Working on new content for the adilas lite and fracture plan. Shannon and I were in the section dealing with desktop first, responsive design, and mobile ready options. We had a great little session. Here is what we came up with:

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We are focused on a desktop first design that is also responsive for tablets and phones. This means that the whole system will be built to work on desktop and laptop computers first. Mobile first design is great for simple apps, but we have built a complex app that needs a desktop first design. Most of our clients and users are physically at a computer while working on adilas. There is no way to get huge reports or data capture forms into a super small mobile view without losing functionality. Focusing on desktop first design allows us to create a full featured experience for our users.

Even though the focus will be on desktop first, we will be building out the entire fracture project with a responsive design. Responsive design means that the system will adapt to different screen sizes and devices. This allows us to create a seamless experience for users, regardless of the device they are using.

Full mobile ready design, and functionality, will be used in customer facing portals, ecommerce, and other specific use cases. We will also create certain admin and user interfaces that are more mobile friendly. Most of these smaller mobile friendly apps will help with specific tasks and functions. That will keep the mobile experience focused on the task at hand while still being able to fall back on the full desktop experience when needed.

One of the goals of fracture is to empower the users to customize their own user experience. That means that, based on the user and their device, they can toggle on/off any buttons, features, report columns, etc. That allows a desktop user to customize their workspace, while a more mobile type user could simplify their interface. This flexibility is key to ensuring that all users can work in a way that is most comfortable and efficient for them. Our users vary greatly, some like touch screen, others use their phones, while others are mouse and keyboard people with multiple monitors. Our goal is to create a dynamic application where each person feels in control of their own experience.

Our other hope is that outside users will catch the vision of the API and build out specialty mobile apps that connect to the adilas backend via the API. This would allow for more specialized mobile experiences that are tailored to specific industries or use cases. This could be simple native mobile apps, SPA's (single page apps), custom interfaces, or other types of mobile friendly apps. More information is available in the API section above (the real pages doesn't have a link here, but it refers to the fracture plan and the API section of that plan) or from the adilas marketplace.