WML Applications with ColdFusion
By Kevin Schmidt
If you're like me, you have your coworkers' phone numbers, email, and general contact information stored in a directory for easy access. The problem with this system is that you have to constantly update the information whenever someone leaves, gets hired, or changes his or her email address. And when you're on the road, it's a hassle to access that data unless you remember to sync it with a handheld device.
The solution for such contact list woes is to create a company database that contains everyone's information, and make this database accessible wirelessly. This way, you can obtain the most current information from anywhere, with almost any device. Such a process definitely saves me time, because I don't have to keep the information on my phone up-to-date any longer; I simply rely on the site.
Developing a Plan
When you build a wireless application, there are several things you need to keep in mind. Currently, wireless devices have limited capabilities, much as the Web did in the beginning. Given that you want to make your user's experience as quick and easy as possible, and given that cell phones have very low bandwidth, I'd advise against using big images and large amounts of text. Providing a clean, simple, and easy-to-use interface that loads quickly, is the key to your application's success.
For the directory, also keep everything clean and simple. The user enters all or part of a person's last name into a form. When he or she submits the form, the application queries the database and returns a list of employees with the same or similar last name.
