What is the
mobile web?
A developer’s perspective.
Dave Ross
Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Dev
November 5, 2009
What is the mobile web? A developer’s perspective :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: November 5, 2009 :: Photo by Phil Dragash on Flickr

Dave Ross
• Lead Developer
• Ten years experience
• PHP & Javascript
• davidmichaelross.com

WAP is dead.
Let’s pretend it never happened
What is the mobile web? A developer’s perspective :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: November 5, 2009 :: Photo by Phil Dragash on Flickr

Today’s phones know
the web
What is the mobile web? A developer’s perspective :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: November 5, 2009 :: Photo by Phil Dragash on Flickr

• HTML
• CSS
• Javascript
• Cookies
What is the mobile web? A developer’s perspective :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: November 5, 2009 :: Photo by Phil Dragash on Flickr

(No Flash)
What is the mobile web? A developer’s perspective :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: November 5, 2009 :: Photo by Phil Dragash on Flickr

240x320
Dominant mobile screen in 2008
source: http://sender11.typepad.com/sender11/2008/04/mobile-screen-s.html
What is the mobile web? A developer’s perspective :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: November 5, 2009 :: Photo by Phil Dragash on Flickr

Smartphones:
• iPhone/Mobile Safari: 320x396
• Blackberry: 320x240 (varies by model)
• G1 (Android): 320x480
• Palm Pre: 320x480
What is the mobile web? A developer’s perspective :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: November 5, 2009 :: Photo by Phil Dragash on Flickr

Use liquid layouts
Ugh! Those again?
What is the mobile web? A developer’s perspective :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: November 5, 2009 :: Photo by Phil Dragash on Flickr

Treat height as infinite
Pages load slowly, but scrolling is fun.
What is the mobile web? A developer’s perspective :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: November 5, 2009 :: Photo by Phil Dragash on Flickr

Big buttons & icons
Best-selling phone has a touchscreen.
What is the mobile web? A developer’s perspective :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: November 5, 2009 :: Photo by Phil Dragash on Flickr

Minimal text input
Can’t do 50 WPM on an iPhone.
What is the mobile web? A developer’s perspective :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: November 5, 2009 :: Photo by Phil Dragash on Flickr

Use minimal Javascript
Blackberry’s browser hates it.
What is the mobile web? A developer’s perspective :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: November 5, 2009 :: Photo by Phil Dragash on Flickr

AJAX > page load
Everything in moderation.
What is the mobile web? A developer’s perspective :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: November 5, 2009 :: Photo by Phil Dragash on Flickr

Use a CMS?
It probably has a plugin for mobile.
What is the mobile web? A developer’s perspective :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: November 5, 2009 :: Photo by Phil Dragash on Flickr

Test!
Handset makers encourage it.
What is the mobile web? A developer’s perspective :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: November 5, 2009 :: Photo by Phil Dragash on Flickr

Emulators
What is the mobile web? A developer’s perspective :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: November 5, 2009 :: Photo by Phil Dragash on Flickr

iPhone SDK + XCode
http://developer.apple.com/iphone
What is the mobile web? A developer’s perspective :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: November 5, 2009 :: Photo by Phil Dragash on Flickr

Blackberry Simulator
http://na.blackberry.com/eng/developers/resources/simulators.jsp
What is the mobile web? A developer’s perspective :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: November 5, 2009 :: Photo by Phil Dragash on Flickr

Android Emulator
http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/emulator.html
What is the mobile web? A developer’s perspective :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: November 5, 2009 :: Photo by Phil Dragash on Flickr

Questions?
What is the mobile web? A developer’s perspective :: Dave Ross :: Suburban Chicago PHP & Web Development Meetup :: November 5, 2009 :: Photo by Phil Dragash on Flickr