Innovation Insights: How Apps Overthrew Web Development and Changed the Internet
From Wired:
Ever since Tim Berners-Lee
decided to organize information and make it accessible through the now
ubiquitous Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), humans have been forever
changed by the Internet.
On top of that achievement he created HTML markup to build web pages,
and thus the first inklings of a modern web browser were born. The most
recent period of transformation during the rise of ‘Web 2.0’ saw
enhanced media capabilities and the emergence of HTML5 web applications
in a browser.
But the latest developments in the mobile computing space, have yet
again added to a tremendous shift in how the web is used to display
information and interact with users. Smartphones, tablets, and the
mobile apps that populate such devices have forever changed the approach
to web development as we knew it.
Screen Size Has Changed Everything
One of the biggest changes in computing to impact web development is
screen size of mobile computing devices. Tablets and smartphones not
only have a unique user interface (UI) but the actual size of the
interface is constrained compared to a desktop website.
The iPhone clocks in at about 4”, while larger (borderline phablets)
come with 6” screens. The most obvious difference between mobile and web
development stems from the screen size. Page elements, functionality,
and even written content work differently on a mobile app than compared
to a website.
Full flown paragraphs and long diatribes describing a company’s
history cannot feasibly fit inside a mobile app screen. And users are
not interested in straining their eyes to read a bloated product
description. Things like video, HD images, and short bursts of focused
and strategic content have emerged to better communicate information
through a mobile device.
These approaches have extended beyond mobile apps for tablets and
smartphones, and have begun to pervade websites. To create a website
that is not only accessible to mobile visitors, but optimized for them,
brands and organizations must create websites that are primed for
mobile....MORE
