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The Sad State of the Mobile Web

Posted by timothy on from the our-options-have-recently-changed dept.

snydeq writes "Despite being the much better development platform for today's smartphones, open Web standards still face an uphill battle on mobile devices, Fatal Exception's Neil McAllister writes, noting that here, as on the desktop, the main hurdle is scalability. But whereas successful Web development for the desktop is a matter of scaling up, mobile Web development calls for applications that can effectively scale down as well — an imperative that is fast making the state of the mobile Web 'even sadder,' McAllister writes. 'The more that modern Web applications take advantage of the new client-side technologies available in desktop browsers, the more the divide between the desktop Web and the mobile Web widens.' As a result, developers are forced to fall back on basic Web technologies — a tactic that too often translates simply into writing separate UIs for mobile users. 'The result? Mobile Web applications are in pretty much the same boat as they were when the first WAP-enabled handsets appeared: two separate development tracks, one for the desktop and one for mobile.'"

4 of 220 comments (clear)

  1. Re:is this why /. is the sucks to read on my iphon by Krneki · · Score: 2, Funny

    Find a flash block add-on for your web browers. Oh wait, you use an iPhone, nevermind.

    --
    Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
  2. Re:I have a better idea by ColdWetDog · · Score: 2, Funny

    Actually,i'm writing from my SE w518a and things look pretty good, all things considered.

    Bah, you're so confused by Slashdot's crummy formatting that you thing you're on the NPR website.

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  3. Equality by Mr.+Underbridge · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's a good thing that sites like Slashdot work great on all devices though... ...oh, wait...

    Hey, slashdot looks like shit on any browser on any device. So it least it's fair. Kind of.

    (Posted from a textbox that's twice as wide as my screen).

  4. Re:Dumbed down web sites and layered programming by Yvan256 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Viper23: apps are like onions.
    Donkey: They stink?
    Viper23: Yes. No.
    Donkey: Oh, they make you cry.
    Viper23: No.
    Donkey: Oh, you leave em out in the sun, they get all brown, start sproutin' little white hairs.
    Viper23: NO. Layers. Onions have layers. Apps have layers. Onions have layers. You get it? They both have layers.
    [sighs]
    Donkey: Oh, they both have layers. Oh. You know, not everybody like onions.