HTML5, JavaScript, and jQuery 24-Hour Trainer

Lesson 39

jQuery Mobile: Part I

I began this section of the book by looking at how a web application can be designed for mobile devices using the techniques and technologies associated with responsive web design. Responsive web design encourages the use of a single set of resources while ensuring the content dynamically adjusts to all relevant screen resolutions.

Although responsive web design is increasingly popular, there is an alternative school of thought that says large-screen devices and small-screen devices are fundamentally different, and their respective needs can only be met by creating two different web applications.

The following are the main arguments in favor of mobile-specific versions of web applications:

• Mobile devices support a different set of events from traditional desktop devices. This stems primarily from the fact that the user is holding the device in her hands, meaning it is possible to respond to touch- and motion-based events, such as the user swiping the screen, tapping and holding, or rotating the screen.
• Mobile applications typically approach navigation in a different manner than desktop applications. Rather than providing a single page with a diverse set of information, they provide information in bite-sized pages, and make it possible to quickly navigate from one page to another.
• Users of web applications on desktops and laptops, by comparison, typically become frustrated by websites that require excessive navigation, even though this is a popular ...