wsg  

Re: [WSG] iphone should not be part of your url

Svip
Sun, 20 Jul 2008 10:43:16 -0700

2008/7/20 David Storey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
> This is incredibly short sighted.  Comments inline, plus one comment to an
> earlier mail:
>
>> let's not forget that the iPhone's
>> browser is (as of right now) the largest mobile browser,
>
> Not true.  Opera Mini has more active users per week than iPhones that exist
> on the market.  Apple may have superior marketing, get a lot of free
> advertising and are beloved by developers (I myself use a Mac and own a
> iPod), but they are not the number one mobile browser.  They may be one day
> due to some of the things mentioned above, along with the iPhone being a
> great piece of hardware and software, but not currently, and Opera Mini
> continues to rise at a very healthy rate.

You misunderstood me, by "larger" I was not referring to user base, I
was referring to the display content.  Opera Mini does not give the
same amount of "full blown" content as the iPhone's Safari browser
does.  Not that I care about that, cause I don't think I'd need that
on a mobile device yet.

> On 20 Jul 2008, at 17:38, Svip wrote:
>
>> Lars, I think you're forgetting an important thing though.  The
>> iPhone's Safari is very different from Safari on an iMac or Opera Mini
>> on another mobile 3G device.
>>
>> Point is, while Apple will tell you the Safari on the iPhone is like
>> the Safari you get on your iMac or MacBook, it is still limited by the
>> small screen.  So while it still is kilometres ahead of the other
>> devices as to what its browser can deliver, it is still a completely
>> different experience than that of Safari on the computer.
>
> Again not true.  Take the HTC Touch Diamond.  It has both a superior screen
> resolution, and similar hardware specs, and a full HTML browser (Opera
> Mobile 9.5) with arguably greater standards compliance.  Opera Mobile 9.5
> has basically the same rendering engine as Opera 9.5 on desktop.  Opera has
> been developing mobile browsers for years, and has a lot of that know how in
> the current generation of the browser.  And unlike Mini it has a full
> JavaScript implementation.

I was not aware of Opera Mobile, so I admit I was uniformed.

>>
>>
>> Therefore, I think it is not that silly to name there be currently 2
>> common devices to interact with a website from, and the mobile
>> category has a subcategory of the advance level browsing that is the
>> iPhone's Safari.
>
> That would be short sighed to do that, like saying one should give a more
> advanced version of a site to IE in ye olde days.  As well as the Diamond I
> mentioned before, there is an entire class of devices that have similar to
> better specs than the iPhone that can run a similar to more advanced web
> browser.  Samsung i900 is another example that Opera Mobile 9.5 is running
> on with the same touch screen style form factor and post 500mhz processor.
> Ignoring Windows Mobile that 9.5 currently runs on, there is S60, such as
> the N96 which runs another WebKit browser with the same engine as mobile
> safari.
>
> Ignoring mobile all together, what about things like games consoles?  The
> Nintendo Wii browser was very popular for Opera.  There could be any hit
> portable (or not portable) device that could come out at any time, with a
> first class browser and user experience.  Designing just for iphone misses
> out on that opportunity.  It is fantastic for lock in though (look what mess
> that has got us in on the regular desktop web - just ask the IE team and all
> the issues they are having trying not to break content aimed for their
> legacy browser versions).

I actually have to agree with that.
>>
>>
>> But... let's not forget that sometimes developing "apps" for specific
>> browsers is done purely by the intention of abilities this browser
>> applies.  On several projects I don't care if it doesn't work in
>> anything else but Firefox.
>
> Says it all really...

You've never heard about having fun?  I don't make useful applications
for the web.

>>
>>
>> Regards
>> Svip
>>
>> 2008/7/20 Keryx Web <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
>>>
>>> Ben Dodson skrev:
>>>>
>>>> I don't personally have a problem with having iphone in a URL as it is
>>>> generally used for applications that are very specific to the iphone.
>>>
>>> It is 1998 and I am developing an application that is very specific to
>>> MSIE... A strategy proved bad!
>>>
>>> IMO this is *exactly* the reasoning that J. Zeldman, Steve Champeon et al
>>> protested against. A protest that started and defined the web standards
>>> movement.
>>>
>>>> Yes, perhaps there should be versions for other devices (e.g. Nokia) but
>>>> the reality is that most developers won't bother making specific sites
>>>> for
>>>> these users and instead use a generic mobile stylesheet.
>>>
>>> No there should not be versions for Nokias or Sony-E's or LG's or any
>>> other
>>> device. What we perhaps need, though, is a graded browser support chart,
>>> like Yahoo has for desktop apps.
>>>
>>>> The difference with the iPhone is that it's the latest bandwagon in town
>>>> and that the majority of iPhone owners will use the internet on the
>>>> phone
>>>> (whereas the majority of Nokia phone owners won't use the web browser on
>>>> the
>>>> phone).
>>>
>>> The difference is that Nokia et al makes several different kinds of
>>> phones,
>>> not all are smartphones. Every single smartphone owner I know uses the
>>> web
>>> browser on the phone and has been doing it for quite a few years.
>>>
>>> It is great that the iPhone has made people aware of the mobile web, and
>>> lowered the threshold for some to use it. But as developers we should not
>>> care about the present, but the present and the future! Locking ourselves
>>> in
>>> to one device is not a strategy for the future, even if iPhone shows up
>>> as
>>> the leading mobile device in usage stats today. Remember, there once was
>>> a
>>> time when MSIE was so dominant that as a web developer it made sense in
>>> many
>>> ways to develop MSIE only web sites!
>>>
>>>> It also has a very specific style and so companies will try and cater to
>>>> this (e.g. the facebook web app was designed to look like a native
>>>> iPhone
>>>> application).
>>>
>>> That I predict is a fad that will quickly go away. Site owners will soon
>>> see
>>> the benefits of designing for the brand of the website, rather than the
>>> brand of the device it is accessed from.
>>>
>>>> Of course, now there is the App store and the ability to run third party
>>>> applications, I'm sure a lot of these iPhone specific websites will
>>>> disappear as the developers move to offering a built in solution.
>>>
>>> Hopefully you are right. Off topic: The fact that people will jubilantly
>>> welcome a solution that means they are getting locked in to a single
>>> vendor
>>> is also beyond my understanding...
>>>
>>> And I am not a Mac hater. I use Macs (as well as Windows and Linux) and
>>> listen with delight to my iPod.
>>>
>>>
>>> Lars Gunter
>>>
>>>
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>>
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>
> David Storey
>
> Chief Web Opener,
> Product Manager Opera Dragonfly,
> Consumer Product Manager Opera Core,
> Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group member
>
> Consumer Product Management & Developer Relations
> Opera Software ASA
> Oslo, Norway
>
> Mobile: +47 94 22 02 32
> E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Blog: http://my.opera.com/dstorey
>
>
>
>
>
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Regards
Svip


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