As outlined in his talk, the very first question when developing for mobile is: what type of application do I want my product to have? Currently, there are three different types: Native, Web and SMS. Choosing one is based on the purpose of your project as well as the target audience.

• Native: used when the aesthetics of the app is very important. Native is recommended when you want to access a core feature of the device, like a camera or GPS. And, because of their app stores, Native apps have the added advantages discoverability and visibility.  The disadvantage with this type of application is fragmentation, i.e. you must write a different application for each device.
• Web: used when the focus is on distribution. Web apps are available on any device enabled with Internet access and there is no need to download. Considering testing and supporting, web applications have an advantage since they do not need to go through all the bureaucracy of the app store. Updates are also up and running instantly. The main disadvantage of web apps is sand-boxing.
• SMS: rare and only used in markets where internet access on the phone is not available or prohibitively expensive. SMS apps don’t offer discoverability.

Considering the above, Web applications are usually the best choice. They are cheaper to produce, more standardized and easier to distribute. According to Stark himself, “If you CAN build your app with HTML, CSS and JavaScript, then you probably should.”

In the second part of the talk, two interesting tools were demonstrated:

jQTouch

jQTouch is a jQuery plugin for mobile webkit browsers developed by David Kaneda. It Allows native animations, navigation and automatic customization of theme. Even if you will not actually using it in your application, it is a great tool for prototyping it.

To set jQTouch, you have to add in your page:

That means:

(1) adding hardcore structural design rules. This is required and you shouldn’t edit it
(2) add your theme style file. There are some options in jQTouch website or you can write your own
(3) initialize jQTouch after javascripts files are added. You can pass an object as a parameter with some values as icon and preloadImages

You can learn more from the jQTouch website or its documentation.

You can also see a quick overview in the video bellow:

PhoneGap

PhoneGap is a framework for building cross-platform mobile apps. Using it, you can still take advantage of core features in iPhone, Android, Palm Symbian and Blackberry. It’s been recognized as a game-changer and its source code has been downloaded more than 200,000 times! Web applications can now compete with native applications when functionality is the main requirement.

For more information, you can visit the PhoneGap website.

To learn how to install it, check the video bellow:

Get the Best Apps Now!

We look at mobile apps from different app stores and find out the best ones for you! This is your place to find out the most useful apps for your various devices. Visit apps.mihswat.com for the best Android, iOS, Chrome, Firefox, PC, Mac , Amazong and Windows Phone apps.

We have a few positions vacant at the moment – have a look:

In Sao Paulo, Brazil – we need a junior front-end developer. You are highly skilled in front-end development, with specific skills in CSS, HTML and Javascript. You are a competent programmer, but you prefer to work on the front-end. You will be working under the guidance of an experienced and expert engineer. You like working with bright and clever people, and you are passionate about the web. The successful candidate will speak English, and will be a paulistano, or be willing to relocate to Sao Paulo.

In Johannesburg – we are looking for a senior technical architect. You will have the opportunity to establish the blueprint and create the framework for truly cutting edge media delivery platforms that will change the face of media in South Africa. And that is no exaggeration. You should have outstanding technical skills, including the ability to code as and when required. You must be able to interact with a team of highly skilled professionals. You will ideally have experience of VOD, digital TV, IP-TV and related technologies. A background as a developer is essential – you will have in-depth knowledge of the Microsoft .Net platform, but also wider knowledge of open source platforms and languages. You are comfortable dealing with executives and senior managers. You’re not only an ubergeek, but also an inspirational tech leader. This is a challenging position – but it represents a massive opportunity to the right person. Detailed requirements here.

In Cape Town – we are looking for a junior tester, who will devote a great deal of time to ensuring that a large corporate social network meets the right quality standards. You will be part of the SWAT core team – you must be prepared to work with some of the best developers, architects, geeks and web-heads you are ever likely to meet. Can you execute tasks on your own initiative, prepare and execute test plans ? More details on the position can be found here.

Cape Town – we are looking for someone to play the role of Internet Evangelist. This role is available to anyone who is absolutely passionate about the web, who is capable of conveying this passion to diverse audiences, who learns quickly … and who can teach others. Your role will be to evangelise the use of Web technologies (and other Internet related technologies) into the larger group – the challenge is to make people from all non-internet businesses see the Internet as an opportunity not a threat. In addition you will perform tasks as assistant community manager for the corporate social network, and you will assist the Analyst in the team with research tasks. You must be willing to travel in South Africa and abroad, as required. To apply for this job, you will have to demonstrate passion, interest and knowledge of the Web and related technologies. You are a well-spoken, confident geek, web-head and proud to be a Web addict.

Finally, and also in Cape Town – we want to recruit a PHP developer. You will be have outstanding technical skills, wide experience in web based development, and you will be able to hold your own amongst an elite group of developers and architects. Javascript, Zend Framework, AJAX, OO, Web 2.0, REST, SOAP and UML will be old news to you. You are passionate about the web. If you think Twitter is silly, you don’t need to apply. More information here.

If you are interested in any of these positions, please send your CV to Melanie Koch. We look forward to hearing from you.

HTML 4.0 was published in December 18, 1997, as a W3C recommendation (version 4.01 was completed in September, 1999). At that time, Internet Explorer 4 had just been released, the Mozilla Foundation was not formed, we did not have AJAX or even XML. Of course we have had some improvements since then, XHTML 1.0 became the recommendation and CSS2 was implemented by most browser vendors, but HTML still does not supply most of the needs of modern web application. And because of that we have to rely on third-party technologies like Adobe Flash or Microsoft Silverlight.

This new revision aims to change that and it tries to make development easier. Work on it started in 2004 and according to the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG), it will reach Candidate Recommendation only in 2012. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use it now: several browsers have already implemented lots of features, such as canvas and video. The last draft was released in the beginning of the year and the editors are: Ian Hickson of Google, Inc. and David Hyatt of Apple, Inc.

Some of the most impressive new features in HMTL 5 are:

Canvas

The <canvas> element lets you render arbitrary graphics on the web using scripting (usually javascript). It consists of a drawable region with height and width. Javascript code can then access this area through several drawing functions. It can be used for graphs, games, animations and others.

There is a nice tutorial in Dev.Opera and lots of demos in Canvas Demos. Bespin, a Mozilla Labs experiment on how to build an extensible Web code editor, makes really good use of this element (you have to register to use it).

Implemented in: Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Opera.

Video and audio

HTML 5 has specific tags for video – <video> – and audio – <audio> – that makes as easy to embed these elements as it is to embed an image – without relying on third-party plugins anymore. Unfortunately, there is no specific common video codec, because Apple and Nokia opposed the recommendation to use the free  Theora and Vorbis codecs last July (you can read more about it here).

Youtube has a demo page using the video element. The Pirate Bay also launched a new service called Video Bay with the new tags.

Implemented in: Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Opera.

Geolocation

This makes location available for every browser that is compatible with HTML 5. The source of the information includes GPS, cell-tower triangulation, IP address among others.

You can see an example here.

Implemented in: Chrome, Firefox, Safari (iPhone), Opera

AppCache and Database

This makes possible to applications to store data locally and then access it without having to connect to the internet. Google Gears implements this feature currently.

You can test this feature with this Stickies App that was presented in Google I/O.

Implemented in: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera (Mobile)

Web Workers

Web workers allows you to run scripts in parallel in your web page, without blocking the interface. A script loaded and executed in the background is considered a ‘worker’. This is especially exciting for javascript programmers who have had to split the execution of their code using timers.

You can compare the speed of an app with different number of workers in this example.

Implemented in: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera (Mobile)

A last piece of good news about HTML5 is that its recommendation has a detailed specification about how vendors should parse HTML documents. Before that, browsers usually tried to guess and copy the behaviour of others for markups. With this, compatibility reaches its highest level and everybody wins.

There are tons of resources about HTML5 in the web today. Some interesting links worth checking out are:

W3C Working Draft – W3C Working Draft from April 2009

WHATWG Working Draft – WHATWG Working Draft from August 2009

HTML 5 Gallery – A showcase of sites already using HTML5

HTML 5 Doctor – tips and resources to help you use HTML5 today

HTML4 Differences – HTML 5 differences from HTML 4

Choose your own HTML 5 Adventure – Other HTML 5 Examples from Google I/O