Mobile Software Development Considerations

Chapter 18, “Coding Cloud-Based Applications,” looks at the details of creating a cloud application—Chapter 18 is the chapter for coders and developers. That said, many people will play different roles in the development of a mobile solution (project manager, sales and marketing, technical support, coder, tester, and more). If you work on a mobile solution, keep the following development considerations in mind:

• The mobile web is not the traditional web: You should not expect to use your traditional webpages as a mobile solution. You should optimize your web solution and then optimize your mobile solution.

• Fast is good: Mobile data communication is still slower than most desktop-based data communication solutions. As such, you should optimize your mobile web layout and design to maximize download performance.

• Remember your goals and requirements: As you design your mobile solutions, keep your original goals and requirements in mind to ensure your solution matches your business strategy.

• You can’t support everything: Pick your largest market segment (or device) and focus your initial efforts there.

• Don’t treat mobile content as an afterthought; create, don’t convert, mobile content: Do not simply try to convert your traditional web content for use on the mobile web. Instead, you should design your mobile content for optimal performance and market impact.

• Handle different display sizes differently: Mobile applications should query the browser or device to determine the supported display size and then provide matching display content dynamically.

• Build apps, not responsive webpages: Responsive web applications that ran on both the web and within a mobile web browser provided companies an easy way to initially move their web solutions to mobile. Today, however, users expect more—applications should leverage the features built into a phone, such as the camera, geolocation, and more.