HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
online out of the box through the use of proxies. This allows you to store and
retrieve data through a common interface and specify the type of store you use
in the configuration.
jQuery and Sencha Touch are great; however, what you end up creating is an
application built in the jQuery mobile or the Sencha way of thinking. There is
nothing wrong with using a mobile library to complete a mobile-based project,
but you should be aware of the things you should look for when picking a
framework or library.
File Size
It is important to ensure that any library has a small footprint. Some mobile
operators, unfortunately, do not offer unlimited data plans, so it's important to
make sure that accessing your mobile web site doesn't have a large impact on
your user's pockets. It's also important to remember that although 3G and LTE
offer relatively high data speeds, not all users will have access to 3G or LTE all
of the time. This has an impact on load time, as a 500kB library along with your
entire application's image and CSS assets could take several seconds to
download through 3G/LTE; it could take much longer on EDGE. So, cater for the
lowest common denominator, which would be EDGE in this case.
Number of Files
At the time of writing, the number of requests that a mobile browser can make is
quite restricted. This means that if you have many assets to download to the
browser, this can affect loading time. You can overcome this by ensuring that
the JavaScript library you are using offers the following:
A minified and concatenated version of the source
A sprite sheet for things such as icons and buttons
A content delivery network (CDN) hosted version of the library
Activity
You should check to see when the most recent update was for the library and
how often new versions are released (the release cycle). This has an effect on
your development, and if you're one for keeping up to date with bug fixes and
major releases, you might find yourself constantly updating your code with the
latest release; or even worse, if the library is abandoned and no longer
