So a WAP site would be most appropriate for the site, but the features of this site? Simple reviews? Searching? Top Recommendations?
I don’t know about WAP, isn’t that kind of dated? For iPhone and iPod Touch, there is this:
http://developer.apple.com/safari/
For Blackberry:
http://na.blackberry.com/eng/developers/browserdev/
I couldn’t find a web app reference for Android, that’s kind of weird. But I did find this:
http://phonegap.com/
This is a multi-platform javascript thing, for several phone platforms. Probably the quickest way to do it all, if it works well.
As for features? If in a tea store, the user would want to look up tasting notes about a tea, so should be able to search. And input a new tasting note. This would seem like a good starting point.
Titanium Appcelerator is a web-based IDE for both iPhone and Android apps.
http://www.appcelerator.com/
Thanks all for the interest! We’re already planning to look into these different options (device specific apps, mobile browsing optimization, API) and will hopefully be able to do so soon. When we do, we’ll do our best to cover as many of our users as possible. We know people don’t just drink tea in front of their computer, so we know how important and convenient mobile access to the site and your info would be. We welcome any and all suggestions on the mobile front, so send ’em our way!
This may also cut down on some of the “backlogging” posts some people find annoying because it’ll be easier to log them no matter where you are.
Exactly. No more backlogging! Which also means there’s no excuse to not log every single tea you drink ;)
I agree that while an API and device-specific apps would be amazing, a mobile web skin is a much easier endeavor, at least for the time being. Just adding my vote. I’m sure you’re already on it!
Like some others mentioned, rather than an app, I’d want a mobile-friendly steepster.com interface.
I’m a Blackberry (9630) user and would also really appreciate a mobile version. Payton has it right, I think. Its probably easiest to start with a mobile optimized site. I have found arstechnica’s mobile site (http://arstechnica.com/?__set=mobile) to be a good example of how to do this.
I would pay money for an android app, though. It could be lucrative to support multiple platforms if you support them well.
An app for the Nokia E71 would also be awesome- I’m saving up for it.
Any progress on having a mobile optimised version? I generally don’t have a big issue with it (and I do most of my web browsing on my phone or tablet), but the sliders for time/rating/etc. when adding a tea are very difficult to use on mobile browsers – for what it’s worth, I suspect even some little design adjustments could significantly improve the experience.
We definitely agree about the adjustments that could be made for mobile/tablet browsing. Unfortunately, we don’t have any plans at the moment for mobile development. We’re in the process of figuring out some higher level stuff though, so hopefully that will give more clarity for when we could start something like that.
Login or sign up to leave a comment.