HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
1
Chapter
Getting Started
Prior to the launch of the first Android handset in September 2008 and the
earlier release of the first iPhone handset in June 2007, there had been no
immediate drive for standardization within mobile web browsers. Playing video
required either Flash mobile or a low-quality 3GP version of the video.
Developers avoided JavaScript, as JavaScript would have been disabled by
default on the majority of mobile web browsers and others did not support
JavaScript at all. One such developer, logged in at stackoverflow.com,
commented that working with JavaScript was ''a nightmare . . . like working with
web browsers in the 90s, but with the manager expectations of tomorrow.''
1
Mobile web sites were simply Wireless Markup Language (WML) pages from the
years of WAP on grayscale mobile phones, such as the Motorola V50, but with a
splash of color. Not much has changed since then, and most mobile web sites
still retain the same linear flow of information from top to bottom and are not
very interactive. There were three reasons for this style of design.
1. WAP/GPRS and EDGE were all slow protocols that could not
handle file-heavy web sites, so design and content were
restricted to deliver the web site and its message quickly.
2. The resolution and aspect ratio of old handsets were terrible,
such that you could barely fit any content onto the screen.
1 Stackoverflow.com, posted by annakata,
