Multiplatform web application for mobile

Question

I took a look to the new Financial Times web application for mobile and I read this article about that, it's HTML5 web application. It seems to be an interesting way to deploy web application for multiplatform mobile (Android, iOS, Blackberry, Windows Mobile). How is it possible to create that kind of application? Just HTML and Css for mobile and Java or .NET app for the dynamic content generation, isn't it?

What do you think about that?

Answer 1

It's a nice idea, but there're problems too:

1) Not every mobile web browser has the same standards, which creates problems. Some for example support HTML 5, others do not. Some only support *3GP videos, others support a variety of formats. Mobile Safari supports TIFF images, other web browsers tend not to.

2) There're a lot of different screen sizes to handle if you're aiming at multiple platforms. We all know the screen sizes for iOS devices because there aren't that many. But in Android's case, there're a lot of different sizes which you'll have to be prepared for.

Just my two cents :)

Check out this article (http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/11/03/how-to-build-a-mobile-website/) for some examples on how to get started.