February 2012 - mrc's Cup of Joe Blog

How to upload photos from a mobile web app

Here’s a question for you: Suppose your company needs a mobile app that lets users upload photos from their current location. Does this job require the more difficult native approach, or will a simpler mobile web app meet your needs?

If you read the “6 ‘native’ features you can use with mobile web apps” article, you already know the answer. While file uploading sounds like a native-only feature, it’s actually very simple with mobile web apps. Today, I’m going to show you how. …

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How to use GPS in your mobile web apps

By Joe Stangarone / Mobile, Mobile apps

Here’s something you may not know: Did you realize that mobile web apps and native apps are nearly equal in terms of capabilities? It’s true. As you learned in this article from a few weeks back, mobile web apps are much more powerful than most people think.

As promised in that article, I’m going to go through some of those “native” features and explain how to use them in your mobile web apps. Today, let’s take a closer look at the first feature on the list: GPS. Specifically, I’m going to show you how to use GPS in your mobile web apps, and also give you a few ideas on ways to use it.

Ready? Let’s get started… …

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A quick way to modernize with a small IT staff

By Joe Stangarone / Modernization

What’s keeping your company from modernizing those legacy applications? If our 2011 survey is any indication, the answer is “There’s not enough time.” In fact, the survey results show that modernization is the biggest need, but a lack of time keeps most companies from addressing that need.

If your company lacks the time required to modernize your legacy apps, you’ll certainly want to read this story. It explains how one very small IT staff with limited time and resources managed to modernize their legacy green-screen interface quickly. You can read the whole story here.

5 big problems caused by bad application architecture

By Joe Stangarone / Application Architecture, Application Development

Application architecture is one of the single most important, yet boring topics you’ll ever run across. You’re not going to make too many friends at a party talking about technology stacks, open frameworks, or any other architecture-related themes. In fact, you’ll probably get a lot of blank stares wherever you talk about those things.

Yet, the difference between good and bad application architecture is mind-blowing. Good architecture is nearly invisible. Everything just works, it’s easy to maintain, and all of your applications operate in perfect harmony.

On the other hand, bad architecture is only invisible at the beginning, but becomes increasingly obvious over time. When you buy a new development tool or begin using pre-built software, the applications may initially work fine. But, if they’re built on bad architecture, problems will quickly arise. What exactly can you expect? Here are 5 costly problems caused by bad application architecture: …

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Month: February 2012