Mobile Design and Development
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Product Description
Mobile devices outnumber desktop and laptop computers three to one worldwide, yet little information is available for designing and developing mobile applications. Mobile Design and Development fills that void with practical guidelines, standards, techniques, and best practices for building mobile products from start to finish. With this book, you'll learn basic design and development principles for all mobile devices and platforms. You'll also explore the more advanced capabilities of the mobile web, including markup, advanced styling techniques, and mobile Ajax.
If you're a web designer, web developer, information architect, product manager, usability professional, content publisher, or an entrepreneur new to the mobile web, Mobile Design and Development provides you with the knowledge you need to work with this rapidly developing technology. Mobile Design and Development will help you:
- Understand how the mobile ecosystem works, how it differs from other mediums, and how to design products for the mobile context
- Learn the pros and cons of building native applications sold through operators or app stores versus mobile websites or web apps
- Work with flows, prototypes, usability practices, and screen-size-independent visual designs
- Use and test cross-platform mobile web standards for older devices, as well as devices that may be available in the future
- Learn how to justify a mobile product by building it on a budget
About the Author
Brian Fling owns and runs mobiledesign.org, the largest mobile design and development discussion list on the web. He's been in both the web and mobile industries for close to a decade as an entrepreneur, consultant and employee. Brian has helped big brands navigate the mobile space and he's worked with a lot of well funded mobile companies that have failed miserably. Over the years he's learned that his insight into mobile is quite unique, avoiding hype describing tried and true principles and techniques to building cost effective mobile experiences.
Brian wrote the dotMobi Mobile Web Developers Guide, the first complete guide to mobile authoring. It was a free guide and while he doesn't have exact numbers, dotMobi informed him it was downloaded "over 15,000 times in the first few weeks."
Brian's intentions in the mobile space is to advocate and build awareness, not to make money. He believes that the mobile web is primed to change everything we think we know about how people search and gather information. His goal is to foster invention and innovation of the next generation of websites in a medium that is device and context aware.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book describes itself as being full of "practical techniques for creating mobile sites and web apps". This is indeed the case as this excellent book covers all the basics that you will need to know in order to produce excellent websites and apps for mobile devices. It is important to mention that this book is not solely focused on the iPhone (unlike many other books of this ilk), but instead covers all of the main smartphone technologies available today.
The book covers topics from understanding the mobile eco-system, the differences between mobile and traditional design, putting mobile work into context, pros and cons of native application development versus mobile web apps, usability, testing and justifying the choice to work for mobile. All in all this book provides an excellent introduction to designing for mobile - something which is becoming increasingly more important in the current climate. With the convergence of various technologies it seems as though many of us are now carrying around small multimedia computers in our pockets, not just phones. These permanently connected devices provide so many opportunities for the budding mobile designer and content provider, and understand what makes these platforms different in vital to the success of any project.
The book is divided in half, with the first section serving as an introduction to mobile technologies and giving details on two basic principles; the need to know the different facets of the mobile medium, and the need to know how to leverage mobile technologies to address context. The second half of the book is all about how to leverage the right mobile technology for your particular need. This is key as although there are many, many ways to achieve a particular goal (when working in mobile), the most important factor for many projects will be choosing the right approach. In order to do this it is important to understand all the pros and cons prior to beginning development - as changing tact midway through a project can be costly in terms of development time and budgets!
Those looking for a technical manual telling them exactly how to master a particular mobile approach should stay away, this book is so much more than that. Mastering the technologies is merely a simple google search away, this book is about learning the underlying principles and making solid decisions throughout the development of a project. The book can be read and understood by Project Managers and Developers alike, and I fully intend to recommend clients read certain chapters of this book as well. Refreshingly honest and cleverly written, the book is not afraid to point out weaknesses within the technology and provides sound advice for those looking to make their first steps into the world of mobile design and development.
Although not an instructional technical manual as such, there are excellent examples of best practice code within the pages, and these are surrounded by explanatory text detailing the reasons for the approach, as well as any situations where it would not be used. Illustrations and diagrams are used throughout, helping to explain points in more detail, and these are of a high quality as well.
In summary, Mobile Design and Development is an excellent read for those looking to develop their knowledge of the mobile space. I thoroughly recommend it for Project / Account Managers looking to understand the approaches required for developing for mobile, and for developers looking to check any mobile specific knowledge required for making decisions regarding the correct techniques for a specific project.
The book covers topics from understanding the mobile eco-system, the differences between mobile and traditional design, putting mobile work into context, pros and cons of native application development versus mobile web apps, usability, testing and justifying the choice to work for mobile. All in all this book provides an excellent introduction to designing for mobile - something which is becoming increasingly more important in the current climate. With the convergence of various technologies it seems as though many of us are now carrying around small multimedia computers in our pockets, not just phones. These permanently connected devices provide so many opportunities for the budding mobile designer and content provider, and understand what makes these platforms different in vital to the success of any project.
The book is divided in half, with the first section serving as an introduction to mobile technologies and giving details on two basic principles; the need to know the different facets of the mobile medium, and the need to know how to leverage mobile technologies to address context. The second half of the book is all about how to leverage the right mobile technology for your particular need. This is key as although there are many, many ways to achieve a particular goal (when working in mobile), the most important factor for many projects will be choosing the right approach. In order to do this it is important to understand all the pros and cons prior to beginning development - as changing tact midway through a project can be costly in terms of development time and budgets!
Those looking for a technical manual telling them exactly how to master a particular mobile approach should stay away, this book is so much more than that. Mastering the technologies is merely a simple google search away, this book is about learning the underlying principles and making solid decisions throughout the development of a project. The book can be read and understood by Project Managers and Developers alike, and I fully intend to recommend clients read certain chapters of this book as well. Refreshingly honest and cleverly written, the book is not afraid to point out weaknesses within the technology and provides sound advice for those looking to make their first steps into the world of mobile design and development.
Although not an instructional technical manual as such, there are excellent examples of best practice code within the pages, and these are surrounded by explanatory text detailing the reasons for the approach, as well as any situations where it would not be used. Illustrations and diagrams are used throughout, helping to explain points in more detail, and these are of a high quality as well.
In summary, Mobile Design and Development is an excellent read for those looking to develop their knowledge of the mobile space. I thoroughly recommend it for Project / Account Managers looking to understand the approaches required for developing for mobile, and for developers looking to check any mobile specific knowledge required for making decisions regarding the correct techniques for a specific project.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This I found to be a very useful survey of the situation in mobile sites and apps. It is unusual, I believe, in being both technically informative and well written in the English language sense. Most technical writers in this area can't even manage correct syntax, which is a puzzle because programming languages demand it.
Reasonably up-to-date in a fast changing world.
Reasonably up-to-date in a fast changing world.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
15 reviews
20 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Not so practical techniques
4 Oct 2010
Format:Paperback
Original review written by Pasquale Granato, JUG Lugano, [...]
First of all, let's clear the field from a possible misunderstanding: this book is not about general mobile design and development but it is about web mobile development. The author states a precise, despite arguable, opinion that brutally said is: do not code native applications but prefer as much as you can web applications. This statement is largely discussed across the book and everyone can make up his own opinion about this. Mine is that currently times are not mature to consider to write just web applications both because mobile browser are not powerful enough (on average) to assure a smooth experience on all devices and because of the lack of a good way to make money from your web app.
The first three chapters of the book are a really good introduction to the history of mobile, to the mobile current status and to the reasons that should drive an approach to the mobile development. These chapters are a well written recap of the status of the art and present a lot of data useful to understand the global situation. Unfortunately the book is printed in black and white and several pie-charts and graphs are pretty much impossible to read.
The central part of the book, chapters from four to ten, is devoted to design issues and, despite the lack of an in-depth examination of some subjects, offers a pretty good survey of the topic.
The final part of the book is slightly more technical covering topics such as XHTML-MP, CSS, HTML5, device adaptation, etc. The problem here is that there is nothing really practical and all remains at an introductory level. To give you an example, a capital topic in device adaptation like Media Queries is covered in half a page with just a trivial example. Furthermore the author seems to be unaware of things like XwapProfile or UAProf (that is probably a obsolete and unreliable method but deserve at least a notation).
My biggest complain is anyway about the author's obsession for the iPhone. The Apple's jewel is referenced continuously and always with great glorification: the word iPhone recurs 99 times in the book and out of the 115 pictures in the book as many as 37 depict an iPhone. An entire chapter is devoted to iPhone web applications development even though most of the concepts presented here are common to other modern devices.
This is overall a decent introductory book, if you are completely new to the field, and it's packed with many good advices but do not expect much from the practical techniques promised by the title.
First of all, let's clear the field from a possible misunderstanding: this book is not about general mobile design and development but it is about web mobile development. The author states a precise, despite arguable, opinion that brutally said is: do not code native applications but prefer as much as you can web applications. This statement is largely discussed across the book and everyone can make up his own opinion about this. Mine is that currently times are not mature to consider to write just web applications both because mobile browser are not powerful enough (on average) to assure a smooth experience on all devices and because of the lack of a good way to make money from your web app.
The first three chapters of the book are a really good introduction to the history of mobile, to the mobile current status and to the reasons that should drive an approach to the mobile development. These chapters are a well written recap of the status of the art and present a lot of data useful to understand the global situation. Unfortunately the book is printed in black and white and several pie-charts and graphs are pretty much impossible to read.
The central part of the book, chapters from four to ten, is devoted to design issues and, despite the lack of an in-depth examination of some subjects, offers a pretty good survey of the topic.
The final part of the book is slightly more technical covering topics such as XHTML-MP, CSS, HTML5, device adaptation, etc. The problem here is that there is nothing really practical and all remains at an introductory level. To give you an example, a capital topic in device adaptation like Media Queries is covered in half a page with just a trivial example. Furthermore the author seems to be unaware of things like XwapProfile or UAProf (that is probably a obsolete and unreliable method but deserve at least a notation).
My biggest complain is anyway about the author's obsession for the iPhone. The Apple's jewel is referenced continuously and always with great glorification: the word iPhone recurs 99 times in the book and out of the 115 pictures in the book as many as 37 depict an iPhone. An entire chapter is devoted to iPhone web applications development even though most of the concepts presented here are common to other modern devices.
This is overall a decent introductory book, if you are completely new to the field, and it's packed with many good advices but do not expect much from the practical techniques promised by the title.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Excellent Starting Point
5 Dec 2009
Format:Paperback
Anyone looking to moving into the mobile space as a developer or manager should take the time to read this book. Fling brings a considerable amount of experience to the table and gives an incredible survey of the situation as it exists now. Failing to take into account all the valuable information here would be foolish.
The tone and style are refreshing. Fling doesn't try to be cute or work up a side-line as a comedian. This is just straight out guidance, dealing with real world considerations that keeps things from being too dry.
There isn't much in the way of detailed implementation as this is an overview of the whole landscape. This is what should be read before a project is begun, not somewhere in the middle when code is already being written. Fling makes a great case for mobile web apps and gives some very practical guidance in their creation. It's really the only platform wide enough to fit in the book. Anything else would require an extremely narrow focus that wouldn't fit the rest of the book.
I enjoyed reading this and learned a lot in the process. One can't really ask for more.
Fling is a huge fan of the iPhone and spends a whole chapter describing web development for the iPhone. Since webkit exists in other smart phones, the information is applicable to other platforms for the most part but I would have preferred something less tied to one phone from one vendor. My bias is toward android, but there are plenty of iPhone and Android development books. I can use those once I've moved on to specifics. But this is really a very small issue in relation to the excellent information and presentation in this book.
There is one other issue I almost forgot. There are pie charts in the book, which is black and white. Some of the 'slices' are so close to one another in color that it was pretty much impossible for me to tell where they started and stopped. It doesn't hurt the book too much but needs to be fixed in future editions. Fling explains the charts, so one can infer where things are but that means the charts are not even necessary or helpful.
But if those are the biggest problems with a tech book, it's doing pretty well in my estimation.
The tone and style are refreshing. Fling doesn't try to be cute or work up a side-line as a comedian. This is just straight out guidance, dealing with real world considerations that keeps things from being too dry.
There isn't much in the way of detailed implementation as this is an overview of the whole landscape. This is what should be read before a project is begun, not somewhere in the middle when code is already being written. Fling makes a great case for mobile web apps and gives some very practical guidance in their creation. It's really the only platform wide enough to fit in the book. Anything else would require an extremely narrow focus that wouldn't fit the rest of the book.
I enjoyed reading this and learned a lot in the process. One can't really ask for more.
Fling is a huge fan of the iPhone and spends a whole chapter describing web development for the iPhone. Since webkit exists in other smart phones, the information is applicable to other platforms for the most part but I would have preferred something less tied to one phone from one vendor. My bias is toward android, but there are plenty of iPhone and Android development books. I can use those once I've moved on to specifics. But this is really a very small issue in relation to the excellent information and presentation in this book.
There is one other issue I almost forgot. There are pie charts in the book, which is black and white. Some of the 'slices' are so close to one another in color that it was pretty much impossible for me to tell where they started and stopped. It doesn't hurt the book too much but needs to be fixed in future editions. Fling explains the charts, so one can infer where things are but that means the charts are not even necessary or helpful.
But if those are the biggest problems with a tech book, it's doing pretty well in my estimation.
14 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Should be titled "Information Architecture for Mobile"
25 July 2010
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The bulk of this book (say 80%) is a discussion of information architecture retooled for the mobile world. A useful discussion, but it is NOT why I bought a book on mobile development. I expected a book that discussed in great detail, mobile development.
Skip to chapter 11, 'Mobile Web Development' to get a taste. Chapter 12, 'iPhone Web Apps' also has a few nuggets. Chapter 15, the oddly named and placed 'Supporting Devices' touches on setting up a test and dev environment.
Technical details for server configuration, local test/dev environment configuration, dev methods and techniques etc. are absent. This is NOT a technical reference or guide. It IS, a good executive 'summary'.
Also, although it makes every attempt to appear agnostic, the book is clearly iPhone-centric. This caused me to change my rating from two stars to one star.
Skip to chapter 11, 'Mobile Web Development' to get a taste. Chapter 12, 'iPhone Web Apps' also has a few nuggets. Chapter 15, the oddly named and placed 'Supporting Devices' touches on setting up a test and dev environment.
Technical details for server configuration, local test/dev environment configuration, dev methods and techniques etc. are absent. This is NOT a technical reference or guide. It IS, a good executive 'summary'.
Also, although it makes every attempt to appear agnostic, the book is clearly iPhone-centric. This caused me to change my rating from two stars to one star.
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