jQuery Mobile 1.0 has just been released and I’m pretty excited about it!

Actually, I’m not alone.

I’ve been using regular jQuery on almost all my projects for years, including those with Tessitura integration. jQuery Mobile (jQM) seems like it will make it easy to build beautiful and functional mobile sites super fast.

One of the coolest features is the built in themes.

Nearly every element can be “themed” simply by adding the data-theme attribute in an element’s tag, such as data-theme="A" for theme A. Here’s an example of all 5 built in color themes, A through E.

It also provides most of the responsiveness people are asking for with mobile websites. This cuts down on development time and allows you to focus more on the quality of your content.

How does this help non-profits? Well, it allows you to catch up with for-profit companies in creating mobile versions of your purchase path. Integrated with your CMS and CRM you can finally secure that revenue stream in the mobile space. It also has a great ROI being that jQuery and jQuery Mobile are both open source (read: free and getting better all the time).

All you need is to get started.

I am happy to report that I am once again gainfully employed full-time since the closure of my previous employer, Intiman Theatre. Intiman was (still is: they are on “hiatus”) a mid-sized theatre company located in the shadow of Seattle’s Space Needle. Coincidentally, it’s right next door! I am the new Webmaster and Digital Media Specialist  for Pacific Northwest Ballet.

With my background in non-profit performing arts organizations, working at PNB makes me very happy. They’re a Tessitura user and have one of the best Select Your Own Seat (SYOS) user interfaces that I’ve seen. I understand it was designed by Hornall Anderson. They are the ones who designed the new RedHook beer rebrand, Starbucks VIA and Microsoft Office 2010. Watch their video of how the PNB site works.

Although I have a day job now I will still be taking on work from new and returning clients. I’m keeping up on Tessitura web integration and hope to be officially recognized by Tessitura Network soon. Oh, and also, I’m now an officially registered iOS developer! Can you say Tessitura Mobile App?

I’m in the process of building a web application that facilitates online transactions using the Tessitura software (the world’s leading performing arts CRM software). There are a few existing products out there but I want to see if I could improve on their functionality as well as provide some fun bells and whistles for my client.

I can’t show anything just yet but I’ve been able to come up with a purchase-path “proof of concept” using the Tessitura Web API and will be continuing to flesh it out over the next few months.

The most interesting part of the whole project so far is playing around with the user interface. I’m using jQuery with ajax calls to the database to display the information in a elegant way to the user. I’m particularly proud of my calendar which utilizes less than 20 lines of code to build and display the performances in a user friendly fashion.

Are you a developer using Tessitura Web API?

I am interested in working with other developers who’ve been successful in making calls to the Tessitura Web API for their clients. Need any help on a project or just want to bounce ideas off another developer? Let me know!

Update: Unfortunately I am no longer working on this project as my client, Intiman Theatre, has closed its doors to recoup. The good news is that I’m still working with clients who use Tessitura. Stay tuned for more information regarding designing with Tessitura in mind. 5/03/2011