Mobile Design and Development

Preface

I’ll be honest: I’m an introduction-skipper. When I sit down with a technical book, I skip right past the introduction or preface and go straight for the goods. If it doesn’t begin with the words “Chapter,” then I figure I can probably move on and not miss anything crucial. This is not, however, one of those books.

Mobile design and development is about context, so it is somewhat fitting that the introduction of a book by the same name would establish context for the pages to follow. Before you dive into the wonderful world of mobile, I want to stress the scope of the medium and therefore of this book.

People don’t seem to realize that mobile as a whole is really, really big. When someone says the word “mobile,” they could be referring to devices, networks, services, the mobile web—even native applications like iPhone apps or a dozen other parts of a vast ecosystem. It isn’t unlike saying that all the various technologies required to create a simple web page can simply be referred to as “the Web.” There is obviously a lot more to it, but at the end of the day we just want it to work.

If there is one thing I’ve learned from my adventures in the mobile industry over the last decade, it is that in order to understand mobile, in order to make it work for you and for your users, you need understand three basic principles of mobile:

You need to know the different facets of the mobile medium

There are many variables that can change the overall experience for the user, both good and ...