Dustin Wilson

Recently Chris Mills published an article on thinkvitamin.com entitled "Coding for the Mobile Web". I've been interested for quite some time with trying to develop for the mobile web. I read any article I can find on the subject. I've even purchased Cameron Moll's excellent PDF. I've yet to come to terms as to actually starting development for it.

My first attempt at trying to develop for the mobile web was programming the previous redesign of Dark Phantasy in 2003. It was at that time that I first started using Opera, and it was in a day before Opera Mini. It was before the day I even had a mobile device of any kind capable of browsing the World Wide Web, and my entry into that foray is actually quite recent. How could I have developed for the mobile web? I couldn't even afford a phone plan with web capabilities, much less purchase one. I had trouble affording art supplies even when my tuition was paid for due to my academic achievements in secondary school. Needless to say when I created the most recent redesign of Dark Phantasy in November of 2004 I didn't even attempt again.

Here I am, programming yet another website for myself, and I'm trying to gather all the information I can to have my website optimized for the mobile web. I find that the playing field-- while not level as Chris puts it -- is more sturdy today than it was 4 years ago. There are multiple browsers in active development now that are viable browsers, meaning browsers that can display the web in a usable manner. Cameron's PDF and Chris' article have both been extremely helpful, but neither can help with the technical hurdle of developing. I still need devices that can run these browsers to properly test them. I only own one phone, my iPhone, because of two reasons.

1. I can't afford more than one phone.
2. I don't see why I should have to buy a shitty phone or device to test a web browser.

Where I live the cheapest phone capable of browsing the web in terms of data plans is the iPhone. Data plans in low density populated areas of the United States are atrocious. For this reason alone I've never owned a web phone until my iPhone. I've never had the pleasure of using Opera Mini or Opera Mobile on any mobile device because no one I know personally can afford a phone that can browse the web. I'm definitely not going to buy an expensive gadget capable of going online, either.

In my opinion 99.99% of all phones on the market are complete shit. Why is that? Because the mobile phone manufacturers place their R&D on the phone hardware itself rather than the software running on it, instead placing the task of creating a viable interface for the device in the hands of idiots without even layman's knowledge of human interface design. Mobile phones manufactured in the 90's couldn't play shitty audio formats; they couldn't take lower quality photos than the worst of the disposable cameras produced in the 80's; most phones then definitely couldn't play any games. Their interfaces reflected the function of making phone calls and storing numbers. Today most phone manufacturers have forgotten that a phone's primary function is to make phone calls and store the numbers. No matter how good a third party's software is running on these phones the OS is still shit.

The biggest hurdle today in developing for the mobile web is the fact that you have to own multiple devices to test on. If I were to just support Opera browsers and Safari Touch (stupid name) I'd need a Windows Mobile or Symbian-based high end device for Opera Mobile, a relatively cheap phone for Opera Mini, and an iPhone or iPod Touch for Safari Touch. Since I am on a GSM network I could switch SIM cards between multiple devices, but I would still need two data plans. I'd need one for the iPhone and another for the other phones. That would make three phones and two data plans. To test websites I would need to switch SIM cards between the three phones for every test I'd make. Why would I waste my time with this shit? Truthfully, I won't. I can't afford it, and I don't have the time to waste. I'd rather pound nails into my forehead than repetitively switch out SIM cards in phones to test their browsers.

Okay. Wait a minute here. Opera provides a way to test websites using Opera Mini, its online demo. In my opinion that program serves its purpose as a demo, but is less than ideal for development purposes because it is web-based. If you read the small text at the bottom of the demo itself you see that it is powered by MicroEmulator which is a cross-platform emulator for Java 2 Micro. That could mean that somehow you could get Opera Mini running in MicroEmulator on a desktop platform in theory. I've yet to tackle this completely, but a simple glance shows that this isn't a simple task if it is even possible at all. Why can't Opera provide a download of Opera Mini running in MicroEmulator for desktop platforms so developers can have an easier time developing their websites for Opera Mini? I would put aside my undying hatred for Java applications to use this single application if it was available. Apple provides a test application for Safari Touch now. I assume to test for Opera Mobile you just need to keep a copy of Opera 8.5?

The fact of the matter is that if mobile browser developers would provide desktop versions of their mobile browsers for developers then the mobile web would be a more pleasurable place for its users eventually because more developers would be inclined to try to develop for their browser.