The session at IBM Connect 2013 Create Multi-Channel Websites with Rational Application Developer (RAD,) IBM WebSphere Portal and Worklight, covered many of the latest tools and techniques for developing multi-channel applications. A multi-channel application is one that supports multiple client platforms most often multiple mobile devices and traditional browsers. Much of this session focuses on deep dive demos and code but I want to highlight a few key messages and considerations.
Rational Application Developer 8.5.1 portal Toolkit contains quite a few new capabilities. These include:
- Single click Web 2.0 features – AJAX, JAX-RS, Dojo, analytics etc
- Rich page editor – WYSIWYG dojo, html5, css4, etc which lets you edit and preview on any device at the same time
- JSF 2.0 support
- Mobil browser simulator
- Improved smartphone and tablet support
- Mobile Dojo support
Much of the session focused on Hybrid Mobile Applications which are downloadable mobile applications (e.g. iPhone, iPad or Android) which also include mobile web connectivity. This is IBM Worklight’s approach to developing mobile applications which allows quicker creation of a mobile presence while leveraging existing mobile web capabilities you have in place already. Worklight and the RAD integration implement easy to use drag and drop dojo widgets for creating user interface creation of mobile web development aspects of a hybrid application and then implements an easy way to export the application to a number of devices including Android, iOS and Windows. Additionally testing is simplified through the use of mobile browser simulators supported right through Firefox or Chrome.
If you have a need to support multi-channel delivery of content and applications, IBM Worklight should be a strong consideration for you.
