I received my copies of Mobile Web Development book yesterday. I was excited to hold the book and admired it’s print quality. And satisfied with the result of all hard work put over the last 8 months. I am sure the book will serve as a kick starter to anyone wanting to develop mobile websites. What’s unique about the book is that it does not stop at XHTML MP and Wireless CSS, but covers a whole range of topics that a mobile website will need.
Mobile Web Development shows you how to build a mobile presence for your web applications and sites. It covers targeting different mobile web browsers, sending and receiving SMS and MMS messages, accepting mobile payments, and developing voice- and touchtone-response systems.
The book illustrates every technique with practical examples, showing how to use these development methods in the real world. Along the way we show how an example pizza delivery business can use these methods to open up to the mobile web. The book is fast paced, yet touches upon relevant concepts. I had a great ride while I was reviewing the book. I was actually surprised at how fast the book moved - covering important topics in just enough detail, and moving on to the next!
There is a whole lot of technologies I covered in the book. The examples are done in PHP with XHTML Mobile Profile. But I also covered: AJAX, Wireless CSS, WAP 2.0, Tera WURFL, MyMobileWeb, Mobile Web Toolkit, Image Server, GAIA Image Transcoder, HAWHAW , ready.mobi, Nokia’s Mobile Internet Toolkit , SMIL, Voxeo’s Prophecy server, VoiceXML (VXML), grXML, Frost library, WALL, WURFL, SMS, MMS, mobile payment gateways, mobile widgets, Mobile AJAX, Android, Google Gears, and Dojo Offline.
So what will you learn from the book? Here’s the text from the back cover of the book:
- Build a mobile-friendly front end for your site – learn XHTML Mobile Profile (XHTML MP) and Wireless CSS (WCSS), the CSS subset supported by mobile devices; target the full range of mobile browsers; adapt automatically to the capabilities of the device.
- Write interactive mobile applications – present and process mobile forms with different input types; support keypad navigation; get started with Mobile Ajax and JavaScript.
- Accept payments online via mobile web and SMS using Paypal, SMS short codes, and more.
- Integrate your application with SMS and MMS messages – enable users to send SMS and MMS messages to your site, process them, and send SMS and MMS messages back to your users too; set up your own SMS gateway, or choose an existing gateway provider; include slideshows, movies, and sounds.
- Handle voice calls – respond to voice input, create touchtone services, play pre-recorded voice or use text-to-speech to provide voice-based software.
- Future-proof your application – understand the basics of iPhone development, the Android platform, and the implications of other developments in the mobile space.
I would love to get your feedback on the book!
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