So with the start of Epcot’s International Food & Wine Festival beginning this week, I wanted to add something to the event. Over the weekend, I put together a web application for the event for those of us with Apple’s iPhone. Using some of the information that is publicly available about the event, I created a small guide showcasing the highlights for the festival.
The web application itself is fairly straightforward; highlighting the 5 major functions at the festival. I wanted to balance the inclusion of features, photographs and information with the responsiveness of the application over a 3G network. Much of the information is loaded in the beginning, so once the app loads on your phone, it should be fairly zippy.
I tested it at Epcot yesterday and it varied in initial load time from 9 – 12 seconds. This was one of the major reasons that not more photographs and other graphics are included. I think it is a convenient little guide for wandering around Epcot and enjoying all of the culinary delights of the Food & Wine Festival.
You can reach the application by pointing your iPhone browser to http://etckt.com/wine. The site will come up as an optimized page designed specifically for the iPhone and, for all intents and purposes, runs as a regular application.
Once you download the application, make sure you add it to your home screen to enable the “application”. Essentially, this removes the browser chrome from the web-page and makes the app appear more like the standard iPhone app, as well as allowing you to reach the app with ease as you wander World Showcase.
Wrapping it up
There are lots of varying competing and complementary technologies to develop on the iPhone. They all have benefits as well as issues that must be weighed when bringing content to the public. The iPhone is a great little computer that can enhance any travel destination and this little app just foreshadows some of the bigger plans, projects and ideas we have coming for our favorite place – The Walt Disney World Resort.
Feel free to provide any feedback about the app and I hope you enjoy it.
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