As a web designer or web developer one can no longer ignore mobile and expect to compete in today’s marketplace. There are many opportunities for helping businesses right now with mobile websites and apps, and the demand will continue to grow.
Last year when I first began to dabble with designing apps it seemed like I was a little late to the party. However, there are still many people out there — just like I was — who would like to get started in mobile development but don’t know how. I thought I would share some of my experiences moving into this area of business in the hope that it would be of some value to my clients and anyone else who might be interested in developing for mobile.
There are lots of resources out there for getting started, along with lots of hype. Here is the essence of what I’ve found thus far:
Getting Started Creating Mobile Websites
Anyone who can create websites can also create mobile sites using the exact same tools. It’s really that simple. Whether you code by hand or use a WYSIWYG like Dreamweaver, you already have what you need.
Getting Started Creating Mobile Apps
There are several options for getting started with mobile apps. I am only including those pertaining to cross-platform development for at least Android and iOS devices, because that’s what I’m interested in.
- Learn to code natively for Android and iOS operating systems. You can do a couple simple google searches to see what that involves.
- Use web-based app template services. These offer ease of use but are not very flexible in terms of design.
- PhoneGap allows you to develop apps using HTML, CSS and Javascript. It offers incredible flexibility but still requires some knowledge of native OS programming.
- AppMobi runs on top of PhoneGap and completely does away with the need for native programming. You can stick with HTML, CSS and Javascript. This page has more technical info about the differences between PhoneGap and AppMobi.
Although each of these options vary in price and value, the bottom line is that there is an extremely low barrier to entry from the developer side. I am using AppMobi because they offer the best solution for someone like myself who is experienced with web design and development but is just starting out with mobile development. It promises the best of both worlds — complete flexibility in developing cross-platform mobile sites and mobile apps without the need to learn new programming languages. This will allow me to utilize the skills that I currently have and that currently exist in my network while I expand into mobile development.