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.