Mobile web application development

WebCamp KK: Episode 1 Mobile Web Application Development Vince Aggrippino a.k.a. Ghodmode http://www.ghodmode.com

About Me
Vince Aggrippino
Working in IT since 1990
US Army, 7 years
Programming since 2000
Programming for the web since 2004
Freelancing since 2005
Ghodmode Development http://www.ghodmode.com
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Please save all of your questions until the end of the presentation.

Topics
Why target the mobile market?
Target Platforms
User Agents
Web Development Technologies
Reference Materials and Tools
Things to consider

Why Mobile Web Apps?
Millions of new iOS and Android devices are registered every day. Web apps can target all of them.
Web apps don't (necessarily) require, installation, an account, a credit card, or any personal information to use.
Mobile device platforms are more consistent.
No specialized tools, hardware, or restrictive licenses required for development.

Target Platforms
iOS - Apple's proprietary mobile operating system
Over 200 million devices *
Android - Google's Open Source Φ mobile operating system
Nearly 140 million devices §
* Live from WWDC 2011 - This is my next Φ Is Android Open? - Wired.com § Android reaches 130 million devices, growing by 550,000 a day - This is my next

Other Platforms?
Windows Phone 7
Blackberry OS
HP WebOS
Palm OS
Windows Mobile
Windows CE
As is the case with PC browsers, we have to consider project requirements and target audience.

User Agents* Webkit Opera Mozilla / Gecko Trident (Internet Explorer)
User Agent = term used in W3C documentation to generically refer to a web browser's rendering engine.

Web Development Technologies
HTML5
Apple's early domination of the mobile market and their stance against Flash support have pushed browser vendors into better HTML5 support.
CSS3
It's not the same as HTML5... or is it? *
Javascript
Along with the use of libraries like jQuery and MooTools, Javascript has become the most powerful tool at our disposal.
Adactio: Journal ― Badge of shame

Reference
W3C Mobile Web Initiative
W3C: Standards for Web Applications on Mobile
Safari Dev Center
Safari on iPhone Tools Coding How-To's
Android Developers: Web Apps Overview
Smashing Magazine: How To Build a Mobile Website

Tools
Modernizr - feature detection
PhoneGap *
Sencha Touch - Mobile Javascript Framework
HTML5BoilerPlate - Mobile Boilerplate
jQuery Mobile
W3C MobileOK Checker
PhoneGap is not actually a web development framework. It's a framework for building and deploying native applications using HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript.

Things to Consider
In contrast with the prevailing wisdom for PC website development, many articles recommend User Agent detection (a.k.a. browser sniffing).
Mobile users usually have lower screen resolution.
Mobile users usually have low internet speeds.
Mobile users usually have bandwidth limitations.
Use web search, forums, and mailing lists!

Summary
Mobile Web applications are quicker and easier to deploy and allow us to target a larger market than native applications.
Fewer differences between mobile browsers and better standards compliance means quicker development and fewer bugs.
General support for HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript lets us do more with less code and fewer dependencies.
There is an abundance of information available and numerous tools available that can make this fun and easy.
This isn't the same as desktop web application development. It's still changing, but in some ways, it's better.

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Mobile web application development

by Ghodmode on Aug 02, 2011

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Mobile web application development — Presentation Transcript