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The ALS Online Genetics Database (ALSoD) website holds mutation, geographical, and phenotype data on genes implicated in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and links to bioinformatics resources, publications, and tools for analysis. On average, there are 300 unique visits per day, suggesting a high demand from the research community. To enable wider access, we developed a mobile-friendly version of the website and a smartphone app.
We sought to compare data traffic before and after implementation of a mobile version of the website to assess utility.
We identified the most frequently viewed pages using Google Analytics and our in-house analytic monitoring. For these, we optimized the content layout of the screen, reduced image sizes, and summarized available information. We used the Microsoft .NET framework mobile detection property (HttpRequest.IsMobileDevice in the Request.Browser object in conjunction with HttpRequest.UserAgent), which returns a true value if the browser is a recognized mobile device. For app development, we used the Eclipse integrated development environment with Android plug-ins. We wrapped the mobile website version with the WebView object in Android. Simulators were downloaded to test and debug the applications.
The website automatically detects access from a mobile phone and redirects pages to fit the smaller screen. Because the amount of data stored on ALSoD is very large, the available information for display using smartphone access is deliberately restricted to improve usability. Visits to the website increased from 2231 to 2820, yielding a 26% increase from the pre-mobile to post-mobile period and an increase from 103 to 340 visits (230%) using mobile devices (including tablets). The smartphone app is currently available on BlackBerry and Android devices and will be available shortly on iOS as well.
Further development of the ALSoD website has allowed access through smartphones and tablets, either through the website or directly through a mobile app, making genetic data stored on the database readily accessible to researchers and patients across multiple devices.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease of motor neurons resulting in progressive weakness of voluntary muscles. Death usually follows 2-5 years after the first symptoms appear, due to respiratory failure [
Like most websites, ALSoD was initially built to display information to users of desktops and laptops, and the pages are configured to suit the height and width of those screens. With changes in browsing habits, website access is now often through a small portable device like a smartphone or tablet computer. It is therefore essential to ensure data will display correctly on a small device [
Mobile phone displays have greatly improved from the early monochrome screens for sending SMS messages to colorful graphical touch screens for mobile browsing [
Our first focus was on the development of a mobile Web-based platform because we wanted the content to work across all mobile platforms [
Designing a mobile website that works on several platforms does not mean shrinking a complete webpage into a mini-sized webpage; the aim is to eliminate very small type, scrolling left or right, and typing, and to achieve the outcome required with a single click [
To detect if the request comes from a mobile device, the .NET Framework provides the “isMobileDevice” property, which returns a true value if the browser is a recognized mobile device. This does not always work because some mobile device browsers disguise themselves as desktop browsers [
Text messages and BlackBerry Messenger messages were sent to a selection of individuals known to the authors, asking them to view the ALSoD Web address on their phones and tablets. After the app was developed, additional users were asked to download the app via Google Play. Since ALSoD has a Facebook [
Overview of mobile website development.
Mobile view of website.
The most commonly used smartphone platforms are iOS, BlackBerry, Android, and Windows Mobile. We used Eclipse software as the integrated development environment (IDE), with the Android software development kit (SDK), Android development tools (ADT) plugin, BlackBerry plugin, and the latest SDK tools and platforms, downloaded using the SDK Manager [
From Eclipse, the application was compiled producing an .apk file (Android application package file format). This file was submitted to a registered Google Play account with a generated keystore containing a private key [
A marquee function scrolling text from right to left was inserted on the desktop master page to create an alert for regular users of the website, as seen in
During the various presentations of the mobile app development through posters and seminars, practical assessment of the website on mobile phones was carried out by attendants. Responses, questions asked, concerns raised, and critical analysis given by the audience were recorded and considered.
The Google Analytics account for ALSoD was created in August 2012 to compare results generated by the two tools (mobile website and app) and to gain insight into the changes of the design and content of the website [
Desktop view creating awareness using Facebook and a marquee.
In the 6-month data analysis period from August 2012 to January 2013, there were 5051 visits to the website, of which 2698 were unique (53%). There were 19,785 page views, of which 8883 (45%) were to 4 sets of pages. These pages focused on the pathogenicity of mutations, gene information, data analysis of mutations, and patient data.
Pages were optimized for mobile browsing by reducing image size to 5% of the original size, creating a mobile master page different from the desktop master page, and creating a link page to allow users to switch seamlessly between the mobile and desktop views.
If the UserAgent string contained keywords suggesting a mobile platform, for example, BlackBerry, Palm, mobile, iPhone, or iPad, then the user’s device was redirected to the mobile site [
To test this, we sent the mobile site URL to mobile phones of 14 users (colleagues and friends from whom we could easily obtain verbal feedback): 3 on the Android platform, 1 on the Windows Phone, 5 on BlackBerry OS, and 5 on iOS (2 iPhone and 3 iPad). All users gave positive feedback except for the Windows Phone user who could not utilize the pages with dropdown boxes.
Following successful implementation of the mobile website, we began app development. One straightforward method to achieve this is to automatically convert an already-built mobile website into a native app. This is done through the “WebView” object, which is an in-app Web browser used to display a website as if viewed on the browser of an Android smartphone [
Following the development of the mobile version, on the ALSoD Facebook page, 34 users recommended the website by May 29, 2013, using the Facebook “Recommend” button embedded on the website. Current tabular data are available on the website [
After the creation, testing, and publicity of the app, we received feedback from users about: caching for offline viewing [
Our Google Analytics account showed that visits to the website increased from 2231 to 2820, yielding a 26% increase from pre-mobile period to post-mobile period and a 230% increase on the use of mobile devices (including tablets) to access the ALSoD website. On average, there were 300 unique visitors a day suggesting a high demand from the research community. A total of 1595 unique visitors in the post-mobile era accessed 11,376 page views on the website as opposed to 1220 unique visitors in the pre-mobile period (an increase of 31%), showing the relevance of a mobile-friendly website. Five mobile operating systems (Android, iOS, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Symbian) were detected to have accessed the website within 6 months. Although BlackBerry OS visits declined from 34 to 14 visits (58%), iOS for iPhones and iPads increased from 40 to 105 visits (162%), and visits by Android devices increased from 29 to 213 visits (634%) (see
Comparison of website visits between the pre-mobile and post-mobile development.
Operating system | Visits | Pages per visit | Avg visit duration | % new visits | Bounce rate, % | |
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26.40% | 7.03% | 1.48% | 4.25 | 2.98 |
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2820 vs 2231 | 4.03 vs 3.77 | 00:03:55 vs 00:03:58 | 52.45 vs 54.77 | 47.45 vs 48.90 |
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01/Nov/2012-31/Jan/2013 | 1945 | 4.25 | 00:04:20 | 49.56 | 44.78 |
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01/Aug/2012-31/Oct/2012 | 1564 | 3.85 | 00:04:13 | 56.46 | 48.34 |
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% Change | 24.36 | 10.47 | 2.71 | -12.21 | -7.36 |
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01/Nov/2012-31/Jan/2013 | 435 | 3.26 | 00:02:36 | 51.26 | 53.33 |
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01/Aug/2012-31/Oct/2012 | 490 | 3.27 | 00:02:50 | 51.02 | 54.08 |
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% Change | -11.22 | -0.28 | -8.71 | 0.48 | -1.38 |
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01/Nov/2012-31/Jan/2013 | 213 | 2.35 | 00:01:29 | 76.53 | 63.85 | |
01/Aug/2012-31/Oct/2012 | 29 | 4.93 | 00:03:12 | 65.52 | 44.83 | |
% Change | 634.48 | -52.30 | -53.69 | 16.80 | 42.43 | |
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01/Nov/2012-31/Jan/2013 | 105 | 4.52 | 00:02:31 | 82.86 | 48.57 | |
01/Aug/2012-31/Oct/2012 | 40 | 4.55 | 00:02:06 | 87.50 | 50.00 | |
% Change | 162.50 | -0.58 | 19.77 | -5.31 | -2.86 | |
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01/Nov/2012-31/Jan/2013 | 85 | 6.51 | 00:08:11 | 28.24 | 29.41 | |
01/Aug/2012-31/Oct/2012 | 61 | 3.23 | 00:03:13 | 34.43 | 32.79 | |
% Change | 39.34 | 101.45 | 154.08 | -17.98 | -10.29 | |
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01/Nov/2012-31/Jan/2013 | 15 | 1.07 | 00:00:28 | 100.00 | 93.33 | |
01/Aug/2012-31/Oct/2012 | 13 | 1.92 | 00:00:43 | 92.31 | 84.62 | |
% Change | 15.38 | -44.53 | -35.61 | 8.33 | 10.30 | |
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01/Nov/2012-31/Jan/2013 | 14 | 8.14 | 00:11:10 | 0.00 | 28.57 | |
01/Aug/2012-31/Oct/2012 | 34 | 7.12 | 00:14:12 | 5.88 | 17.65 | |
% Change | -58.82 | 14.40 | -21.31 | -100.00 | 61.90 | |
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01/Nov/2012-31/Jan/2013 | 4 | 6.75 | 00:08:02 | 50.00 | 50.00 | |
01/Aug/2012-31/Oct/2012 | 0 | 0 | 00:00:00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | |
% Change | ∞ | ∞ | ∞ | ∞ | ∞ | |
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01/Nov/2012-31/Jan/2013 | 3 | 1.33 | 00:00:11 | 0.00 | 66.67 | |
01/Aug/2012-31/Oct/2012 | 0 | 0 | 00:00:00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | |
% Change | ∞ | ∞ | ∞ | 0.00 | ∞ | |
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01/Nov/2012-31/Jan/2013 | 1 | 1 | 00:00:00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | |
01/Aug/2012-31/Oct/2012 | 0 | 0 | 00:00:00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | |
% Change | ∞ | ∞ | 0.00 | ∞ | ∞ |
Referral traffic from search engines from August 2012 to June 2013.
Source | Visits | Pages per visit | Avg. visit duration | % new visits | Bounce rate, % |
4339 | 4.06 | 00:04:54 | 42.73 | 46.58 | |
Yahoo | 62 | 3.63 | 00:02:42 | 51.61 | 41.94 |
Bing | 32 | 5.53 | 00:07:11 | 62.50 | 31.25 |
Baidu | 21 | 6.19 | 00:12:50 | 23.81 | 23.81 |
Daum | 13 | 3.46 | 00:06:35 | 30.77 | 30.77 |
Ask | 10 | 4.9 | 00:08:33 | 20.00 | 20.00 |
Conduit | 8 | 17.62 | 00:08:27 | 37.50 | 25.00 |
AOL | 7 | 1 | 00:00:00 | 71.43 | 100.00 |
Other search engines | 5 | 6 | 00:04:24 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Yandex | 4 | 1.25 | 00:00:04 | 100.00 | 75.00 |
Babylon | 3 | 1.33 | 00:00:33 | 100.00 | 66.67 |
AVG | 1 | 1 | 00:00:00 | 100.00 | 100.00 |
Comcast | 1 | 1 | 00:00:00 | 100.00 | 100.00 |
Graphical display of increased Web traffic on ALSoD.
ALSoD was developed as a disease-specific database for ALS, focused on genetics and phenotype, with planned incorporation of environmental and other risk factors in the future. We have shown that development of the website to facilitate smartphone access has greatly increased access.
In broad terms, there are two strategies for development of an app like this. Either the app can be developed as stand-alone software or it can be developed as a means to access an existing mobile website. We chose access to a mobile website for several reasons. First, we used this approach because mobile websites are immediately accessible to users through a browser, more compatible across devices, have easier content updates, are faster to find on search engines, make it easier to share content via a link, have a longer lifecycle on a user’s device, are easily convertible to an app, and are more cost-effective [
A limitation to this approach is that the website recognizes a mobile device based on the information held in the list in the UserAgents string. Although software exists to automatically update the list, there is a financial cost involved and we have therefore chosen to update the list manually. Furthermore, UserAgents strings are limited in the kind of information sent to the server. Specific information such as the size of the screen, the manufacturer, the format of image supported, and the model of phone are not sent. This is an issue because some mobile devices allow portrait and landscape views when repositioned while others have unique width and height dimensions. It is therefore difficult to have a perfect display on all devices.
There are 3 main methods by which users access the website (
More than 100 interactive, downloadable widgets and mobile applications have been submitted to the NHS Choices Health Apps library [
Development of the mobile website and associated app has increased access to this disease-specific database and facilitated access through a wide range of devices. Visitor analysis has shown the importance of collaborating with other relevant databases through hyperlinks. Our future work will concentrate on further integration with other databases, adding in nongenetic risk factors, and increasing access and relevance for related research disciplines.
Script for redirecting views.
CONSORT-EHEALTH checklist V1.6.2 [
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Online Genetics Database
active server page network
integrated development environment
provides automatic layout, pagination, headers and footers, and graphic elements for multiple pages.
operating system
short message service
a user agent is software (a software agent) that is acting on behalf of a user.
wireless local area network
We are especially grateful for the long-standing and continued funding of this project from the ALS Association and the MND Association of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. We also thank ALS Canada, MNDA Iceland, and the ALS Therapy Alliance for support. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community’s Health Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013, under grant agreement number 259867. We thank the NIHR specialist Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health and the Biomedical Research Unit for Dementia at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) and the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London. Aleks Radunovic, Nigel Leigh, and Ian Gowrie originally conceived ALSoD. ALSoD is a joint project of the World Federation of Neurology (WFN) and European Network for the Cure of ALS (ENCALS).
Conflicts of Interest: None declared.