Native is Easy. Web is Essential.

No one who advocates for the mobile web wants to admit it, but it is true. Native is easier.

It’s easier to sell to stakeholders. Easier to monetize. And most importantly, easier to implement.

Argue about programming languages, memory management and reach all you want. There is one undeniable disadvantage that the mobile web faces that native apps don’t–over a decade of legacy code, cruft and entrenched organizational politics.

But the web is essential. Even companies whose businesses are centered on native apps need web pages to sell those apps. We can demonstrate time and again that a web-​​based approach is a smart investment.

So how do we sell mobile web projects? How do we work with the systems we currently have to build compelling mobile web experiences?

And most importantly, how should we be changing our web infrastructure, tools and workflow for the coming zombie apocalypse of devices.

Transcript

1. http://www.flickr.com/photos/dnorman/3732851541/
2. @grigs bit.ly/grigs_wdx2011
3. http:// www.flickr.com/ photos/gurana/ 3976626644/ I’m a mobile web advocate.
4. http://www.flickr.com/photos/silipo/378476114/ 21% of Google’s largest advertisers have mobile web sites. Only
5. http://www.flickr.com/photos/silipo/378476114/ 21% of Google’s largest advertisers have mobile web sites. Only Why?
6. I told myself it was the reality distortion eld.
7. I was fooling myself. Mobile web is freaking hard.
8. http://www.flickr.com/photos/kjgarbutt/5586656028/ Reasons Why Native is Easier
9. 1. Native is Easier to Sell http://www.flickr.com/photos/vegaseddie/2668299674/
10. Get a lot of email from this guy... http://www.flickr.com/photos/corbett3000/2327165138/in/set-72157604094629546/
11. HTML5 apps Right now nobody’s interested in a mobile solution that does not contain the words “iPhone” and “app” and that is not submitted to a closed environment where it competes with approximately 2,437 similar mobile solutions. Compared to the current crop of mobile clients and developers, lemmings marching off a cliff follow a solid, sensible strategy. Startling them out of this obsession requires nothing short of a new buzzword. Therefore I’d like to re-brand standards-based mobile websites and applications, definitely including W3C Widgets, as “HTML5 apps.” People outside our little technical circle are already aware of the existence of HTML5, and I don’t think it needs much of an effort to elevate it to full buzzwordiness. Technically, HTML5 apps would encompass all websites as well as all the myriads of (usually locally installed) web-standards-based application systems on mobile. The guiding principle would be to write and maintain one single core application that uses web standards, as well as a mechanism that deploys that core application across a wide range of platforms. What are HTML5 apps? HTML5 apps 1. have one single core application; 2. are written with web standards, primarily HTML, CSS, and JavaScript; 3. and are deployed on more than one mobile platform. Written on 8 March 2010 Categorized in HTML5, HTML5 apps Previous entry: Fronteers 2010 Next entry: The payment argument is nonsense This is the blog of Peter-Paul Koch, mobile platform strategist, consultant, and trainer. You can also follow him on Twitter. Atom RSS Categories: Homepage Archives (1) Browsers (7) Coding techniques (14) Conferences (80) Content (51) HTML5 (6) Linkbait (1) Mobile (23) Site (23) Theory (18) show page contents show site navigation Mobilism 2011, 12th and 13th of May, Amsterdam Compatibility QuirksBlog Mobile About sitemap contact Search QuirksMode.org Search Page last changed 3 months ago Maybe we should build buzz around HTML5 apps
12. asymco Horace Dediu © 2011 Twitter About Us Contact Blog Status Resources API Business Help Jobs Terms Privacy Login Join Twitter! Impressed that the Web finds it necessary to "fight back against Flipboard" http://bit.ly/dZqxf9 7:13 AM Feb 27th via bitly Retweeted by 8 people Why are we ghting native apps?
13. Native Sells Itself We remember when the web was the source of irrational exuberance.
14. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pricklebush/224674200/ Let me share our secret for selling mobile web.
15. Email Gallery Free Email Templates Email Marketing Companies Submit Advertise Here Advertise Here Column Type of Email Type of Business Color POPULARITY RESET Hyundai USA Newsletter 3 Alertful Newsletter 2 Divine Chocolate Newsletter 2 Does your company send email to customers? http://www.email-gallery.com
16. Does your company participate in social media? http://www.flickr.com/photos/intersectionconsulting/5177773774/
17. Links don’t open apps http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattimattila/4001221570/
18. The ‘U’ in URL stands for Universal* * it actually stands for ‘uniform.’ close enough ;-) http://www.flickr.com/photos/laughingsquid/255852260/sizes/o/
19. 2. Native is Easier to Design
20. Lots of resources for native app design.
21. Fewer for mobile web, but they exist.
22. But the examples mostly look like iPhone apps.
23. Does an Android user expect iPhone UI conventions?
24. Do we adjust UI for different geographies?
25. What is the uniquely mobile web experience? http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickwheeleroz/2212101890/in/photostream/
26. First uniquely mobile web UI? Pull down menus?
29. Tools don’t make people designers.
30. 3. Native is Easier to Test
31. From the beginning, we have wanted to make Angry Birds available for every feasible Android device... We tested the game extensively on a large number of devices, and gathered all the feedback we received from our beta testing to address every possible issue. So far, we have hesitated to create multiple versions of Angry Birds for the Android platform. But judging by the feedback we have received, we feel that by providing a lightweight solution, we are doing a favour for our fans. http://www.rovio.com/index.php?mact=Blogs,cntnt01,showentry, 0&cntnt01entryid=47&cntnt01returnid=58 Even Most Successful Developers Face the Challenge of Testing on Enough Devices
32. Mobile web developers face: OS fragmentation Webkit fragmentation Browser fragmentation Inconsistent standards support Carrier transcoding and other issues Thousands of devices
33. ARTICLES TOPICS ABOUT CONTACT CONTRIBUTE FEED D E C E M B E R 14, 2010 Smartphone Browser Landscape by P E T E R - P A U L K O C H Published in: User Interface Design, Mobile, Mobile Design, Mobile Development Discuss this article » | Share this article » Users expect websites to work on their mobile phones. In two to three years, mobile support will become standard for any site. Web developers must add mobile web development to their skill set or risk losing clients. How do you make websites mobile compatible? The answer is obvious: By testing them on all mobile phones, and by solving the problems you encounter. But, that’s a useless answer. It’s impossible to test your designs on every mobile phone out there. Within the mobile phone landscape, there are at least ten operating systems (OSs) and fifteen browsers that require consideration. Mobile devices are expensive, and not every web developer can afford to buy five to ten of them. Testing “on all mobile phones” is impossible for most web developers. In this article, I’ll give you an overview of the mobile web market, as well as phone platforms and their browsers, so that you can decide which mobile devices to test on. Then, we’ll look at how to set up a mobile test bed. Search ALA include discussions Topics Code Content Culture Design Mobile Process User Science Snapshot Most web designers and developers (not to mention the entire blogosphere) fall squarely in the high-end market. A cultural bias exists against OSs aimed at any other market. As a result, most people focus on the struggle between iOS and Android, and ignore the rest. This has to change. Stay in better touch with customers with No. 320
34. “Testing on as many devices as possible is a great idea in theory, but in practice it is untenable. Even if we buy a few devices to try to cover more ground, they will be outdated in just a few months or a year at most. So are we supposed to buy multiple devices per year?” posted at 11:32 am on December 14, 2010 by klayon “If that’s the mobile landscape, I want no part of it.” posted at 07:22 am on December 15, 2010 by Polsonby http://www.alistapart.com/comments/smartphone-browser-landscape/
35. Mobile Portland Community Device Lab • Dedicated location within mobile community in central, downtown Portland. • Adjacent event space to be used for hosting Mobile Portland events and other user groups. Also available for developer training sessions. • Free and open to anyone. Run as a non-profit. • Located in 25,000 sq. ft. building leased by VC-funded mobile start up Urban Airship • Other tenants in building include mobile developers Cloud Four, Uncorked Studios and Bank Simple. • We’re creating a central hub for mobile activity in the Portland area. The building is already becoming a magnet for mobile developers. Building Lobby Device Lab Glass Office
36. 4. Native is Easier to Build http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunechaser/134672123/
37. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattcarman/1573507091/ We often compare checklists of technical features.
38. http://www.flickr.com/photos/delta407/269540469/
40. http://mobiforge.com/designing/story/effective-design-multiple-screen-sizes Mobile Progressive Enhancement [content] Thanks Bryan and Stephanie
41. http://mobiforge.com/designing/story/effective-design-multiple-screen-sizes Mobile Progressive Enhancement [content] Device Detection Thanks Bryan and Stephanie
42. http://mobiforge.com/designing/story/effective-design-multiple-screen-sizes Mobile Progressive Enhancement [content] Device Detection Thanks Bryan and Stephanie
43. http://mobiforge.com/designing/story/effective-design-multiple-screen-sizes Mobile Progressive Enhancement [content] Device Detection Phone Gap Add Functionality Thanks Bryan and Stephanie
44. http://mobiforge.com/designing/story/effective-design-multiple-screen-sizes Mobile Progressive Enhancement [content] Device Detection Phone Gap Add Functionality Thanks Bryan and Stephanie
45. http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickwheeleroz/2391631937/in/photostream/ Many Sites are Chaos Behind the Scenes
46. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ionan/103646126/ Multiple Systems Taped Together
47. Our existing systems are anchors holding us back. http://www.flickr.com/photos/caffeinehit/186362735/
48. Native Developers Start from a Clean Slate http://www.flickr.com/photos/salendron/5569020488/
49. What about RWD? http://www.flickr.com/photos/londonannie/4904832807/
50. What about RWD? http://www.flickr.com/photos/londonannie/4904832807/ Jason, you’re doing it wrong!
51. “One Web” is a Rorschach test for Mobile Web http://www.flickr.com/photos/misspointypants/5575075527/
52. “Browser sniffing is a stupid, error-prone and reviled practice, ‘backed’ by a decade of failures. Doing it on the server side is completely clueless...” http://davidwalsh.name/detect-android
53. http://www.flickr.com/photos/4nton/5692328434/sizes/l/ User Agent Switching: Useful tool for developers or spawn of satan?
57. 25 of 30 sites in Alexa Top 30 Uses Device Detection Other ve don’t offer mobile sites!
60. Native iPhone App Asked to make it feel similar in mobile web.
61. Mobile Web Built the way you would expect: lists and css oats.
62. Mobile Web What about devices that don’t support oats?
63. We can deliver a great experience using tables. Should modern devices get the lowest common denominator code? http://www.flickr.com/photos/stml/3625386561/
64. Supporting those older devices made people happy.
65. http://www.flickr.com/photos/arguez/2247369944/ is isn’t religion.
66. ese are simply tools. http://www.flickr.com/photos/bre/552152780/
67. Don’t let religion blind you to tools you may need to solve real problems. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ yamagatacamille/5434502250/
68. Home About Us Services Blog Accolades Contact Us « Mobile operating systems and browsers are headed in opposite directions More on CSS Media Queries for Mobile » Search Subscribe RSS Feeds All posts All comments Enter your email address: Subscribe Delivered by FeedBurner April 2011 M T W T F S S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Expert Web and Mobile design, development and strategy Cloud Four Blog CSS Media Query for Mobile is Fool’s Gold August 3rd, 2010 by Jason Grigsby Ethan Marcotte’s article Responsive Web Design has caught the imagination of web developers. Several subsequent articles have touted the CSS media query feature as a way to build mobile-optimized web sites. Even I’m guilty of contributing to this meme with my article on CSS orientation.
69. e way in which CSS media queries have been promoted for mobile hides tough problems and gives developers a false promise of a simple solution for designing for multiple screens.
70. Original Resized K Saved % Saved Holmes 34.7K 8.1K 26.6K 76.6% Watson 39.0K 8.4K 30.6K 78.4% Mycroft 30.5K 6.7K 23.8K 78.0% Moriarty 43.4K 8.2K 35.2K 81.1% Adler 26.0K 6.6K 19.4K 74.6% Winter 34.7K 7.8K 26.9K 77.5% Total 208.3K 45.8K 162.5K 78.0% Media Queries Hide Problems
71. Why the Sudden Interest in Speed? Same problems on desktop.
72. Why the Sudden Interest in Speed? Same problems on desktop. EXACTLY.
73. We’ve remade the Internet in our image.
74. Obese
75. We’ve Become Bandwidth Gluttons Since 2003: • Web Page Size Tripled • # of Objects Doubled Since 1995: • Web Page Size: 22x • # of Objects: 21x Source: http://www.websiteoptimization.com/speed/tweak/average-web-page/
76. e mobile context may not be what you expect. Maybe they are on wi- .
77. Yes, given more time, we would address some issues on the back-end to keep large images from downloading for mobile users in the rst place, but our site is fairly lightweight to begin with, so it wasn’t really worth the time it would take to mess around with that stuff. We may revisit the issue in the future, however. Also, just to play devil’s advocate, Jeremy Keith pointed out that it’s a bad assumption that mobile devices always have limited bandwidth and desktops always have plenty.
78. at site took 53.8 seconds to download over WiFi on an iPhone 4.
79. 17% will wait no longer than 5 seconds for a site to load http://www.gomez.com/wp-content/downloads/GomezWebSpeedSurvey.pdf
80. Can we simply agree that: On average mobile is slower than desktop?
81. http://www.flickr.com/photos/achimh/3264376846/
82. RESPONSIVE WEB DESIGN Mobile First
83. Where are the mobile rst responsive web designs?
84. 9% 4% 21% 38% 4% 25% Comparison of Mobile & Desktop RWD Views Mobile is Larger Same Size Less than 10% Savings 11 to 50% Savings 51% to 100% Savings Greater than 100% Savings There are four good examples of mobile first RWD. Total.
85. How do we handle img tag src? How to handle embedded video? How do we eliminate unnecessary assets? How can we be smart about image and video resizing and converting? How do we integrate with content management systems? Mobile First RWD is Difficult
86. yiibu articles projects search... go Mobile Web Reference A Practical Guide to Nokia Browsers Workshops and Conferences Are we there yet? This site is a proof of concept for many of the ideas described in Rethinking the Mobile Web. Over the coming months, we will release articles covering our approach in detail. In the meantime why not discover how these ideas came to be and how this site was developed. This site works beautifully on most modern and legacy smartphones, tablets, and of course desktop browsers. Find out how we did it.
87. by E T H A N M A R C O T T E From mobile browsers to netbooks and tablets, users are visiting your sites from an increasing array of devices and browsers. Are your designs ready? Learn how to think beyond the desktop and craft beautiful designs that anticipate and respond to your users’ needs. Ethan Marcotte will explore CSS techniques and design principles, including fluid grids, flexible images, and media queries, demonstrating how you can deliver a quality experience to your users no matter how large (or small) their display. This book will be released in Spring 2011. A B O U T T H E A U T H O R Ethan Marcotte is a web designer & developer who cares deeply about beautiful design, elegant code, and the intersection of the two. Over the years, Ethan has enjoyed working with such clients as the Sundance Film Festival, Stanford University, New York Magazine, and The Today Show. He swears profusely on Twitter, and would like to be an unstoppable robot ninja when he grows up. Beep. RESPONSIVE WEB DESIGN C A R T 0 items $0.00 View Cart Checkout H A V E A Q U E S T I O N ? Read our FAQs F E A T U R E D B O O K The Elements of Content Strategy “This brief, brilliant treatise is the guidebook the industry has clamored for.” — Jeffrey Zeldman N E W S L E T T E R Keep up to date with new book releases and announcements with our newsletter. Email address Subscribe Brief books for people who make websites Home Store About Contact abookapart on Twitter
88. Enjoy our blog? You'll love our book. For info and pre-order: Visit the book site Subscribe to our Lab Atom RSS 2.0 Recent Articles Corresponding on Responsive Design Building with jQuery Mobile: Slides from a talk by Todd Parker and Scott Jehl Respond.js: Fast CSS3 Media Queries for Internet Explorer 6-8 and more Responsive Images: Experimenting with Context-Aware Image Sizing Dingbat Webfonts: Great potential, but we see (and hear) accessibility issues What we do What we've done What we're thinking Who we are Posted by Scott on 12/14/2010 Responsive Images: Experimenting with Context- Aware Image Sizing Topics: javascript mobile progressive enhancement usability Responsive Web Design has been a very hot topic this year, inspiring developers who long for a “one codebase serves all” future. But critics of the technique have pointed out several issues that need to be addressed before it can scale perfectly from handheld to desktop — specifically, while HTML, CSS and JavaScript can be light enough to share across all experiences, desktop-optimized images are often too heavy for mobile connections, and mobile-optimized images are too low quality for desktop viewers. Recently, we began work on a large-scale responsive design (collaborating with the incredibly talented Mr. Ethan Marcotte, who notably got this whole "responsive" party started), in which we've set out to address this shortcoming of responsive design with a technique that requests an appropriate image size for a given context without resorting Contact Us Contact Us
90. If responsible responsive web design means mobile rst responsive web design, then we’re all on the same team facing the same challenges.
91. @jonarnes http://mpulp.mobi/2011/05/next-steps-of-responsive-web-design/
92. Web Content Management Systems are the Mainframes of the Mobile Era
93. Content & Services Car sketch: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cloppy/5081768461/
94. Content & Services Car sketch: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cloppy/5081768461/ HTML HTML HTML HTML HTML HTML HTML HTML
95. Content & Services Car sketch: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cloppy/5081768461/ HTML HTML HTML HTML HTML HTML HTML HTML NATIVE NATIVE NATIVE
96. Features of New Platforms Integrated image resizing Video conversion and resizing Separation of content from markup so content can be used in native apps Prioritization of content based on context Full-featured APIs Synchronization New Ways to Enable Content Editors http://www.flickr.com/photos/expressmonorail/3046970004/sizes/l/
97. What does WYSIWYG mean to multiple devices? WYSIWTF http://www.flickr.com/photos/ndm007/171398958/
100. http://blog.programmableweb.com/2009/10/13/cope-create-once-publish-everywhere/
101. http://blog.programmableweb.com/2009/11/11/content-portability-building-an-api-is-not-enough/
104. http://www.flickr.com/ photos/andresthor/ 3963368371/
105. Desktop Web Server Internet example.com/products/[productID] One Possible Bridging Solution
106. Desktop Web Server Internet example.com/products/[productID] Desktop or Mobile One Possible Bridging Solution
107. Desktop Web Server Internet example.com/products/[productID] Desktop or Mobile Desktop Web Page Desktop Redirect Mobile m.example.com/ products/[productID] One Possible Bridging Solution
108. Desktop Web Server Internet example.com/products/[productID] Desktop or Mobile Desktop Web Page Desktop Redirect Mobile m.example.com/ products/[productID] Cloud Four Mobile Web Server Device Class Template A Device Class Template B Device Class Template C Device Class Template D Internet One Possible Bridging Solution
109. Desktop Web Server Internet example.com/products/[productID] Desktop or Mobile Desktop Web Page Desktop Redirect Mobile m.example.com/ products/[productID] Cloud Four Mobile Web Server Device Class Template A Device Class Template B Device Class Template C Device Class Template D Internet Web Services APIs One Possible Bridging Solution
110. Desktop Web Server Internet example.com/products/[productID] Desktop or Mobile Desktop Web Page Desktop Redirect Mobile m.example.com/ products/[productID] Cloud Four Mobile Web Server Device Class Template A Device Class Template B Device Class Template C Device Class Template D Internet Web Services APIs One Possible Bridging Solution APIs Necessary to Support App Development
111. Desktop Web Server Internet example.com/products/[productID] Desktop or Mobile Desktop Web Page Desktop Redirect Mobile m.example.com/ products/[productID] Web Services APIs One Possible Bridging Solution Mobile Web Server w/ RWD Platform Internet APIs Necessary to Support App Development
112. http://www.flickr.com/photos/thebottomlesspaddlingpool/5085614383/sizes/l/
113. No matter how you approach it, we have a lot of infrastructure to build http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/2942950081/
114. thank you. http://www.flickr.com/photos/24311566@N07/4697623122/
115. http://www.flickr.com/ photos/troyholden/ 5544097948/
118. We’re building the future right now http://www.flickr.com/photos/insightimaging/3545443883/
119. Not easy, but this is where the opportunities are. http://www.flickr.com/photos/donnagrayson/195244498/in/photostream/
120. http://www.flickr.com/photos/eole/3215868087/
121. Let’s get to work.
122. http://www.flickr.com/photos/kwerfeldein/1447907224/
123. jason@cloudfour.com | cloudfour.com/blog | @grigs | slides: bit.ly/grigs_wdx2011 http://www.flickr.com/photos/polvero/4232984120/in/faves-grigs/