Building Web Apps that Work Everywhere

One of the joys of web development is the chance to use the latest technologies, but relying on new tools can have unintended consequences. This O’Reilly report explains how today’s massive, resource-heavy websites limit the options for millions of users, and shows you what you can do to make your sites and apps more inclusive.

A growing number of people around the world who can’t afford high-speed Internet—or have slow, unreliable connections—often resort to smartphones with restrictive data plans just to take care of basics such as banking or job hunting. How can you build sites that work everywhere, on every network? Author Adam Scott provides options and best practices to help you:

• Expose permanent, human-readable links—rather than change your URL when you upgrade your site
• Use responsive web design to ensure your site conforms to a range of viewport sizes
• Develop applications that perform well in a variety of network conditions
• Include offline capabilities that let users work with your site even when network connections are poor

As the Web continues to play an increasingly large role in our daily lives, these features will help your online product fulfill Tim Berners-Lee’s promise of a global communication network that enables people to participate fully, no matter what connection they use.