I need the collective mind to help with this...
I'm interested in finding out if building an Adobe Air App will meet this client's requirements:
The Situation:
- Client currently has product catalog in 3 ring binder.
- Product pages exist electronically in PDF format.
- Case studies and Project Profiles exist in PDF format.
- Client wants the flash drive to automatically update itself when it is plugged in so their users always have the latest version on their flash drive/allows for printing,saving, emailing latest info etc.
Here's the solution they came up with internally and submitted an RFQ to build.
1. Put the product catalog on a Flash Drive and have their sales teams hand deliver it to their clients.
(Their Reasoning: Their client base is an older generation and prefers having something physical in their hands)
(My Response: Put the catalog on the web. Hide from SERPs using Robot.txt and use ACL/permissions to protect whatever you want)
..they insist on using Flash drives...go figure.
2. When the user plugs in the Flash Drive, the user would go thru the normal prompts to view the contents loaded on the flash drive.
3. UPDATING THE CONTENTS ON THE FLASH DRIVE: My client wants to be able to update the content internally/locally, upload it to a server and when the user plugs in their flash drive, my client wants the flash drive to automatically download the "new" version of the catalog and save it to the user's Flash drive.
4. They want to be able to update the App on their own. IE add links to new product PDFs, add pages etc. simple content management changes, no programmatic changes.
What I told them: From my experience..this won't work : The only way to achieve #3 is with a .exe loaded on the flash drive. The myriad of intranet/anti-virus software/firewalls/permissions scenarios will cause headaches for their users. Their user base is not tech savvy and it's imperative to adhere to the "don't make them think" principle. Hence, launching a .exe = no bueno.
I suggested creating a mobile app to solve their problem. They said no.
The userbase of too antiquated.
The client insists on handing a flash drive to their customers and prospects. "Percieved value of being hand delivered something" etc. etc..
OK....flash drive it is...:
My Proposed Solution
Build an Adobe Air App to deliver a great user experience and have it auto-update when launched or when the user tells it to.
Build something that will:
A. Reside on a flash drive
B. Run solely from a flash drive
C. When plugged in and clicked on, the app will request that the user click an update button to grab the latest catalog info.
D. When they click the "Grab the latest" the app goes out and downloads the latest files and returns a "OK! You're good to go. Click here to view the latest"
E. The app will render a simple UI (header/leftnav/body/footer) Basically a UI that looks like a simple website but with fancier menu behaviors, drop downs, submenus etc.
F. All product PDFs can be stored on flash drive as PDF and when clicked, they;ll be rendered using the users PDF reader.
e. When the app updates itself, it simply calls out to a external db and request new files. Cross reference needed updates is preferred BUT a full update is probaby best contingent on overall package size.
QUESTIONS: Things I don't know:
(I also don't know what I don't know so any additional insight is greatly appreciated!)
Can an Adobe Air App reside and be run//"live" solely from a Flash drive? If not...back to the drawing board.
Can the client be shown how to update the Adobe Air app on their own IE. Add a menu item, add menu link to document etc.?
(My thought was to simply provide screencasted walkthru videos showing their internal teams how to do it. This way, I'm having the conversation once and giving the means to be self sufficient.)