Beginning Smartphone Web Development

Today’s Web 2.0 applications (think Facebook and Twitter) go far beyond the confines of the desktop and are widely used on mobile devices. The mobile Web has become incredibly popular given the success of the iPhone and BlackBerry, the importance of Windows Mobile, and the emergence of Palm Pre (and its webOS platform). At Apress, we are fortunate to have Gail Frederick of the well-known training site Learn the Mobile Web offer her expert advice in Beginning Smartphone Web Development. In this book, Gail teaches the web standards and fundamentals specific to smartphones and other feature-driven mobile phones and devices.

• Shows you how to build interactive mobile web sites using web technologies optimized for browsers in smartphones
• Details markup fundamentals, design principles, content adaptation, usability, and interoperability
• Explores cross-platform standards and best practices for the mobile Web authored by the W3C, dotMobi, and similar organizations
• Dives deeps into the feature sets of the most popular mobile browsers, including WebKit, Chrome, Palm Pre webOS, Pocket IE, Opera Mobile, and Skyfire

By the end of this book, you’ll have the training, tools, and techniques for creating robust mobile web experiences on any of these platforms for your favorite smartphone or other mobile device.

What you’ll learn

• Build interactive mobile web pages that comply with industry standards and best practices.
• Develop web sites using the markup languages of the mobile Web: XHTML-MP, Wireless CSS, and WML.
• Use Mobile JavaScript and Ajax for client-side web interactivity.
• Adapt the syntax and design of mobile web pages to target smartphone models.
• Enhance mobile web pages to target advanced features of smartphone browsers.
• Validate and compress mobile markup to optimize for network transmission and browser performance.
• Simulate smartphone browsers using emulators and development tools.

Who this book is for

Mobile application developers and their managers need to learn mobile web technologies because it’s in their economic interest. Time-to-market and opportunity costs are significantly lower for web-based mobile applications than for native ones.

Desktop web developers at software companies and IT departments of non-technology businesses need to learn mobile web technologies to meet the demands of managers who will soon be asking them to “mobilize this web site.” These developers will want to do the minimum work possible to maximize the compatibility of their mobile web sites. The standards-based approach advocated in this book will allow them to build gracefully adaptive and portable mobile web experiences that perform well across mobile browser platforms.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to Mobile Web Development
2. Set Up Your Mobile Web Development Environment
3. Mobile Markup Languages
4. Device Awareness and Content Adaptation
5. Adding Interactivity with JavaScript and AJAX
6. Mobile Web Usability
7. Enhancing Mobile Web Pages for Smartphone Browsers
8. Optimizing Mobile Markup
9. Validating Mobile Markup
10. Testing a Mobile Web Site
11. Deploying a Mobile Web Site
12. How to Play Well in the Mobile Ecosystem
13. The Future of the Mobile Web