Device-independent Mobile Web Application

Development

Archana Mandape

234 million Wireless subscriptions in USA. Many players in the smart phone market. Apple iPhone OS, RIM BlackBerry OS and

Android OS are operating systems. Mobile devices are getting faster processors Improved Wireless Network. An important platform for Web Applications

Importance of Mobile devices

Smart phone market share

Consistent user experience

Mobile Device Display

Data Storage

Speed

Device Independent Mobile Web Application challenges

Make Model Resolution Default BrowserAndroid Droid Incredible 800x 480 WebKit

Android Nexus One 800x 480 WebKit

Apple iPhone 4 960x 640 WebKit

Motorola SLVR L7 176×220 Opera

Motorola ZINE ZN5 240×320 WebKit

Nokia N810 800×480 Gecko

Nokia N82 240×320 WebKit

Palm Pre 320×480 WebKit

RIM BlackBerry Torch 480×360 WebKit

Consistent User Experience - Mobile Browsers

◦ WebKit is an open source web content engine for browsers and applications.

◦ WebKit is used as the rendering engine within iOS, Android , Safari on Windows and also in Mac OS X.

◦ WebKit has a smaller footprint – less memory and CPU requirement.

◦ It is ideal for the mobile environments.◦ It can be used for desktop and mobile web page

development.

WebKit Browser Engine

Mobile Device Display

◦ The size of the viewport and scale of the web page◦ The device's screen density

Using Viewport Metadata

<meta name="viewport" content="width=800" />

Automatic sizing <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width" />

Mobile Device Display

Defining the viewport scale. Its initial-scale minimum-scale maximum-scale user-scalable

Defining the viewport target density. Its values can be. device-dpi high-dpi medium-dpi low-dpi <value>

Mobile Device Display

Cookies◦ Stored on device memory◦ Not suitable for large data◦ Not reliable

Client-Side Storage ◦ No Access for Web Apps◦ HTML5 provides few capabilties

Database on the Server◦ Best available option◦ Common technique - JASON

Data Storage

Reduce number of requests and amount of data transferred

Avoid multiple file requests

Data Compression

Eliminate redirects

Speed

Conclusion

Developing Device Independent Mobile Web Applications can be achieved to some extent!!

Advance css By: Joseph R. Lewis; Meitar Moscovitz

Programming the Mobile Web By: Maximiliano Firtman

Towards a uniform web application platform for desktop computers and mobile devices By Tommi Mikkonen and Antero Taivalsaari

References