Free Fringe iPhone App?

[James Christopher]

I don't have the expertise to do it (nor indeed an iPhone), but does anyone think a Free Fringe iPhone App would be a good idea?

[John Glennon]

Hiya James,
This is something that we are investigating as part of the website overhaul. The program listings engine is basically live and needs populating for this year (in progress) so it is really easy to find a show, venue, time slot, date, genre - this could be extended into an iphone app that could be trés sexy. Early days, but the back-end is there now.

Cheers
John

[Mike Cummins]

Not everyone has an iPhone (I use a Nokia N95 and an HTC Hero), so I think concentrating on a mobile web version is a better idea.

That will work on any phone with a browser

[John Glennon]

He's right you know

[Mike Cummins]

I have spent a while thinking about this and consider it a good idea (tm).

Is anyone willing and able to give me some feedback on how such a program works on their particular internet enabled phone?

It should be a single day, stripped version if the current programme with a similar stripped event page...

[Benjamin Crellin]

this is a superb idea! this truely is the future of what we can offer. next year will be a tipping point, i feel, in the number of people thta have a browser capable phones that can search for shows. just as twitter has been a huge tool for marketing. such an ap would be awesome in what it can do to evolve the free fringe. great suggestion.

[Mike Cummins]

OK.

Quick and dirty: http://freefringeforum.org/m/

What would make it more user friendly?

[the boring bit]

This program works by taking the time NOW, and if it is after the start date of the Free Fringe, will give shows from NOW to the end of the day.
There will be a 'Tomorrow'/date select button when I figure which works best on a mobile.

Do we want the show images?
Link to Google Maps?

[/boring bit]

[Mike Cummins]

<tumbleweed>
.....
</tumbleweed>

No one tried it? Did it look like you expected?

[John Glennon]

Hiya Mike - this is sweet - the guts of the logic is working fine, but I've found a glitch with the copy display inserting extra "\" characters infront of special HTML characters. e.g. Check out this blurb for event 289:

Devils Advocate
1:15pm Cabaret Voltaire - Speakeasy [Comedy]
Science and Scepticism based panel show featuring comedians, scientists and skeptics in a battle of wits and knowledge against such fiendish rounds as \"play your zenner cards right\", \"guess the mystery object\", \"Dr woo\" and \"science or science fiction?\"

36 Blair Street Edinburgh EH1 1QR


Fix this and then everything else is a bonus. The images are all pretty small so a centred image under the address would be cool if possible...

It looks ace on my BlackBerry. IMHO, this should be on the homepage of the PBH Free Fringe website as the festival runs.

cheers
John

[Mike Cummins]

the copy display inserting extra "\" characters infront of special HTML characters. e.g. Check out this blurb for event 289:

Hmmm. People have been editing as I cleaned all the copy up.

Rerun the code to clean the copy.

Fix this and then everything else is a bonus. The images are all pretty small so a centred image under the address would be cool if possible...

Centered looks odd on my HTC hero, and odder on the web. I have included the show image left justified.

Anyone got any preference between 'Next Day' and a date drop down?

[Mike Cummins]

Hmmmm.

Drop down date selction box is now added.

iPhone users say it is a bit small. Anyone got another type of phone to try it on?

[John Glennon]

Left justified looks great on the BlackBerry - nice job Mike

Come on guys - give Mike some feedback please - please check with your other smartphones and let him know what you think.

[Mike Cummins]

Left justified looks great on the BlackBerry

Is the date drop down usable? Too small?

[John Glennon]

No, it's a good size - see here:

How it looks on a BlackBerry 9000 Bold

BlackBerry_pictures_QL_108262129.jpg (85.24 KiB) Viewed 58 times

[Mike Cummins]

Works fine on my HTC Hero using Opera Mini.

OK on the web as well.

Suspect it may be an Apple thing

Not unusable, just fiddly, apparently...