Beyond the browser
The web has been experienced largely by users with web browsers like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, etc since it began, but times are changing. Users want to access the web where ever on their mobile, tablet or other portable device.
Web technologies like Javascript and HTML are immensely popular now and allow us to write applications that can be translated into web, desktop and mobile applications. We use Adobe Air to create native applications on Microsoft Windows and Apple OSX. We use Sencha Touch for building mobile applications in HTML5/CSS3 then use Phonegap if required to turn this into a native application.
With an ever increasing mobile market, we expect more users to be engaging with tools other than the browser.
Mobile Web applications
More than 25% of UK's population – some 16 million people – accessed the internet from mobile phones in December 2010 and viewed a total of 6.7bn pages. Nearly half the total minutes online in December were spent at Facebook Mobile - 2.2bn minutes out of 4.8bn, with Google on 400m in a very distant second place.
One fifth of UK mobile subscribers now have smart phones. This is a massive surge in mobile usage, and it's only going to increase the requirement for more mobile friendly versions of websites, mobile apps and native apps.
Using the Sencha Touch framework enables us to develop mobile web apps that look and feel native on iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry touch devices. The application can be run as a HTML5 web app which runs in the mobiles browser or as a native application using Phonegap.
Windows/Mac desktop applications
We use Adobe Air to build desktop applications on Microsoft Windows and Apple Macs. The Adobe Air runtime enables us to use HTML, JavaScript, Adobe Flash and Flex technologies, and ActionScript to build web applications that run as standalone client applications without the constraints of a browser.
Another advantage of using Adobe Air is that it allows us to create a base application that can be used to deliver the same code on the desktop as in the browser thanks to the open source, cross-operating system WebKit engine.
Air applications can also check for updated versions of the application to ensure the user is using the latest version. Have a look at our Adidas case study which utilises Adobe Flex for the online version and Adobe Air for the desktop version.
