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Why We Shouldn’t Make Separate Mobile Websites
Why does everyone assume a “seperate mobile website” means something stripped down, and something that doesnt give access to all the content?
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An Ajax-Include Pattern for Modular Content
Clever and useful pattern for brining in non-essential content to a page after its iniital load. i do a good bit of this on Lendle (although not with this particular technique). The intesting thing to me when this is discussed in regard to mobile, as it is here, is that the “loading…” aspect of web sites and apps is one of the thing that make people like native apps so much better. They always feel so much faster because once a view appears on screen, it’s all the—theres nothing more to load. Tradeoffs…
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Responsive questions
Jeremy Keith answers a bunch of great questions about responsive web design. I agree with almost every word of it. The only thing that bugs me is when he says people were “angry” that RWD doesnt solve mobile context issues. It bugs me because I can’t help feeling like he’s talking about me. “Angry” isnt the right word at all. I can honestly say I’ve never been “angry” about anything related to the web. This is my job, not my life. If I’m “angry” you’ll know it. I’ll probably never be “angry” about any topic I’d write about on this blog, or on Twitter. Rather, I simply raised a concern with the growing idea that using RWD for a website was a “magic bullet” for making a great mobile website. It’s not. It’s a useful tool, but not a be all and end all (largely because, again, it doesn’t address context issues).
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Fraser Speirs: ‘We Need to Talk About Android’
Grreat piece answering the question “what’s wrong with Android.” i have friends who love their Android devices, but I think Speirs hits the nail on the head when he notes that Android devices are probably fine as long as you’re not thinking beyond the length of your contract. With iOS, you’re buying into a platform, which is more of a long-term decision. With Android, you’re buying a device with a two-year lifespan. The distinction may not matter to you, but it does matter to a lot of folks in a lot of industries (including education, where Speirs is).
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Categorizr: A modern device detection script
A nice concept, unfortantely implemented in PHP.
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Aaron Mentele Mobile Safari & Media Queries asset download tests
Aaron did some terrific tests with regard to how Mobile Safari downloads assets (images, backgrounds, etc.) on elements which are hidden via media queries. Also, don’t miss his follow up piece.
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‘Like an Army of 41 Shades of Blue’
Terrific piece on the business model for Google’s Android, and especially what it means to Google’s OEM partners,
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On “Responsive Web Design” and the mobile context
A few months back, Ethan Marcotte, a web designer and developer I have a great deal of respect for, wrote a great piece on A List Apart entitled Responsive Web Design. The gist of the article is that, by using CSS media queries, fluid grids, and flexible images, you can craft a single HTML page that “responds” to varying viewport sizes with different layouts, unique design elements, and more.
It’s a great technique that has many, many potential uses. One use that quickly surfaced and got the attention of the web design community was the idea of using this technique to “mobilize” a site — that is, to make a single page that adapted its layout appropriately for mobile devices, such as smartphones. Back in June, I tweeted: “‘Responsive Web Design’ is way cool — but I rarely want to serve the same content to devices with different sized screens. It ignores context.” No one really paid any attention to me.
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Foursquare versus Gowalla, round two
A year ago, two exciting location-based social games launched at South By Southwest Interactive, the annual geek-fest that is something of a mecca for web nerds. After playing with both down in Austin, I wrote a blog post entitled A look at Foursquare and Gowalla. Although the post didn’t generate a ton of discussion, it is still consistently near the very top of my most-viewed-posts stats. A year ago, location-based social games were something of a novelty — now, they’re the hottest thing going.
So, I thought I’d post a follow-up, letting you know what’s changed, why these two games may not be as similar as you think, and which I personally prefer.
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Building BarStar
Over the past few months, I’ve spent a lot of my free time working on a personal project centered around a social activity I’ve become pretty passionate about: karaoke. Karaoke? Yes, karaoke. Why? Because it’s fun, dammit. I could write a whole separate post on why I love karaoke and what makes a great karaoke performance, but my boy Jon Culver already did, so just read that, instead. But I did think I’d take a few minutes to write about the process of building BarStar, and how it came to be.
Back when I was at Blue Flavor, Keith Robinson had this idea for a simple iPhone app. We were calling it “karaoke finder.” All it was really supposed to do was use your physical location to tell you where some karaoke is going down tonight near you. Simple, but very useful, especially for those of us who travel and want to find karaoke in a city we’re not familiar with. The idea kind of died as Blue Flavor fell apart last summer.
Separately, way back in May, my good friend and fellow KC-to-Seattle transplant Scott Phelps and I had the idea to somehow make a karaoke game. Both of us were (and are) very interested in real-world social games like Foursquare and Gowalla, and wondered if such an idea could work for a niche hobby, like karaoke.
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BarStar - A a real-world social game for karaoke fiends
Just realized I hadn’t linked to the personal project Scott Phelps and I have been working on lately. It’s in beta now. It’s a mobile, social game intended to be played by people who are out at bars doing karaoke. If you like to sing, check it out!
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Restoring Spring to iPhone Springboard
Bruce Tognazzini has some ideas for improvements to Springboard (the app that runs what you probably call your iPhone’s “home screens”). Not exactly thrilled with his visual design, but from a usability perspective, most of these make sense. A good read.
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QuirksBlog: There is no WebKit on Mobile
PPK details the myth that is the idea that “WebKit on mobile is taking over.” His point, which is totally valid, is that while WebKit is indeed becoming the dominant rendering engine on mobile platforms, each of those platforms has distinctly different versions of WebKit, so the idea that if you build for WebKit, all of these devices will render your site the exact same way is a misconception. His point is well taken, if a bit dramatic. It’s true that there are subtle differences between each version, and it’s also true that most people don’t realize this. But, in the real-world, they’re “close enough” that targeting WebKit will generally get you a very similar experience on all these platforms.
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How to Use Geolocation in Mobile Safari
This is nice. Mobile Safari now has a very simple and elegant Javascript API to the iPhone’s location functions. This means a web app can request a visitor’s location, and if the user agrees, coordinates are made available (just like with native iPhone apps). Very sweet. Can’t wait for a reason to use this.
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The EveryBlock iPhone app
The EveryBlock iPhone app has been released, and it’s pretty damn sweet. Joseph, Wilson, and the rest of the team did a real bang-up job, here. Love it.
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Building an iPhone web application for 97 Bottles
Over on the Blue Flavor blog, my co-worker and friend Kenny Meyers discusses some of the specifics of the mobile version of 97 Bottles (m.97bottles.com) he and Kevin Tamura recently put together.
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Foursquare, Hot New Phone App, Is Dodgeball on Steroids
Foursquare is a new location-based game from Dodgeball creator Dennis Crowley. Sounds like a lot of fun. I’m really anxious to try both this and Gowalla. Location-based, real-life games like this sound like a ton of fun to me.
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Google Latitude
Google’s new Dodgeball replacement/Brightkite competitor. Looks okay, but I’m not convinced it’s ready to replace Dodgeball and Brightkites.
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Flickr Developer Blog: Lessons Learned while Building an iPhone Site
Some nice tips and lessons-learned, here.
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Design for Mobile 2008 : September 22-24th, Lawrence, KS
This September, several industry leaders in the mobile web space, including my old boss Brian Fling, will convene on Lawrence, KS, the coolest little town you’ve never heard of, for Design for Mobile 2008. Should be a great event.
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BlackBerry Thunder
RIM’s soon-to-be-released “iPhone Killer” is pretty interesting. It features a multi touch screen with tactile feedback. Apparently, when you press an on-screen key, the screen actually depresses slightly and provides haptic feedback in the form of a buzz under your finger where you pressed on the screen. Just hearing about it, I’m not sure it’s something I’d want, but I’d love to feel it for myself. If it work well, it could be very cool. It uses WebKit for its browser. I also like how the phone does full QWERTY in landscape and RIM’s SureType in portrait — clever choice.
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Twitter users reporting problems with iPhone in-store activation
According to a growing number of people on Twitter, Apple is having problems with its in-store activation process. Couple this with the botched MobileMe rollout, and this launch isn’t looking good for Apple right now. Here’s hoping they get it all resolved in short order.
Update: Engadget on the activation problems.
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Where is the Native Brightkite iPhone App?
The Brightkite team says their native iPhone app will be out by the end of the month. Great news, because so far, I’m not very impressed with Loopt or Whrrl. Brightkite’s iPhone web version defeats both by a long, long longshot.
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How to Get the iPhone 2.0 Upgrade Right Now
Ever since I tweeted that I have installed iPhone 2.0 and downloaded apps from the app store, I’ve gotten countless IM’s, DM’s, and e-mails asking me how. It’s been all over the Internet all morning, so it’s no secret, but Wired has now published a comprehensive, step-by-step guide that is probably the simplest to follow that I’ve seen. So, get on it.
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Put the Instinct in a YouTube Clip, Sprint Will Give You $20
If you’re one of the first 1,000 people to feature a Samsung Instinct in your YouTube video, Sprint will pay for, well, about a third-tank of gas. Wow, thanks, guys.
I wonder if it would count if I featured it in a video explaining the thousand reasons why the iPhone’s UI is better than the Instinct’s?
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iPhone Clone Battle: Which One Is the iPhoniest?
Short story: the Samsung Instinct on Sprint is the best “iPhone killer” made to date, and it also happens to b the cheapest (at just $129, after this week’s price reduction to compete with the iPhone 3G). Being from the Kansas City area (where Sprint is headquartered), I know a lot of people locked into Sprint contracts. While it’s still not an iPhone, the Instinct does seem like a solid buy for someone stuck on Sprint — especially at just $129.
All that having been said, I sort of suspect phones like the Nokia N95, Samsung Soul, and Garmin Nuviphone are more likely to take business away from the iPhone — even if they’re not as directly positioned to compete with it.
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Daring Fireball: The iPhone 3G Upgrade Question
Gruber walks through the “should I upgrade to the new iPhone,” dilemma, one I’m currently having, myself. He correctly points out that the only real noteworthy advantages are faster networking and GPS. He doesn’t mention the flush headphone jack, which isn’t a big deal to me personally (I’ve already gone and bought V-Moda iPhone earbuds), but may be to some audiophiles who’ve been avoiding the iPhone because they can’t use their favorite headphones with them.
For me, I think it’s going to boil down to this: Will the location-based SDK apps work with the triangulation functionality of the original iPhone, or will they require GPS? And if they do work: how well? I’m excited about the location based services more than the 3G networking, myself. If these work reasonably well on the original iPhone, then I may not have much incentive to upgrade this time around.
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Qik Video Streaming Finally Comes to iPhone
Qik, which is totally rad, is now on iPhone. It looks like it’s just a demo of an unofficial app for jailbroken iPhone, but it’s probably safe to assume a more “legit” version will be coming soon. Awesome.
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Apple Says White Is Cool Again… But Is It?
I’ve been saying it all along: white rules! I never got the facination with the black MacBook, and all my iPods have been white. If I get the new iPhone (which I haven’t fully decided on, yet), it’ll be white. White FTW!
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iPhone 3G must be activated in-store
There’s a lot of good news about the new iPhone today, but it’s not all gravy. One thing that saddens me is that you can no longer activate the iPhone using iTunes in the comfort of your own home, like you did with the first generation Jesus phone. You now have to activate in-store — a process which takes 10-15 minutes. Man, that launch day line is going to suck.
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Sizing it up: iPhone 3G vs. the rest
According to Engadget, the new iPhone is slightly thicker than the old one. Now, we’re talking about .7mm, so it’s not something that is going to make a difference in real-world usage. I just think it’s interesting that it’s thicker, considering that Steve Jobs apparently said it was thinner during the keynote today, where it was introduced.
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CNN thinks flash memory is owned by Adobe.
> Just how will Apple meet expectations? Using the patent application as a guide, Apple appears to be making room on the iPhone for flash memory, which means an end to Apple’s standoff with Adobe (ADBE) that’s kept iPhones from easily viewing a plethora of Internet videos. Apple has said that Adobe’s flash media player, which is on hundreds of other phones, doesn’t perform up to Apple’s standards for the iPhone.
Wow. Just, wow.
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NYTimes: Those Intense iPhone Users
A handful of stats, according to Nielsen Mobile, about how iPhone owners use their phones. Most interesting bit to me? 33 percent said they use their iPhone for “instant messaging” — despite the fact there is no IM client on the phone. Weird. Or wrong.
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Sprint Instinct Full Video Walkthrough
Gizmodo has some walkthrough videos of the Sprint Instinct, the company’s “iPhone Killer.” In watching them, I definitely feel like this is probably the second-best thing to an iPhone out there, UI-wise. It doesn’t look quite as simple, elegant, and sexy as the iPhone, but it is a pretty well-done copycat. And, it does have a few features the iPhone doesn’t (3G, GPS, text-to-speech). I don’t think it’s an iPhone killer, but it’s probably the closest thing to one made thus far. I wouldn’t blame a Sprint customer for buying this guy instead of paying $200 to switch to AT&T.
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Sourjayne: Don’t call me, I won’t call you.
My buddy Sarah has been ranting about this for a few weeks now, and she’s finally put it on her blog. I totally agree with her: 90% of the time, a text message, e-mail, IM, or voicemail is the right form of communication. It’s not that often that you really need to talk to me on the phone. As such, Sarah wants a data-only plan from her wireless provider. Sarah and I have both been bitten in the ass by massive overage charges on SMS messages — all the while using a miniscule percentage of our voice minutes. Give us an unlimited data-only plan, and we’ll be happy to pay by-the-minute for the few voice calls we do make.
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Daring Fireball: The Unsatisfying State of Twitter Web Clients for the iPhone
Gruber compares web clients for Twitter on the iPhone. Personally, I think Thincloud is pretty good (and my favorite of the bunch), but it still hasn’t been enough to make me give up Twitter over SMS. Gruber says Twitter over SMS is too annoying — I disagree. I find it to be perfect. It has all the feature John wants, works well, and has the most “iPhoney” interface of all.
All that having been said, I hope (and suspect) someone will create a killer native iPhone app for release after iPhone 2.0 is out.
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brightkite.com
A modern-day Dodgeball that doesn’t suck and hasn’t been purchased by Google and abandoned. Looks awesome, so far. Mark my words: within a week, every web nerd will be all aflutter about this service.
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Playground Blues: Going mobile
Nathan talks about how he quickly and easily created an alternate mobile version of his Django-powered site. The ability to create an alternative version so easily (for mobile or any other reason) is a huge strength of Django that isn’t talked about enough.
While you’re there, check out Nathan’s primary navigation, which is almost certainly the most fun you can have on a web page that doesn’t end in
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Google Android UI Gallery
Google’s Andriod mobile phone UI is heavily inspired by the iPhone, but not so much so that I’d call it a rip off. It’s not as sexy as the iPhone’s UI, but it looks every bit as usable. Bottom line: the iPhone trounces it in the style department, but Andriod still looks better than 99% of mobile phone UIs. Bring it on, Google.
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SonyEricsson XPERIA X1 QWERTY
Definitely the most impressive “iPhone killer” to date. The hardware specs best the iPhone all the way across the board. Sony’s created a new UI for Windows Mobile, which is likely to be impressive (Sony does pretty good UIs), but unlikely to be better than the iPhone’s (in my opinion). Overall, this looks like a great new phone. I love the arc-sliding QWERTY action.
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Jeff Croft
I’m a digital product designer and developer in Seattle, WA. I currently work with nGen Works, and recently co-founded Lendle, a Kindle book sharing service.
Some of my clients include Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Copious, The New York Review of Books, The Lawrence Journal-World, and the University of Washington.
I’ve authored two books on web and interactive design and spoken at dozens of conferences around the world.
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