Is Your Site Ready for iPad?
Unless you've been sleeping under the proverbial rock, you know that last Wednesday Apple announced the iPad. The device, which is roughly the size of a large paperback, has been called by the less informed "a big iPod touch" or "a big iPhone." Much has been written about Apple's latest creation, some of it positive, some of it not so much, but there can be no doubt that Apple's foray into the tablet market has the potential to fundamentally change the way people think about computing. Like the iPhone before it, iPad makes many assumptions about the content that will be viewed on it, and these assumptions will have a dramatic effect on the way web applications are built in the future. There are two ways to get content onto iPad, just like other iPhone OS devices: the iTunes store ecosystem (iTunes, iTunes Store, App Store), and the web, via MobileSafari. The remainder of this post will be dedicated to the latter.
Prior to iPhone, the overwhelming majority of web browsing was done on PCs and Macs, but since its release a few short years ago, web content is increasingly being consumed on mobile devices. In that group, iPhone OS dominates North America, Europe, and Latin America, among others. When one takes Android devices into account, the situation becomes even clearer. Android's stock web browser is built on the same technology that powers the Safari browser that ships with iPhone OS. The same is true for Palm's webOS devices, Pre and Pixi. In short, if you want your content to be usable on the mobile web, you need to target iPhone.
2010: The Year of Web Standards
When iPhone was released in 2007, one of the most glaring omissions from its web arsenal was Flash. Apple made it clear that while it would work to make MobileSafari the best mobile browsing experience around, browser plugins would not be included on the platform. At the time, many assumed that it was only a matter of time before Flash would make its way onto the device, but years passed, and Apple didn't capitulate. When Steve Jobs showed off iPad at last week's keynote, it became very clear that not only would Flash not be on this new device, but also that Flash had no place on iPhone OS devices period. While Adobe and Flash developers the world over are complaining, we here at Off Madison Ave consider this a huge win for the web. I've written about the overuse of Flash before, and we have long been of the opinion that the future of the web lies in standards. Apple seems to agree.
Web developers often talk about standards and what it means to be standards-compliant, but this jargon does not mean much to the average content creator, and few web users know or care. When we say your content should be built with standards, developers are actually saying your content shouldn't require any proprietary software to work. Adobe's Flash player is one example. Java-based plugins are another. Proprietary components require special tools to be installed on computers and mobile devices to work, and Apple has stated categorically that all of these tools are verboten on its iPhone OS devices.
Video is the most common application for Flash today. Developers have long relied on it because of its ubiquity. Most desktop operating systems like Windows and Mac OS X come with Flash preinstalled, which means that developers could rely on its presence for accomplishing certain tasks. If you've ever used YouTube, you've used a Flash-based video player. Flash does have some glaring faults, reliability being the first, battery-draining performance the second, and Apple's decision to keep it out of iPhone OS means web developers can no longer count on this ubiquitous, if flawed tool.
In practical terms, that means you should be looking at your existing web content and doing one of two things:
- Replace all plugin-based content with a standards-based version, or
- Create standards-based content specifically for mobile devices.
Going forward, new web content should be built with standards by default. New technologies like HTML5 will enable developers to use tools that will work on the desktop and mobile devices identically, and because standards-based technologies are not tied to any single vendor the way Flash is tied to Adobe, anyone can work with them without having to pay for expensive tools like Adobe's Flash Professional. This lowers your costs in two ways. Developers will no longer have to pass along the costs of the tools to customers, and because the technologies are open, a larger group of people will be able to work on your content, thereby reducing vendor tie-in. YouTube and Vimeo are both currently offering public betas of HTML5 video players that will ultimately work identically on both the desktop (PC/Mac) and mobile web (iPhone/Android/webOS).
2011 and beyond
The future Apple envisions is one dominated by small, affordable devices like iPad. These devices will open the web to a much larger audience. While many purchased netbooks in droves in 2009, the reality for most is that the devices were clearly built to a price, featured cramped keyboards that were difficult to use, and did nothing to reduce the hassle of day-to-day computing. Getting a netbook with acceptable performance meant spending so much on it that a low-end full-sized laptop was often a better buy. Beginning March of this year, Apple is betting that consumers will flock to an affordable multi-touch screen that abstracts the details of the computer behind a simple operating system you use your fingers to operate. This has implications for design in general. Many commonly-used techniques like drop-down navigation menus will no longer work, as there is no mouse to "hover". While iPhone's primary purpose as a cell phone can be disputed, iPad's primary purpose will be to provide "the best browsing experience" around. If your web content doesn't work on it, the public will assume you are at fault, and will go to a competitor.
Don't be left behind. Ask your agency about standards-based web development.
About the Author: Joseph Jaramillo
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5 comments so far
Brian Alig says:
While I whole-heartedly agree that plug-ins like flash should be made obsolete for the most part. I do not agree that the iPad will ultimately be the device that drives that change.
I am still skeptical as to the acceptance of the iPad. You talk about the cramped keyboards of the netbooks putting off users, but how will users feel when they have set this device down on a surface to type, because there is no holding and typing with one hand on this device.
Web-standards needs (not should) become a reality sooner rather than later, but I would be surprised if the iPad was the straw that breaks the proverbial back.
Roger Hurni says:
Great blog post Joseph. I do think the iPad will change how many industries will communicate via electronic operations. You can read that as not everybody sits behind a desk with a laptop in front of them.
And to Brian Alig: You can’t compare the complaints of cramped keyboards on netbooks to typing on the iPad. The usage situations and overall experiences are different in turn creating different expectations from the user.
The iPad may not be the proverbial straw but it will be the catalyst that drives Flash to the tipping point of adaptation or extinction much the way the iPhone was the catalyst for the cell phone industry.
Nick Jones says:
I'm screwed.
Joseph Jaramillo says:
Nick: Not necessarily. Get on the HTML5 bandwagon and you can be ahead of the curve.
Ted Hardly says:
Great article. I've been pushing people to ditch the plugins and strive for standards compliant code for a long time and now with the iPads, iPhones, Pres, Blackberrys, Droids, etc, etc, it's becoming more and more essential.