ALEPH Mobile OPACHow HARD is to make it SIMPLE?

Rodrigo Calloni, rcalloni@iadb.orgSystems/Electronic Information Resources Librarian

The Felipe Herrera LibraryWashington D.C., October2008

Questions

• How many have a mobile phone?• How many have a smatphone?• How many use the smartphone to access the

internet?• How many use the smartphone to work?• How many watch ?

How to put this...

...into this?

Challenges

Beginners – Make it Simple!

• Make it Search First, then Design (raw interface)• For the Design, forget the ALEPH CSS; user your own

• Simulate the Device Dimensions into your Browser, then test the iPhone

• Add Start/End to the HTML “pieces”• Try Page-by-Page• Problems? Don’t change the “pieces”;

download the Full Page and fix it locally

www.iadb.org/library/catalog/mobile

Demo!

Basic Search & Results List

Demo!

Spelling Suggestions from Yahoo

Demo!

Sorting Results List

Demo!

Advanced Search & Full Record

Demo!

Preferences & Services

What’s Next?

• My Library Card – ALEPH extension XXX50 is used for User Admin Pages

• My Library Card – Solution – From El Commons (Daniel Forsman) – By creating a Language (mob) we can redsign the pages

• SFX Integration – Need to Redesign SFX Menu for Iphone too!

• FHL iPhone App – Not only Catalog, All Services!

Question!

• Did you like it?• Do we still have time?• Do you want me to be more techinical?

Being More Techinical

1. The TABS

$alephe_tab/tab_base.eng$XXX01_tab/edit_doc_999.eng.mobil$XXX01_tab/www_tab_short.eng.mobil$XXX01_tab /www_f_sort_heading.eng

Being More Techinical – The TABS

$XXX01_tab/edit_doc_999.eng.mobil

• Logical Bases Extensions also work in $XXX01/tab directories• edit_doc_999.eng.mobil allows you to define the fields you

want to display in mobile devices • Do you need this? NO... if you want the same fields from your

standard OPAC into your mobile OPAC

Being More Techinical – The TABS

$alephe_tab/tab_base.eng

Add the lines to create MOBIL Logical Base (USM01)

! This is for the Mobile InterfaceUSM01_MOBILE Ex Libris University MOBIL USM01 USM01 N! This is for Showing Book Cover in Table ViewUSM01_COVER Ex Libris University COVER USM01 USM01 N

Being More Techinical – The TABS

$XXX01_tab/www_tab_short.eng.mobil

Suggested definition for “Results List”

1 L Author 02---A01---A 00 00 0100 S 9 - ## 1#### 700## 710## 711##2 L Title 03---A01---A 00 00 0200 S ## 245##3 L Year 01---D02---A 00 00 0100 S ## YR4 L Library (Owned/Out) 00 00 0100 L ## ITM+5 L Call Number 00 00 0100 D ## 050## 852##6 L Find IT! 00 00 0100 L ## SFX7 L URL 00 00 2000 S ## 856##8 L Imprint 00 00 0100 S ## 260##9 L System Number 00 00 0100 S ## SYS

Being More Techinical – The TABS

$XXX01_tab /www_f_sort_heading.eng

Add the following line for Automatic Rank Sort in Results List (from TCU)

! This is for Automatic Rank TCU01---A02---A Year (ascending)/Author

Year(a)/Author

Do you need this? NO... if you don’t want Automatic Rank sorting (anyway, more settings are required!)

Being More Techinical – The HTMLs

Here they are...

...don’t worry, files will be in El Commons for you!

Being More Techinical – The HTMLs

Remarksmeta-tags-mobil• To make OPAC fit the device screen:

<meta name = "viewport" content = "width = device-width">

• The CSS! If you forgot… make it Simple!<link rel="stylesheet" href="your.css.file.css" type="text/css" />

 • To create an icon for the iPhone Home Screen (57x57 pixels)

<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="your.icon.location.png" />

Being More Techinical – The HTMLs

RemarksTHE CSS styles

body

bannerbar

librarybar

searchbar

resultsbar

resultsrec

recordfull

copyright

Being More Techinical – The HTMLs

RemarksLots of JavaScript (simple) on the following files• short-a-body-mobil – to create the Results List (from table to

brief); cleaning up some ALEPH hardcoded garbage (like <BR> when field is empty); rules to identify “digital objects” and transform “Title” into a jump to “Full Text” link

• item-global-body-mobil – to create the Holdings screen; cleaning ALEPG garbage; some rules to display more user-friendly circulation status like “On Shelf” or “On Line”

Being More Techinical – The HTMLs

RemarksThe Head Files and Yahoo Spelling Suggestions• The Head File contains the Basic Search form that is available

in almost all pages of the ALEPH Mobile OPAC• The Yahoo SpellChecker script is inside of it• You need to create an Yahoo App ID @ https://developer.apps.yahoo.com • Then change head files:

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://search.yahooapis.com/WebSearchService/V1/spellingSuggestion?appid=your.yahoo.app.id-&query=$0100&output=json&callback=ws_results"></script>

Being More Techinical – The HTMLs

RemarksBook Covers (GoogleBooks API) in Results List• Not supported by Ex Libris; local development that worked for

FHL (maybe not for you!)• For each returned result a second request will be made to the

server for the display of the book cover• It could cause performance issues in libraries with a higher

usage then FHL• No “No Cover” for books not in GoogleBooks; hope to solve

this soon• It works really well for us!

Being More Techinical – The HTMLs

RemarksBook Covers (GoogleBooks API) in Results List

Questions?

Thanks Everyone!Send your Comments/Suggestions/Questions

torcalloni@iadb.org

ALEPH Mobile OPACHow HARD is to make it SIMPLE?

Rodrigo Calloni, rcalloni@iadb.orgSystems/Electronic Information Resources Librarian

The Felipe Herrera LibraryWashington D.C., October2008