be implemented by altering layout and stylesheets of an existing website, and as such is a low cost product that can be accessed on any phone or tablet with a web browser. Native apps, on the other and, require quite a bit more development time, which then gets multiplied by the number of platforms that need to be accessible. As such, native apps are the most expensive option, by far. User Experience If this decision was based entirely on cost, then a mobile website would be the obvious choice. But what about the user experience? Unfortunately, native apps, while the most expensive option, also provide the best user experience. By interfacing directly with the native SDKs, native apps have a very fast and responsive UX. Think of the difference between using a desktop app like Microsoft Word, versus Software as a Service like Google Docs. Because Microsoft Word is a compiled and installed application, it directly interfaces with your machine and allows it to be more powerful, and responsive. The same holds true for native apps. Further, native apps have controls like pickers, navigation tabs, action bars, and others that are immediately recognizable to users of a platform. When building a single app for multiple platforms, you must find commonality amongst those platforms and therefore can't entirely mimic a native experience. While this will work for some apps, others, particularly those that are entirely consumer facing, need the native UX to provide users what they have come to expect from their apps. Difficult to develop and maintain Many organizations now have in-house web developers, or at least people with some experience with HTML/CSS. This makes it possible for some organizations to build a mobile website or mobile web app without having to hire outside of the company. Native apps however require a very particular skillset. Objective-C developers, for instance, can be difficult to find and expensive to hire. While it may be feasible to hire a firm for the initial development of your app(s), there is also the matter of continually managing this relationship to account for updates, bug fixes, operating system upgrades, and other required maintenance over the lifetime of the app. Depending on resources this may not be feasible for some smaller organizations. Reach Mobile websites and mobile web apps are available on any device that has a web browser. This is basically any feature phone or smartphone these days. As such, they have the furthest reach with the lowest cost. Hybrid apps can also be available on multiple platforms for only the cost of building a single app. Further, along with native apps, they have the added benefit of placement in the various app stores. This allows apps to be discovered by users in a way that just isn't possible with the mobile web. This also allows the possibility of reaching high in search rankings, or earning a featured placement in an app store which can provide a serious spike in downloads. So what approach should you choose? It seems to be like the odds are greatly in favor of the non-native options, but very often that is not the case. As I mentioned, the user experience on non-native apps is just not where it needs to be. Even with hybrid apps, buttons can take a half-second longer to respond to a tap, and scrolling can get slow and choppy. In the beginning of 2011, Facebook's mobile app took a largely hybrid approach. They were faced with considerable user unrest, and suffered a fairly low rating in the app stores. In the middle of the year they re-architected to a much more native experience. Their apps are now faster, more responsive, and the user feedback has improved considerably. At Barefoot Solutions, we always recommend native for any purely consumer facing app. Period. If you want to have a chance at gaining significant traction, it is imperative that you provide the best User Experience possible. It is often better to launch on only a single platform, with an excellent user experience, versus launching a mediocre experience on all platforms. When we start talking about internal apps, mobile web apps and hybrid apps become a much more cost effective solution. For example, if you're building an app to help your sales staff in the field, and this staff uses a variety of devices, it often makes sense to build a hybrid app. This will allow most of your staff to use the app on their devices, and they will most likely be willing to look past the slight lack of performance. If you are a restaurant that just needs contact information, directions, and a menu available on customer's phones, then a mobile website is probably the right strategy for you. Overall, this is a decision not to take lightly. Jumping from one strategy to another often requires an entire rebuild, so it's important to get this right the first time. At Barefoot Solutions, we're happy to provide a free consultation to discuss your mobile strategy and provide an in-depth look at what might be best for your startup or existing company.

Modern technology doesn’t automatically make life easier for everyone. Computer software and apps can present unique challenges to people living with disabilities. Vision impairment, hearing difficulties, mobility impairment, or cognitive disabilities all make navigating today’s digital apps difficult, or impossible. As a technological innovator, you shouldn’t be willing to leave anyone in the dust. The nature of technology is not to power ahead for those who can use it and forget those who can’t, but to adapt and invent ways to allow all people to benefit from digital advancements. The job of a good UI/UX developer is to create a product that makes the user’s experience easier – that goes for all types of users. A touch of clear design can go a long way. Is It Worthwhile to Design for Accessibility? The short answer is, if you don’t design for accessibility, you’re stunting your app’s ability to grow. The World Bank estimates that 15% of the world’s population lives with a disability. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that number is closer to 20% in the US. That’s a huge segment of the market that could benefit from improved accessibility. The government is increasingly recognizing this, and encouraging action to accommodate it. Congress has introduced legislation in a range of areas aimed at improving accessibility to products and services for people living with disabilities, and some of that includes computer software and apps. For example, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and its 2008 amendments specifies that public programs and services — including information technology — have to be accessible to people living with disabilities, and provide “effective communication” of their content and information. As the population ages, accessibility will only become more important. If you stay ahead of the curve and build this into your app from the start, you’ll have a more ethical product with more lasting power. Ways to Improve Your App’s Accessibility Improving accessibility doesn’t have to be hard. There are plenty of guides out there like these ones by Android and Salesforce that can help you get a full understanding of what your app design must include to be successful. For visual impairments, increased size or contrast text can go a long way in making content easier to read. If you’re targeting an older demographic especially, making the text in your app easy to read should be a goal. Using bolding or italics, instead of just color, to highlight important phrases ensures someone with a vision impairment doesn’t miss important content. Adding captions to audio or video allows people with hearing impairments to access and understand all content. More complex solutions can include formatting web and app content so that programs like Android’s Text-to-Speech can easily read the content aloud to users. Truly stellar accessibility will take more detailed design, such as ensuring your online forms are properly identified so that keyboard-only and voice-only computer users can still use them. Or, it can mean relocating menu items to places where they can be easily found for these users. If you have to hover the mouse over an item to see the actionable items, visual-only users might not even realize it’s there. This is where an experienced app developer can be a great resource to help you address potential user roadblocks you hadn’t even considered. Testing your product often and thoroughly can help identify where your accessibility issues lie, and allow your development team to innovate strong solutions. The Payoff When you make your product more accessible, it will reach more people. You can start to access some of the 20% of the American population living with a disability, who might not otherwise interact with your app. As more technologies are developed for people living with disabilities to navigate computers and apps, there will be more opportunities to develop strong, accessible app design. The field is only growing. When you design software to be more accessible, it’s useful for other purposes as well. Take, for example, captioning video content for people with hearing difficulties has became useful even for people without hearing impairments. Thanks to captioning, video can be watched by people who need to watch sound-free, or for those who don’t understand the video’s native language very well. Similarly, voice control features can be extremely useful for someone with mobility issues, but have the added side effect of assisting someone who’s got his hands full trying to cook dinner. Ultimately, constraint breeds creativity. When you’re required to work within stricter guidelines, you’re forced to adapt your design to fit – and often, you end up with something better than you had originally planned. At Barefoot Solutions, we embrace the creative challenges of accessible design; each challenge is a new opportunity to make your app even better for your users.

Depending on the reason, moving can be an exciting or a terrible experience. Either way, it’s a lot of work that no one particularly wants to do, even if you’re moving to the tropical oasis of your dreams.  Thankfully it’s 2015, and there are apps built for just about everything. From finding the right neighborhood to your specific home, app developers have thought of just about everything when it comes to moving. Let’s take a tour of how the typical moving process works, and the apps that can help you along the way.   Step 1: Get Hired By a New Company to Give You Money Maybe you’re lucky enough to transfer with your company, or the reason for your move is to accept a new position. But for the movers who are relocating based on heart’s desire or just plain needing to get away from Aunt Silvia’s cheek pinching nonsense, you’ll want to get the job hunt squared away or at least off the ground before you hit the road. One of the first places you’ll look is your LinkedIn app, and connect the heck out of everyone in your peripheral network. Then you’ll naturally get your resume up on Indeed and create job filters for the types of jobs you’re interested in. You can do regular job searches on their app while you’re waiting in line at the DMV to get your new license, and receive alerts when a new job in the area you’re looking in pops up. Yet once that lead trail dies down, another great place to look is Intro, an app network that connects via LinkedIn and Facebook to people within your particular industry. Intro introduces you (see what they did there) to new people in your social networks via the persons you have in common. It also alerts you to professional events and social meet-ups so that you can put on your game face and get that new job with your polished elevator pitch and knowledge of the weather.   Step 2: Find Somewhere to Put Your Couch  Ah apartment/condo/house hunting. Such a delight. If you couldn’t read through the blatant sarcasm, allow us to point out that hunting in this regard is nothing really fun at all. But do it you must, and fortunately there are plenty of ways to get it done. Craigslist is an old go-to, but for some reason they no longer support their mobile app. There are now however 3rd party apps that pull ads from Craigslist letting you, the happy househunter, browse from your phone. Two of the most popular, per the App Store, are cPro and Daily Craigslist. We prefer Daily, simply because the UX is a little more friendly and has this feature that lets you circle the listings you like. We like circling things. For Android users, the most popular is cPro again and then CityShop, in which case cPro is the better option.  Getting away from Craigslist is an app specific to the house hunt only. Padmapper, the app that makes, “apartment hunting suck less,” is ideal for drilling down to the locations of places you want to live to view all available listings. Once you download the app, switch on the location services and Padmapper will display on a map all available apartment and housing listings for rent. From there you can filter by price, bedrooms, bathrooms, and keywords, helping you find that new apartment that hopefully won’t suck.   Step 3: Hire a Strong Lad/Lady To Move Your Stuff If you own a truck, you know how annoying it is when every other weekend a friend wants to borrow your truck to move their kayak, couch, or worst yet, their entire residence. Don’t be that guy and get a moving truck. One of our favorites is BuddyTruk, for as they say, “Whenever You Need a Buddy With a Truck.” Available on both the App Store and Google Play, BuddyTruk links you to local people with large vehicles who will use their personal truck to get your stuff from point A to point B. The downside is, this is more the “Uber for Moving,” and isn’t so good for when you have a 3 bedroom home you need to move from Chicago to San Diego. A better alternative for this scenario is Ghostruck, which syncs with professional movers in your area and tell you exactly how much the move will cost. In fact at the time of this writing, Ghostruck is offering a 25% discount on your first move, so get to getting.   Step 4: Settling in to Your New ‘Hood You made it! You’re filling your piggy bank, you have somewhere to rest your head, and all your stuff is in one new place. Now, time to make some new friends - or get really good at solitaire if that’s your thing. If you’d rather interact with other humans, a solid first choice is MeetUp, a social network for strangers who like to do the same activities. Want to practice sprechen-ing your Deutsch? There’s likely a MeetUp group for that in your new town, and you’ll be able to flirt in the ever so romantic language that is German with new neighborhood darlings. No matter how normal or strange your preferred social activities are, Meet Up is a great place to join and check out some of the happenings in your city.  But how about getting to know the neighbors in your specific neighborhood? Nextdoor is “the private social network for you and your neighbors,” allowing you to connect with your neighbors directly in your neighborhood. It even requires a verification process so they can make absolutely sure you live in that neighborhood. Nextdoor is great for finding a new trustworthy babysitter, finding your lost pup, or when you’ve settled in and realized you don’t need 27 beer steins, can help you find them a new home. Moving is the worst, but thankfully there are plenty of ways to get there. Have an idea for a moving app? Ping us here and we can get it moving.