Decline of the Mobile Web - April 2014

Some current and older stories:

• http://www.cdixon.org/2014/04/07/the-decline-of-the-mobile-web
• https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7548530
• http://serv.github.io/blog/2014/02/20/unfortunate-state-of-mobile-web/
• http://sealedabstract.com/rants/why-mobile-web-apps-are-slow/

I know it's not declining for me. I build my own web-based tools that function well on mobile devices:

• flip phone with Opera Mini browser
• iPhone
• Samsung S4
• HP tablet using WebOS
• iPad
• even the old Kindle

Maybe mobile web designers and developers need to simplify. But it depends upon the site's purpose too.

HN commenter:

Am I in the minority that I don't want an app for every. bloody. webpage. I visit?

I agree.

Another commenter:

I also don't want every mobile webpage I visit to use some slow janky JavaScript framework to emulate native app behavior either because in my experience the user experience for those are universally worse than just trying to be a relatively normal web page (perhaps with some media queries for image sizes, etc) and letting the mobile web browser do its thing.

I agree.

More stories:

http://gigaom.com/2014/04/08/the-rise-of-mobile-apps-and-the-decline-of-the-open-web-a-threat-or-an-over-reaction/

http://daringfireball.net/2014/04/rethinking_what_we_mean_by_mobile_web

http://pando.com/2014/04/09/will-the-decline-of-the-mobile-web-hurt-innovation/

http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/245625/app-use-dominates-mobile-browser-use-but-what-does-that-mean-for-news-content/

#mobile - #web - #app - #design - #blog_jr