Mobile Design and Development

Preface

I’ll be honest: I’m an introduction-skipper. When I sit down with a technical book, I skip right past the introduction or preface and go straight for the goods. If it doesn’t begin with the words “Chapter,” then I figure I can probably move on and not miss anything crucial. This is not, however, one of those books.

Mobile design and development is about context, so it is somewhat fitting that the introduction of a book by the same name would establish context for the pages to follow. Before you dive into the wonderful world of mobile, I want to stress the scope of the medium and therefore of this book.

People don’t seem to realize that mobile as a whole is really, really big. When someone says the word “mobile,” they could be referring to devices, networks, services, the mobile web—even native applications like iPhone apps or a dozen other parts of a vast ecosystem. It isn’t unlike saying that all the various technologies required to create a simple web page can simply be referred to as “the Web.” There is obviously a lot more to it, but at the end of the day we just want it to work.

If there is one thing I’ve learned from my adventures in the mobile industry over the last decade, it is that in order to understand mobile, in order to make it work for you and for your users, you need understand three basic principles of mobile:

You need to know the different facets of the mobile medium

There are many variables that can change the overall experience for the user, both good and bad. Understanding what they are, and how they might affect your project, at least at a basic level, can prevent serious and expensive problems later on

You need to know how to leverage mobile technologies to address context

Context is the mental model in which information is understood. It is the key concept that makes mobile such a powerful and useful medium for millions of people around the world. But addressing context takes not just an understanding of user-centered design principles, but of what roles mobile devices play in people’s lives.

You need to know how to leverage the right mobile technology for the need

Here comes the tricky part: although there are numerous technologies within the mobile ecosystem that work well to address particular problems, finding the right one for your users, your business, or your development resources can be incredibly hard. If you don’t understand the pros and cons of each, it can be difficult to make the right investment, be it time or money, at the right time.

The first half of this book will cover these first two principles; the second half will focus on the last principle. When I sat down to write this book, I knew it would be impossible to cover every technology of mobile in detail. Therefore I’ll focus a lot of this book on the mobile web as the only ubiquitous platform across all mobile devices around the world. Not only does the majority of the mobile community believe that the mobile web is the future of the mobile medium, but I’ve also found it to have the highest return on investment, be it in terms of money, user satisfaction, or development time.

I wrote this book to be a beginning—your beginning in mobile—and to give you all the information you need to know in order to start thinking of your site, application, or business in the mobile context. At the end, you should have a firm understanding of how mobile works and how to start designing and developing for it.

Who This Book Is For

I wrote this book to have something for everyone interested in designing in developing for mobile devices, regardless of experience and regardless of the application. The first half is a crash course in the mobile ecosystem: how to develop a strategy, address the mobile context—even how to decide which of the multiple mobile application types is best for you, and finally, how to create a user experience for it. The second half is focused on using these principles to make a mobile website or web app.

How This Book Is Organized

The chapters in this book are organized as follows:

Chapter 1, A Brief History of Mobile

In this chapter, I’ll provide a quick introduction into how mobile devices have evolved from phones to the pocket-sized computers of today and a look into where they are headed.

Chapter 2, The Mobile Ecosystem

In this chapter, I’ll give you a summary of the multiple layers of the mobile ecosystem and the role that each of them plays in getting your work into the hands and handsets of your users.

Chapter 3, Why Mobile?

This chapter explores the importance of mobile around the world. I’ll compare mobile to traditional media like print, television, and the Web, and explain some of the unique benefits of the mobile medium.

Chapter 4, Designing for Context

Creating mobile experience starts with addressing the context of the user. In this chapter, I’ll discuss the different types of context and include some interesting examples of how mobile devices can address it.

Chapter 5, Developing a Mobile Strategy

In this chapter, I’ll discuss how to create a user-centered, context-based mobile strategy. I’ll include a few rules to help you make sure that your project starts off right and has the steam to get where it needs to go.

Chapter 6, Types of Mobile Applications

Many mobile projects fail because they aren’t designed for the right type of application context. In this chapter, I’ll explain the different types of applications, their pros and cons, and how to decide which is right for you.

Chapter 7, Mobile Information Architecture

In this chapter, I’ll discuss how to structure the information in your product for the mobile context by using various deliverables to define your mobile experience.

Chapter 8, Mobile Design

In this chapter, I’ll discuss how to create the best possible mobile experience and discuss the principles and techniques of how to create a design for mobile devices.

Chapter 9, Mobile Web Apps Versus Native Applications

In this chapter, I’ll compare mobile web applications to applications written specifically for a particular mobile platform, including many of the pros and cons.

Chapter 10, Mobile 2.0

In this chapter, I’ll discuss the concept of Mobile 2.0 and the importance of the mobile web to the future of mobile, as well as some of its challenges.

Chapter 11, Mobile Web Development

In this chapter, I will cover the mobile standards for various devices and provide an explanation of each of them in detail as well as how they are supported across multiple devices.

Chapter 12, iPhone Web Apps

In many ways, the iPhone is changing mobile for the better, leading innovation in the future of the mobile web. In this chapter, I will talk specifically about how to create iPhone web applications and how to make them work on other popular devices as well.

Chapter 13, Adapting to Devices

One of the greatest challenges in mobile is adapting to multiple devices. In this chapter, I will discuss some of the common techniques and a few services that can help.

Chapter 14, Making Money in Mobile

Once you have your product, it is time to publish it and, in most cases, try to make money from it. In this chapter, I will discuss the options and some of the common pitfalls to avoid.

Chapter 15, Supporting Devices

In this chapter, I will discuss how to test and support multiple mobile devices, including a few tips and tricks of the trade.

Chapter 16, The Future of Mobile

Finally, I will provide some of my thoughts as to the future of mobile and the next evolution of the Web.

Conventions Used in This Book

The following typographical conventions are used in this book:

Italic

Indicates new terms, URLs, email addresses, filenames, and file extensions.

Constant width

Used for program listings, as well as within paragraphs to refer to program elements such as variable or function names, databases, data types, environment variables, statements, and keywords.

Constant width bold

Shows commands or other text that should be typed literally by the user.

Constant width italic

Shows text that should be replaced with user-supplied values or by values determined by context.

Note

This icon signifies a tip, suggestion, or general note.

Using Code Examples

This book is here to help you get your job done. In general, you may use the code in this book in your programs and documentation. You do not need to contact us for permission unless you’re reproducing a significant portion of the code. For example, writing a program that uses several chunks of code from this book does not require permission. Selling or distributing a CD-ROM of examples from O’Reilly books does require permission. Answering a question by citing this book and quoting example code does not require permission. Incorporating a significant amount of example code from this book into your product’s documentation does require permission.

We appreciate, but do not require, attribution. An attribution usually includes the title, author, publisher, and ISBN. For example: “Mobile Design and Development, by Brian Fling. Copyright 2009 Brian Fling, 978-0-596-15544-5.”

If you feel your use of code examples falls outside fair use or the permission given here, feel free to contact us at [e-mail].

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Acknowledgments

It amazes me the number of people required to get a book like this into your hands. To say that a book would not be possible without the following people feels like the understatement of a lifetime. I would like to thank all the people who sent me kind words of support throughout the creation of the book. I especially want to call out a few people in particular to whom I owe an enormous debt and my eternal gratitude.

Thank you to my friends in the mobile community who offered support and advice throughout the creation of this book: Kelly Goto, Barbara Ballard, Bryan Reiger, Chris Mills, Ronan Cremin, Mike Rowehl, Tony Fish, Dan Saffer, Matt May, Rudy De Waele, Katrin Verclas. And to my “nemesis” David Storey at Opera: thanks for helping to keep me honest.

A special thank you to all the people at my company, pinch/zoom, who had to work so hard to keep our little company going while I was “away”: Garrett Murray, Charlie Barr, Cheryl Gledhill, Scott Gledhill, Jim Dovey, David Kaneda, and Tim Connor.

This book would not have been possible without the advice, support, and guidance of the technical editors and contributors:

• Daniel Appelquist: a guiding light in the future of the mobile web. If we had a hundred more Dans in the mobile community, I think we could see mobile technology make the world a better place in our lifetime.

• Scott Weiss: my mentor on all things mobile design. I swear that he has forgotten more about mobile design than I know. Scott’s advice helped me get through some of the most challenging chapters to create some of my best work.

• Luca Passani: although you might not always agree with him, Luca is one of the most passionate and spirited people I know. Without him, mobile would just be yet another boring technology.

• Andrea Trassati: there were plenty of times I felt like I was out on a ledge on some of the more advanced topics. Andrea was invaluable in helping me not just to make sense of it all, but to present it to the reader in a way I never could have on my own.

• David Gerton, Jr.: David helped me get through some especially tough spots with additional expertise, research, and writing. Oh, and he helped me with this book too.

• Twitter: it might be odd to credit a website, but my friends, both real and extended, provided me with dozens of resources, ideas, and tips throughout the creation of this book. They helped me write the book they wanted to read. I hope you are happy with it.

• The book staff: Thanks to Steve Weiss for believing in the mobile web and pushing for this book from the start to finish; without his support, this book would never have been written. Thanks to Ginny Bess Munroe, who had to take my ramblings and turn them into an excellent book. Thanks to everyone at O’Reilly who has been so incredible to work with, especially Chris Meredith, who gave me the daily motivation and encouragement to get this book written.

And finally a heartfelt thank you to my wife, Cyndi, who put up with my all of my crazy ideas long before I started in mobile. She, along with my daughter, Penny, manages to unconditionally support and love me no matter what. For that I owe everything.