Head First Mobile Web

Chapter 4. Deciding Whom to Support: What devices should we support?

There aren’t enough hours in the day to test on every device. You have to draw the line somewhere on what you can support. But how do you decide? What about people using devices you can’t test on—are they left out in the cold? Or is it possible to build your web pages in a way that will reach people on devices you’ve never heard of? In this chapter, we’re going to mix a magic concoction of project requirements and audience usage to help us figure out what devices we support and what to do about those we don’t.

How do you know where to draw the line?

Every project is a series of compromises. Stakeholder desires. User experience feedback. Search engine optimization. Figuring out what matters for your project can seem like magic to people who aren’t in the trenches with you.

Deciding what devices you care about is similar. You take criteria and priorities, apply some brain power, sprinkle in a little magical inspiration, and you come up with a list of devices that are key to your success.

Step away from the keyboard for a second

We’ve tried to keep everything grounded and hands on so far, but we’ve reached that point in the movie where the actor stares off into space and contemplates a tough problem. Suddenly, inspiration ...