Proposal:Tablet interface

From Strategic Planning
Status (see valid statuses)

The status of this proposal is:
Request for Discussion / Sign-Ups

Mockup of a potential tablet interface design.


The tablet market is a growing group of devices popular in the United States and Europe used by consumers. This group of devices has to potential to become popular in developing countries and could empower contributors that currently have difficulty doing so. By implementing this proposal, we could significantly enhance the experience of Wikipedia on a growing platform to increase reach and participation. An interface targeted at readers and editors using tablets would integrate device-specific features, including geolocation and built-in digital cameras. Meanwhile, the entry cost to developing such an application would be low due to efficient development methods.

Proposal

Develop an interface for tablet devices for target languages that improves upon the desktop and mobile phone experience currently offered by Wikipedia. The technology could be developed two different ways: we could follow the smartphone model and create an app for popular devices, like the iPad and Android tablets[1] or create a powerful browser-based application using modern frameworks and technologies.[2] To help support the features, page content would need to be adjusted to integrate better machine-readable data, possibly introduced through templates.

Motivation

See summary above.

Key Questions

  • Would it be more effective to develop an app for different platforms or create a browser-based app?
  • How does this fit in with the ongoing work being done with mobile improvement?

Potential Costs

  • Development and deployment costs associated with launching the product.

References

  1. Several applications already exist in the App Store for this purpose. Additionally, Wikipedia already has an official iPhone application.
  2. Modern frameworks and technologies include jQuery Mobile (now an alpha release) and HTML5.

Proposal:IPhone/iPod Touch Offical Wikipedia App

Community Discussion

Do you have a thought about this proposal? A suggestion? Discuss this proposal by going to Proposal talk:Tablet interface.

Want to work on this proposal?

  1. Ebe123 22:18, 25 May 2011 (UTC)
  2. Mono 16:04, 21 June 2011 (UTC)
  3. .. Sign your name here!