QuirksBlog - Mobile web dev

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Android gradient screenshot madness

Permalink | in Mobile web dev

Another fine day at the QuirksMode test labs, where we test browsers so you don’t have to. Today’s topic is CSS gradients, and the subtle ways in which the various Android devices fuck them up. Also, the not-so-subtle ways in which Android devices fuck up screenshots of said gradients.

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Media query/RWD/viewport survey results

Permalink | in Mobile web dev

This week I ran an eight-question survey of media query use, responsive web design fundamentals, and one viewport question. 1251 web developers reacted. This entry presents the results.

Most important conclusions:

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Of viewports and screens, input modes and event handlers

Permalink | in Mobile web dev, Touch events, Viewports

Last week Luke Wroblewski published an important article in which he said that web developers practising responsive design rely too much on a device’s screen size to determine which device it is.

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What the hell’s up with @media not?

Permalink | in Mobile web dev
9 comments (closed)

Currently I’m working on a media query test suite, and I’ve run into one of those weird things: the proper syntax of @media not.

Note that I’m only interested in the @media syntax. I cannot use the rest because I can’t fit it into my test suite.

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The CSS physical unit problem

Permalink | in Mobile web dev

Now that we have the iPad Mini, web designers waste no time in wanting to distinguish between it and the iPad 2. Tough luck.

Yesterday Max Firtman explained in detail why that is not possible. Briefly, no JavaScript or CSS property, variable or media query is different on the iPad 2 and the iPad Mini. Both are 1024x768, neither has a retina screen, etc.

Incidentally, it appears that native developers can distinguish between the two, making the playing field for the grand match between native and web unleveled (disleveled?). If you wish you can blame Apple.

That’s not what I want to write about, though. Instead, it’s about web developers’ expectations and physical units in the W3C spec.

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Mobile viewport update

Permalink | in Mobile web dev

In the past week I’ve done the viewport tests on the latest crop of devices, and things are definitely looking better. The visual viewport dimensions are now well-supported, and a consensus on position: fixed is in the making.

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JavaScript library poll results

Permalink | in Mobile web dev

I held a JavaScript library poll in the last three weeks, and it’s time to publish the results. At least 3,350 people responded. With nearly 155,000 responses in total, and nearly 1,700 for the least-answered question, I believe this poll is fairly representative of my readers and the readers of my readers, and therefore gives genuinely useful information about current JavaScript library use.

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Last call: JavaScript library poll

Permalink | in Mobile web dev

Two weeks ago I published a poll about the use of JavaScript libraries. So far it had 97,500 responses, but I’d like to make that 100,000 or more. So here’s the poll again, and I request you to answer as many questions as you can stand.

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JavaScript library poll

Permalink | in Mobile web dev
5 comments (closed)

When I spoke at From the Front I was asked what I thought was the worst case of thoughtless copy/pasting I saw going on around the web. My answer: jQuery.

I feel that jQuery, even the mobile version, and in fact all current JavaScript libraries, are too heavy for mobile. I think it’s time for a re-evaluation of the libraries’ good and bad parts. I followed up in this tweet, which caused quite a few reactions.

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The browser is always behind

Permalink | in Browsers, HTML5 apps, Mobile web dev

Yesterday Horace Dediu tweeted:

A browser is an infinitely flexible interface, but is it the best interface for everything? Apps allow experiments in new interaction models

The browser is not the most advanced interface there is. It’s too easy to build the wrong features into something as flexible as a browser, and once a badly-designed feature gains traction it’s impossible to get rid of it. (See HTML5 drag and drop.)

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BlackBerry user satisfaction, media queries and asset downloading, and turning the cloud inside out

Permalink | in BlackBerry, Mobile web dev
8 comments (closed)

Three news items that have nothing to do with each other, except they caught my eye yesterday and today, and might be of interest to others, too.

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This is the blog of Peter-Paul Koch, web developer, consultant, and trainer. You can also follow him on Twitter or Mastodon.
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