Professional Mobile Web Development with WordPress®, Joomla!®, and Drupal®

Chapter 4. Major Mobile Web Browsers

WHAT'S IN THIS CHAPTER?

• Learning some of the different variants of mobile browsers available in the market today

Arguably, there may be as many types of mobile browsers as there are makes and models of mobile devices. Unlike a desktop or laptop, where the browser is more or less independent of the operating system, and can be upgraded or replaced easily, the browser that comes with a mobile device is often intimately bound to the firmware of the phone. (In certain cases, you can install additional browsers, such as Opera Mini or Opera Mobile but these rarely replace the default browser that is installed with the operating system.) Network operators may also install browsers of their own choosing onto the devices they distribute and sell.

As a result, the portfolio of mobile browsers that a developer must be aware of is very large, and as you most likely are targeting a broad range of handsets when you develop your site, you should be aware of the general limitations and capabilities of them before you start.

This brief chapter provides a non-exhaustive review of the browsers that are available on today's handsets and on those of handsets released in the last few years. These older types of handsets are still very likely to be in the hands of many of your users, wherever they are in the world.

THE WEBKIT BROWSERS

This chapter unashamedly starts with a look at the WebKit browsers that are available in recent mobile devices. The WebKit project has heralded ...