Mobile Website Development and The Best Practices Involved

Let me reveal a staggering number. There are more than 5.9 billion mobile phone users and before I write the next sentence or two, a thousand more users are getting added!

More than 20% of the mobile phone owners have browsed the web through their own mobile handsets. Hence it is predicted that mobile websites should soon come up, for visits through smartphones.

Many consumer-driven companies have witnessed the incredible value of the mobile platform  and hence did not think much for creating a mobile website. This is not going to be a passing phase for the mobile websites since it will soon be a necessity leveraging the huge number of WAP mobile users who browse the web. But the unfortunate thing is that consumer-focused mobile websites are not many in number. This fact is because of special procedures involved for mobile website development.

The first step for developing a successful mobile website is to understand its immediate users and audience. Mobile website users are generally on the move which is why the entire information should be easy to read and legible.

Website design for sites which can be run on computers and laptops are not compatible with mobile devices. For a site to work well, the accessibility design guidelines need to be abided which are defined by the W3C Consortium. Additionally, users who have mobile phones with separate data plans will find it impossible to download huge data quickly so the site should be displayed quickly without much download time.

Modifying the existing Internet site is the easiest way to make mobile handset-compatible website. Converting from static sites to mobile compatible websites will be in terms of layout, overall design and structure. Here are some general principles which would be required to create a mobile website:

Use CSS for the layout for better mobile compatibility while avoiding the use of tables
Code using XML or XHTML while set the character encoding at UTF-8
Design and build the layout of the sites with a "fluid" structure in mind to match different sizes and screens of smartphones
Remember to put info at the top of the page for better site search and navigation. The design should be absolutely convenient for users.
Design for fingers with 30-40px in size for click targets
Combine smaller images into one file and use CSS to reduce http requests.
 Reduce image size and even lessen the overall javascript impact
Forms can prove to be difficult for mobile device use. Text mostly takes time and hence it is better if forms include choice options while also cutting down on screens to complete a form. Align form labels to the top for saving on valuable space.
Forms should include data input which was entered previously to save on time
Mobiles follow the dictum "Less is More." Hence one should avoid redundant or unnecessary information on the website
Avoid using plugins as most mobiles do not support the same. There are only a few which are supported by smartphones.

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Mobile Apps For You To Earn Money Available!

Smartphones normally cost a lot of money, but did you know it can help you make money? Here are two free apps to earn money with small jobs. Both EasyShift and Gigwalk are free apps which can help you earn your dough with no strings attached. The idea behind the apps is that companies would hire one to do some simple work with the help of the iPhone. After the work is submitted, one can get paid via PayPal account.

One can do testing on similar jobs using both apps, which mostly cover beginner-level work which do not take more than 20 minutes per job. EasyShift is developed by Quri Corp. and was launched last year as an iPhone app. The app is dedicated to stock-checking tasks related to convenience and drug stores.  Gigwalk launched nationwide in May 2011 and opened for both iPhone and Android phones. It matches businesses with the workers, and the rates vary more than EasyShift's jobs.

The EasyShift app offers step-by-step process of job descriptions. The jobs are basically done for manufacturers for competitive aspects including promotional prices and product placement. Gigwalk jobs vary greatly and have different types of jobs.

The jobs are pretty much addictive and also very easy. One has to answer some questions sometimes or take pictures of energy drinks. You can scour for apps' built-in maps for the nearby job list. You might even get paid enough for some hard work. There is much pride associated with doing the tasks correctly for a few bucks and this leads to higher-paying jobs ultimately.

Gigwalk gives small jobs that add up quickly. An average worker or Gigwalker earns $200 to $800 every month while some earn casually 40 to $80 on a monthly basis. An EasyShift user can make $100 to $200 monthly too.

EasyShift is more user-friendly than GigWalk since it divides every job step in different screens so that it is clear for users to complete the job. GigWalk does not give a clear description for every job like EasyShift does.

With Gigwalk, users apply for jobs and expect to hear back if they are accepted for the job or not. EasyShift jobs can be instantly claimed by tapping Reserve while Gigwalk users can tap Quick Apply for applying for jobs.

The tasks often involved in GigWalk are of varying degrees of complexity and effort. Though they may appear similar, they are not so. The gigs might include visiting a Chinese restaurant and taking of photos of the menus. Answering survey questions is also part of the gig sometimes. A similar-sounding job might pay me double the amount since the effort might be more.

EasyShift pays its workers sometimes by the same night. Gigwalkers also get paid well within a day and sometimes it takes about 5 days before you get paid, but that is a rare occurrence. Both apps are good enough mobile apps which offer simple ways to earn money and nobody is too overqualified to say that it is not worth it!

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Mobile Application Development With Malware and Security

Since the launch of the App Store, there were many other mobile apps development companies which joined the fray of having their own app stores. Google's Android Market is the most notable market. Mobile developers can work better with network providers instead of using storefronts for publicity. Device manufacturers, who mostly do not have dedicated storefronts, can help developers to create apps across a range of operating systems and devices of the mobile market.

With the growing market, AT&T has created a strong developer program which gives mobile access to 80 million customers, while LG opened its Applications Store for helping out users of LG devices for downloading apps. Storefronts are currently generating the most buzz but users can always download apps from independent off-store websites too. Off-store downloads account for most of the app downloads and eat up the revenue. The number of off-store downloads mostly are expected to decrease with time once storefronts become more popular, but independent sites might serve to be effective distribution channels.

With hundreds and thousands of apps for the user to choose from, there are many customers who are willing to spend billions of dollars on different types of applications every year. The consumer spending on downloads was expected to reach 14 billion dollars by the end of the year. This revenue generated by mobile market is more than all the professional sports combined together in US. For mobile device users, apps are usually very accessible this also means that there is a greater chance of malicious code to slip through. In fact, there are many rogue apps which easily sneak into storefronts.

As mobile apps become more popular, it is evident that there will be malware attacks in hordes with vandals storming the market with malicious apps. These apps are mostly next to impossible to spot. Parts of standard developer toolkits are used to create malware bots and these apps are known to exploit several user information elements including location and contact lists. Most users are unaware of the attacks and presume the app to be safe and legitimate. Many users do not even read permissions notices closely and hence grant access to notorious apps. A quick click can give the application access to sensitive information across the web.

The App Genome Project recently discovered that nearly 28% Android apps and 34% Apple apps are able to track user's location with the help of the GPS. There are some apps which can even access contact and address lists of users and can gather personal information at will. These are the apps that are an ideal target for hackers since they replicate their code to create malware. These unsecured apps are prone to hackers who can alter some lines of code and convert them into information-stealing malware. An existing application can ferret out malicious programs easily. Even though end users are more careful nowadays, malware is here to stay in a new form. Securing your mobile applications is extremely important for all types of users mostly to safeguard customers and your business reputation.

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Do You Know About Sencha Touch Development?

Sencha apps are extremely responsive as they execute locally and are maneuvered through AJAX connections. Sencha products include SDKs and tools which are very well structured and can help out large teams to work without having any confusion. You can easily code in JavaScript or Java since both the extensions Ext JS and Ext GWT are present.

Sencha Touch is the world's first app framework which actually helps developers to make the most out of HTML5 and CSS3. HTML5 is specifically used to deliver audio and video along with a localStorage proxy for offline data saving and storage. CSS3 has been extensively used in stylesheets for a robust look and feel.
What's surprising is that the entire Sencha library is under 120kb as it is minified hence there is no need to disable unused components or styles. This makes Sencha Touch development even simpler to use.

Robust touch events are important to the framework's architecture. There are standard events like touchstart and touchend along with a huge list of custom events which can help you attach responses to pinch, touch and swipe as needed.

Sencha Touch Development is based on Sencha's cross-platform framework and is perfect for futuristic touch-enabled devices. It can now be used with Apple iOS 3 and higher devices, Android 2.1 and higher devices, and BlackBerry 6 and higher devices. All these mobile platforms constitute 95% of current US mobile traffic. Developers can also make optimum use of special custom themes that can be created specifically for those devices. There are a huge number of Android models and iPhones out there and the popularity of WebKit is crucial for Sencha as the list of supported platforms would grow tremendously.

Sencha Touch Development is like the development of other frameworks and actually comes with a powerful data package. One can easily request data from different sources wherein the most preferred include AJAX, JSONP, or YQL which can attach data to visual components. The data can then be pulled offline with the help of localStorage writers.

Sencha Touch is enterprise-ready and is one of the best solutions for mobile enterprise application development. The coding standards are strict but extremely familiar for developers who are well-versed with other development packages. It also carries a classical inheritance model and can be worked by teams whether small or large. The best part is that the output is completely web-based and you do not have to worry about the deployment in this regard.

Additionally, professional support and training is available for those starting out with Sencha Touch Development too!

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Sencha Touch Development - The First Steps

Since all the major processing is done on the primary systems, one needs to have the web kit browsers which include Google Chrome or Internet Explorer along with a folder for your reference. The html file needs to be opened in one of these browsers and here you have started with instant platform testing.

To test Sencha Touch Development in a mobile device, upload the developed file on a web hosting platform. Transmit in MAC helps the user to edit the file and then the file can be run after being selected from the location. The folder can be duplicated and renamed with another number especially when there are some alterations of codes involved. It is also not advisable to backtrack many times just to figure out what is wrong with the coding experiments.

If one is a new user of JavaScript, it is better to avoid the new Geo Tweet application which is quite complex and distracting. To get on with the test, if you want to play with carousels, duplicate them. Copy one of the Ext.touch files from the folder and the Ext-touch.css file. The html file can be opened with the help of a text editor and make sure the links in the <head> tag contain the required names. Once you are sure that you are in the main folder, you can place this play folder anywhere in your system. Open the html in one of the browsers and edit the index.js file in the path: experiment/refresh/experiment.

You can open the file in the iPhone simulator, which resembles the working and functions of the iPhone/iPad. This method can be used for experimenting with different types of code which are usually found in the forums.

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Mobile Apps Development And Its Market Trends - Game On!

Different smartphones related to different companies and brands are available nowadays.There is intense competition in the platform and OS base. There are many varied operating systems too.  The different features too are installed within each of the operating system which makes it difficult to choose from. The versions are coming thick and fast too, to meet the growing demand of the market.

Basic technologies differ and applications which might work for an OS, mostly does not work with a different OS. There are issues of incompatibility here and on the type of phones. There have been many companies who have started app development and hope that the boost is there in the market.

Mobile games are now part of the open source platforms too since game developers are bringing in interesting ones without worrying about the costing. iPhone games rule in terms of classiness and operability, while their counterparts present in the Android OS is not too far behind although Symbian is far behind. One of the earliest games which included the “Snake” was launched in 1972. Since then there have been multiple enhancements and improvements in different mobiles. An average mobile phone is much better today than the costliest phone which was launched a decade back.

3D apps and mobile games development is in demand today, and hence analysts agree that users can work in such interactivity and fun that a single mobile will eat up the market. 3D games are presently are in a nascent change but there would be a time soon when every phone will have 3D games.

Developing a mobile application is not easy and hence is always a critical one and the developer’s skills and imaginative capabilities are needed here. Mobile application developers should be aware of the demands of the market and should be skilling in typing in code. There are multi-platform apps for the Android, iPhone and Symbian. Android is fast displacing iPhone being number in the field of mobile application development. The companies are at loggerheads to get apps or wait for the overall response.

With the immense decreasing cost of smartphones worldwide, the biggest being iPhone 3GS being now sold at nearly half the price it was. The scope of mobile app development is certainly there and there are many who are loyal to both brands. Even the companies need to hire developers who are paid more than double than their predecessors.

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