Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
1
Chapter
Harnessing the Power of
the Mobile Web
Welcome to the first chapter of this topic. In this chapter, we'll endeavor to not only tell
you about what you'll find in this topic, but to also compare it to what has come before.
You see, quite simply, it is only now that the true power of mobile web applications and
mobile-optimized websites is being realized, despite the existence of the “web” on
mobile phones in some form for 10 years.
Before we show off the neat stuff we have planned for this topic, it's probably best to
make sure everyone is on the same page, lingo-wise. So we'll start talking about the
basic terms in web design. In the second section, we'll talk about the precursors to
today's mobile web. And finally, in the last section, we'll talk about the concepts that will
guide this topic and give you a sneak peek at some of the applications we'll be
developing!
Basics of Web Design
There are a few concepts that it's best to discuss up front. Forgive us if you've heard this
all before. However, if you're completely new to web design (i.e., you've never written a
single web page or blog), then this should be a good place to start. And, if we're starting at
the beginning, then we should start with the lingua franca of the web: HTML.
Getting Started: HyperText Markup Language (HTML)
In the late 1980s, the computer language we know today as HTML was born. HTML isn't
a true programming language, per se, in that it isn't compiled. Rather, HTML is
interpreted by special software called a
web browser
. Browsers, such as Microsoft
Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Google Chrome on your Desktop computer, and
Dolphin HD, Opera Mini, and Skyfire on your Android device, download HTML files from
a
web server
, interpret them, and display them. This entire process is fairly simple. A
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