Tablets, Smart Phones, Android Development, Websites & HTML5

Nov 16, 2011

Tablets, Smart Phones, Android Development, Websites & HTML5

Article by Dave F Hudson

Older Browsers and HTML5 BrowsersThe Older browsers (typically ‘last decade’ i.e. prior to 2010) can be defined as any browser that is not a HTML5 browser, and so needs a plugin for video. There will be over 2 billion mobile devices with HTML5 Browsers by 2016. HTML5 is revolutionising BlackBerry, android iPhone & Windows Mobile devices and plays video without a plugin (e.g. Adobe flash). There are a number of web browsers available on the Android marketplace. Some are mobile versions of Personal computer (PC) browsers (e.g. Firefox and Opera). The most popular are:-

FirefoxDolphin MiniStock AndroidSkyfirexScopeOpera Mobile,Dolphin HD

Why Mobile Apps or Websites Need To Be Specifically Written For A Smart Phone HTML5 BrowserAlthough a site loads onto a HTML5 browser, the site is simply not optimised. The website is greater than the screen, and the user scrolls up, down and sideways, and then frequently ‘zoom in’ on the section they are interested in. Pictures are often too large and so are slow to loadDesktop browsers do not have a problem with Flash, however it does not work well, sometimes not at all on many handsets.The requirements of mobile users are not the same as Desktop PC users, which have to be analysed to identify new or different opportunities.There are over 6000 different models of mobile internet devices, this includes the whole spectrum of mobile internet devices, tablets, phones etc.It is essential that a company’s website on these devices should be an easy and pleasurable experience, where the potential customer both stays on the site and quickly finds the information they were searching for.In February 2011, 30% of Googles searches for restaurants were on mobile devices, nearly one in three. Where searches are for more detailed information, e.g. technical data, consumer electronics etc then only about 1 in 7 of these are on a mobile. It could be argued that 15% of web resources should be targetted at the mobile market. Ignoring these customers is comparable to shop open ‘7 days’ turning customers away every Saturday.Social Networking is an area where apps are really motoring. There are more than 200 mobile operators in 60 countries working to deploy and promote Facebook mobile productsCurrently over 250 million users currently access Facebook through their mobile devices.

Other statisticsOver 70% of smartphone users do a mobile search because of an ad they’ve seen either online or offlineAdvertisers need a mobile-friendly site 82% of smartphone users notice mobile ads74% of smartphone shoppers make a purchase as a result of using their smartphones to help with shopping

Conclusion:If you require any kind of android development or a mobile website, choose a company that specialises in both website design and writing all kinds of apps, ideally with the technical expertise to write a compiler which means that any app written in HTML5 can be cross compiled for any mobile internet device. This expertise identifies a company as standing out from the crowd, and being leaders instead of followers.

About the Author

The author (Dave Hudson) has written numerous articles about HTML5, compilers and Android Development The author would like to credit adappt.co.uk who assisted with technical information.