Juniper estimates that worldwide users of mobile web services will increase from 577 million in 2008 to more than 1.7 billion in 2013.
Clearly, mobile web development is going to become more prevalent and a part of integrated campaigns.
Developing for the multiple handsets with their myriad of standards can be a frustrating experience -- and explaining the intricate nature of those differences to a designer who has to design an interface or an account manager who has to explain to the client can be a lesson in futility.
That is why I love when someone co
mes up with a clear, tested standard - with visuals and handy charts. It makes the job of Sherpa tech translator much easier.JQuery, one of my favorite libraries has done such a job. JQuery mobile is a subset of the popular library that does an incredible job of standardizing interface elements across all the supported mobile browsers.
JQuery mobile even comes with a handy chart for Account Managers to show very clearly what browsers are supported.
They have rated browsers as the following
A High Quality. A browser that’s capable of, at minimum, utilizing media queries (a requirement for jQuery Mobile). These browsers will be actively tested against but may not receive the full capabilities of jQuery Mobile.
B Medium Quality. A capable browser that doesn’t have enough market share to warrant day-to-day testing. Bug fixes will still be applied to help these browsers.
C Low Quality. A browser that is not capable of utilizing media queries. They won’t be provided any jQuery Mobile scripting or CSS (falling back to plain HTML and simple CSS).
