Mobile website

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A mobile website is a website that is specially designed for use on mobile devices such as B. Smartphones , tablets and handheld consoles has been optimized. Above all, this includes adapting to the smaller screen size compared to most stationary end devices. Mobile websites are accessed like a normal website via a web browser . A mobile app that is connected to the Internet specifically for the website is also rarely available and can generally be downloaded from an app store .

history

Since the first cell phones became internet-capable in the 1990s, there have been a few websites that were designed for use on mobile devices. However, these were still kept very simple, as the displays of the cell phones at that time were not yet able to show any particularly complex pages. The progressive development and the associated increasing popularity of smartphones and tablet computers made it possible to create more complex websites for these devices.

Mobile websites

Mobile websites are used to publish content on mobile devices and are usually a supplement to the "normal" desktop website . Most frequently they are currently used to reproduce informative texts and editorial content; they also provide contact and background information. Due to the growing prevalence of mobile devices, approaches to implementing additional functions, such as mobile online shops, are under active development.

Mobile websites are developed using the same standardized technologies that are used on other platforms. These are primarily HTML , CSS and JavaScript . This practice allows browsers on all mobile devices to access the website.

In some cases, mobile websites also make use of special functions such as inclination sensors, local storage or camera of the end device in order to come as close as possible to the user experience of a native application.

Requirements, structure and properties

The appearance of a mobile website is traditionally a reduced version of the "actual" website.

Due to the weaker hardware compared to the desktop PC and the lower data volume that can be transferred from mobile devices, requirements such as short loading times, barrier-free user interfaces and simple navigation are even more important.

With appropriate programming, mobile websites adapt in size and width to the respective monitor of the device on which the page is displayed. HTML5 introduces new interfaces that allow the programmer to access hardware functions of the end device using JavaScript . Examples of this are the camera or the GPS sensor of the device.

The use of proprietary technologies such as Flash can lead to compatibility problems due to the uneven support.

Mobile app

A mobile app, on the other hand, is an application specially developed for a mobile operating system that must be installed on the device before it can be used. Their appearance is usually adapted to the user interface of the respective mobile device. It only works on the platform for which it was programmed.

See also

Web links