I'm Not a Programmer, Nor Do I Play One on TV.
My objective is not to develop games or nifty applications for users of mobile devices. Rather it is to design and/or reformat web content to mobile-friendly interfaces that scale to fit small screen mobile appliances. Moreover, my goal meet my objective by deployment a single code set, using stylesheets (CSS) to control the display of content on a variety of screen sizes (aka. mobile devices). That's right. One stylesheet, driving one web site on several different devices.
Write Once! Use Everywhere! The convergence battle cry of developers far and wide. This project is a baby step in that direction. This experiment is fraught with ongoing problems that will eventually be solved as my knowledge and experience increases. Irregular content display in a variety of browsers and players whose technologies are far from mature, is ongoing. Your patience is greatly appreciated.
For any seasoned web designer with the desire to design for mobile, here are the cold hard facts:
- Fact One. There's no centralized, "mother-of-all" small-screen development portal to consult for comprehensive tutorials on how to develop miniature versions of current web sites for cell phones, pdas and other handheld devices.
- Fact Two. No graphic design how-tos on rule of thumb visual design production or efficient image scalability.
- Fact Three. No tried-and-true methodologies for interface development.
- Fact Four. No content-rich cut-and-paste script sites to make success come a little easier.
- Fact Five. No media production advice that explain the quirks that exist between desktop media players and their tiny mobile versions.
- Fact Six. No publications with articles revealing undocumented tips and tricks to help you overcome the hurdles of applications and proprietary protocols not living up to the vendor marketing hype.
- Fact Seven. No magazine advice columns for the mobile dev forlorn. ;)
- Suggestion One. Take up residence in at least two mobile forums. Always give as much as you get. Or more!
- Suggestion Two. Mentors are few and far between. If you happen to meet up with one, grab hold of him or her and NEVER, NEVER let go!
Cluelessness > Humility > Nirvana.
For the novice mobile designer, there are three stages in the cycle of maturation:
- Stage One - Research your brains out. You'll do more web research than you've ever done in your life. Hours, days, even weeks of scouring the bowels of the invisible web, wading through tons of misinformation, and dead-end or outdated, long since abandoned technologies, for tiny bytes of helpful data that helps point the way to success. A morsel of information here, a tidbit of data there, chit-chat amongst developers venting frustration, posting desperate queries, sharing experiences all over the internet... Find it all. Use what you can!
- Stage Two - failure and despair. Expect a whole mess of failed attempts. Cultivate an ability to regard failures as small productive successes. You are, after all, figuring out what DOESN'T work, which is often paramount to the discovery of methodologies that DO work. For example, Thomas Edison comes to mind...Oops! Scratch that. Developing cocaine addiction not recommended! Louis Pasteur, for example, then...
- Stage Three - the "Eureka or Ah-HA Moment". Small or partial success will re-energize your fortitude to continue. Armed with far more knowledge overall, these small successes give developers the confidence to revisit earlier failures and turn them into success. 'Ah-HA' is most likely to occur at the moment you are about ready to jump off a cliff. Hang in there. The "Eureka Moment" is heaven itself. After relentless failure, it is the highest nirvana state, however fleeting. That is what this project is all about.
