Recently, I have been reading Mobile Design and Development by Brian Fling. A book that describes itself as being full of “practical techniques for creating mobile sites and web apps”. This is indeed the case as this excellent book covers all the basics that you will need to know in order to produce excellent websites and apps for mobile devices. It is important to mention that this book is not solely focused on the iPhone (unlike many other books of this ilk), but instead covers all of the main smartphone technologies available today.
The book covers topics from understanding the mobile eco-system, the differences between mobile and traditional design, putting mobile work into context, pros and cons of native application development versus mobile web apps, usability, testing and justifying the choice to work for mobile. All in all this book provides an excellent introduction to designing for mobile – something which is becoming increasingly more important in the current climate. With the convergence of various technologies it seems as though many of us are now carrying around small multimedia computers in our pockets, not just phones. These permanently connected devices provide so many opportunities for the budding mobile designer and content provider, and understand what makes these platforms different in vital to the success of any project. Read More
Ever since July 2008 and the launch of the Apple App store, the world of mobile internet has been in a constant state of change. Up until this point, Steve Jobs and the rest of the Apple marketing machine had been all about providing the best possible mobile browser, and the best mobile websites. They even had a page on the main Apple website promoting pages that worked the best in the fledgling iPhone OS (now iOS) browser. Following the launch of the App Store, the focus of mobile internet has changed, moving steadily away from in-browser experiences and edging ever closer to a world where apps are king.
With the ever-growing popularity of Android, and the diverse range of other platforms available – including HP (Palm) WebOS, Blackberry OS, Samsung Bada, HTC Brew and Windows Phone 7, Nokia MeeGo and Symbian – many businesses are left with a choice:
- Do we produce an app for every platform? At a huge cost and long timeline, this option isn’t available to all businesses.
- Do we pick one platform and hope our target market finds us? Risky again, if you get it wrong then you need to start again.
Luckily there is another option. Whilst many developers have been moving towards the ‘app model’, there has also been a great deal of innovation in the ‘mobile browser’ space, and with the emergence of jQuery mobile, developers now have a real alternative to developing custom apps for each platform. Read More
