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Re: Mobile Devices

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From: Geof Collis
Date: Nov 20, 2009 2:05PM

Hi Henny

Thanks! Now my head hurts. :O)

cheers

Geof

At 08:51 AM 11/20/2009, you wrote:
>Hi,
>
>These are all good resources however I'd be cautious about basing your
>mobile web development on testing for just one platform / browser.
>
>There are a lot of browsers out there and contrary to perception we
>aren't all using iPhones. In fact Statcounter logs Opera as the most
>popular browser worldwide for October 2008 to November 2009
>http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_browser-ww-monthly-200810-200911
> and in Asia iPhone fall well behind Opera and Nokia
> http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_browser-as-monthly-200810-200911
> (Disclaimer: I wok for Opera).
>
>There are many, many handsets and many platforms and browsers out
>there we need to think about and as such many tools. This makes for a
>slight headache for the designer as it's hard to know what the
>baseline set of capabilities are for any given mobile browser. If you
>throw into the mix that the platform they operate on may impact on
>their baseline capabilities (how they render fonts, colour etc) this
>can start to look complex.
>
>I always l keep in mind the following when designing for the mobile web:
>
>* Aim for one website (avoid .mobi or iPhone only sites) where possible
>* Build using web standards (build once works anywhere)
>* Use CSS 2.1 media types and consider CSS3 media queries
>* Use progressive enhancement. Build for low end handset and browser
>combinations and add in more robust capabilities, layout, design over
>the top
>
>Some additional testing tools and resources are:
>
>* Mobile web development articles from Dev Opera
>http://dev.opera.com/articles/mobile/
>* Opera Dragonfly http://www.opera.com/dragonfly/ This allows you to
>remote debug web pages for mobile from the comfort of your desktop
>browser.
>* MicroEmulator http://www.microemu.org/
>* Opera Mini Emulator http://www.opera.com/mini/demo/
>
>Hope that helps.
>
>Henny
>
>
>On 19 Nov 2009, at 21:29, John E. Brandt wrote:
>
> > There are lots found by Googling "safari iphone emulator." Here are a
> > couple:
> >
> > http://www.testiphone.com/
> >
> > http://iphonetester.com/
> >
> > BTW, I think they both require Safari.
> >
> > Before I had an iPod Touch (which I recommend purchasing for testing
> > anyway), I used a Safari plugin called iPhoney
> > http://www.marketcircle.com/iphoney/ on one of my Macs.
> >
> >
> > I suspect you will start to see a trend where folks will be installing
> > adaptive themes to their CMS which will convert your website into a
> > "mobile
> > ready" theme which looks and behaves like a real iPhone/iPod app.
> > Read my
> > discussion and review of a WordPress theme-like plugin called WPtouch
> > http://jebswebs.net/blog/2009/11/very-cool-wp-plug-in/ Very cool
> > indeed.
> >
> > BTW, I did not address other smartphones and mobile browsers, but I
> > suspect
> > that they will start to converge in the not too distant future and
> > will
> > probably look more and more like the Safari iPhone/iPod browser
> > since they
> > own a large share of the market and have become the standard to
> > which all
> > the mobile phone makers seem to want to meet or beat.
> >
> > ~j
> >
> > John E. Brandt
> > jebswebs.com
> > Augusta, ME USA
> > <EMAIL REMOVED>
> > www.jebswebs.com
> >
> >
> >