Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

Will the web of the future be customized to what language you speak AND what device you use to go online???

iphone.facebook.com
digg.com/iphone
iphone.ebay.com

Thoughts???

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

A really bad thing.

The idea that sites will maintain simple, lightweight versions of their content as alternatives to their normal flash-javascript craploaded sites is good, but the idea that they'd tie the URI to a device is bad.

But when the lemmings of the world jump on to something like an iPhone, the people who need to make a living have no choice but to follow along & try to profit.

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

It's only happening with the iPhone because it's the latest fad. It'll go away.

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

I think the approach should be more generic, because this one limits your audience.

eg, mobile.ebay.com... palmtop.ebay.com... handheld.ebay.com...

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

I think devices should support the internet we've got. That's one of the things that drew me to the N800. It has it's issues on the web, but, overall, I don't know of a device that does better at that price point.

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

I love the facebook iphone friendly link...so good on the N800.
hey you should check out my thread iphone friendly sites. lotsa links.

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

zerojay I doubt its just going to go away.
itouch will encourage more site admins, to go the iphone friendly route sooner than later.
if it was just the iphone, I think yeah maybe it is a fad.
With the itouch alot of people come next year are not going to be purchasing ipods anymore, and are going straight to the itouch.
sites will go itouch friendly.

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

I hope that <device>.example.com is not the way we're headed. Wasn't that what http://, etc... were going to solve? We already have a wap:// for mobile devices (yes, it's pathetic, but maybe that just means we need a new service type).

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

Apple shouldn't allow this kind of stuff to happen. The iPhone and iTouch have the most advanced web browsers for mobile devices and should be able to handle the REAL internet. All of these iPhone optimized websites imply that the iPhone's web browsing is inadequate. :p

Actually, I think the reason for these sites is not Safari but AT&T's edge network and poor screen resolution.

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

The winning standard is almost always the most practical and 'cheapest' (time & cost) to implement.

Any site operator is a fool if they don't try to invite these iphone owners into their userbase. Depending on your camp allegiance (a.k.a 'religion' to some) iphone owners are either a). fools or b). savvy and trendy audience. Either way they've shelled out the chunk of change to get into the latest fad and they should a). be foolish enough or b). be rich enough to spend some more cash on your site too, whatever it is you're peddling directly or indirectly through your site.

So, with no clear and easy to implement 'portable web' standard guaranteed to work on all mobile devices (css stylesheets? hah, you try work that crap out.. there's enough problem just between desktop IE x.x and firefox, not to mention opera and the multitudes of mobile browsers), if I were a web developer I would be more than glad to have a 'reference platform' of sort that contains a desireable audience to program for.

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

Ideally, sites should be able to use CSS to serve the same page to a desktop machine with a 21" screen and to a handheld device with 3.5". I stopped holding my breath some time ago.

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

I don't think it's the resolution - see the BBC review, where resolution doesn't appear to be an issue on the iPhone/Touch as far as browsing is concerned.

I think you're spot on regarding the EDGE network though - it's the very reason I asked for a mobile/Internet Tablet optimised theme for this forum... a theme that is light on graphics in order to reduce bandwidth when surfing on a GPRS or even a 3G connection (3G speeds can be slow depending on signal and other factors), plus I'm currently paying per MB on my 3G connection! Any simplified layout that results from an optimised theme is also welcome simply because these devices are not desktops and still chug when processing pages with complex layouts (this includes this site - the pages load instantly on the N800 when using the Mobile II theme). One other thing I've noticed when using a dial up connection is that latency is high so pages with multiple external references (.js or .css) will take a lot longer to load due to the HTTP roundtrip, so reducing links is also advantageous (this means Web 2.0 apps could be a nightmare over a high latency connection).

I think it's good to see sites offering low bandwidth/simplified versions, but agree with others that it's wrong to label these as "iPhone" specific sites (blame the marketing boys for that!)

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

I just got a email from my hosting company yesterday with the follow:

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

You mean that thing from Apple, I forget its name..............Oh, the Newton:rolleyes: ?





bun

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

I expect that mobile devices will eventually lead to significant changes in website design. Simplification and size reduction for starters. However, that will create the need for a more modal web, which could mean more popups. Then again, there are other ways of showing additional content, so perhaps most of the designers will just get more creative.

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

Yes, that thing was DOA.

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

I think we are going to wind up with some sort of 'thumbfriendly'.X.com. If that's 'handheld' or 'iphone' or 'mobile' doesn't really matter to me; nor does the excessive 'dumbing down' that mobile domains typically bring.

What I care about is layout and interface elements that don't assume individual pixel precision. The curse of most 'mobile' views is that they still assume a stylus. Stylii suck it. (along those lines, microb should consider making the 'hotspot' of links in the browser a bit larger, and easier to thumb.)

CSS by itself isn't enough.
The most important changes vis-a-vis a mobile 'look', is toning down excessive inline images, scripts, plugins and page size: not tasks that are properly achieved with css. (you can use CSS to hide such elements, but the browser will still download them) As 99% of the web is dynamically generated HTML these days, it's more appropriate for everyone if they simply add another rendering path in their code for alternate views.

The lack of proper support for alternate paths has more to do with lack of tangible ROI and penny-pinching development budgets: Mention gracefully-degrading versions of a site for various devices/browsers and watch a client's eyes glaze over. Invariably the script-free, lynx-friendly, mobile-friendly and ADA-compatible versions get cut.

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

i just wonder what happened to wml and wap.

i know facebook has a mobile phone friendly page at m.facebook.com. but i rarely use it as i get some "interesting" sertificate messages each time i try to log in...

btw, i suspect these "pages" are made using the guidelines apple released for "webapps" when iphone first showed up.

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

Great analysis, Roc. Hopefully the growing "portable internet" market will give site managers no choice but to change with the times... for the better.

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

People are knocking these "iphone sites" because it has a "full browser"...

All I know is this, when I'm using my finger to browse, I prefer to tap nice large links and have everything easy to read, because when I'm sitting on a bus, I wouldn't want to have to click a zoom button and break out a stylus.

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

The remarks I've seen are not that simple. The point has been that dedicating sites to the iPhone (or any other device) tends to fly in the face of such devices possessing a full browser. Hence they should not need dedicated sites.

That of course applies to the N800 equally as well.

However, I personally diverge from that assessment because I think the web in general is filled with large, gaudy, busy, overloaded sites and could benefit from a revamp that takes mobility into account.

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

You have mirrored my exact thoughts, but a little more eloquently :)

I am tired of visiting websites that put a load on a 2ghz computer... why? It should just be text and graphics with some minimal back-end scripting.

Visit Gap.com, Nokia and recently, Apple's own site with built in quicktime videos.... I understand they want to enrich the web experience, but its terrible for mobile devices (which is where everything is going) and its really not necessary. Information is king, we don't need gaudy with bling!

A flash animation with sweaters flying across the screen with fall sale schema isn't going to help me find what I need... Instead of presenting me with clear and concise information, we get longer load times and useless animation. I just want to buy some damn khakis!

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

how exactly is the browser in the iPhone and iTouch more advanced than the mozilla based browser on the n800?

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

It zooms and scrolls pretty. That's about it.

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

Does the IPhone has a flash plugin allready?

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

The iPhone browser shares basically the same render engine and features with the S60 phone browsers. "It zooms and scrolls pretty" is somewhat accurate, actually. The UI layer on top of the browser core is very smooth and refined, as is with all the iPhone applications. So feature-wise the browser is really no more advanced than the S60 phone browsers, but the UI makes up for that.

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

No, there isn't one and they won't be getting one, which is the reason why Apple has the Youtube app and had them reencode all their videos into a different format.

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

For some reason, people seems to go for visible bling over invisible features. And as long as that goes on, apple and ilk will win.

Im not saying they make good products, but they are for some reason over-hyped. Just look at the press cover a fart from apple gets in mainstream media vs just about any other corp in the tech biz.

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

Final Answer: "Applications 1-20 of 2000"

This morning, Apple's App Store just reached 2000 Web Apps.

Re: Is this the future? iphone.facebook.com digg.com/iphone iphone.ebay.com
 

Web apps... more than half of them are just pieces of bigger sites. But yes, there are many.