Here are some predictions for the year:

1)HTML5 continues to gain traction, and later in the year ‘average site users’ begin to learn that browser updates may be required to view such encoded sites, in much the same way that everyone eventually figured out that downloading flash Player was needed.

2)Adobe rocks the house with the release of CS6. The new version of Flash has beta features to convert flash content to html5 code, thus addressing the mobile device issues. Underemployed flash developers breathe a collective sigh of relief.

3)Adobe also releases the first commercial version of Edge, although a lot of work still needs to be done on it to fulfill its potential.

4)3-D starts to become more widespread online. (Big Orange Planet home page, ahem)

5)The inexorable rise of mobile continues. Web development clients request responsive design techniques much more frequently, as they become more aware of the new web realities.

6)Google releases several further algorithm updates aimed at eliminating SERP gains achieved by spamming strategies.

7)Facebook overtakes Google in terms of unique US visitors (possibly).

On a less serious note:

1)The ultimate wordpress plugin (the ultimo) debuts, which contains all other wordpress plugins ever released.

2)Apple announces they were only joking, and of course they’ll start supporting flash any day now.

3)Google’s first major update of the year quickly gets christened ‘the anteater update’, as it sticks its nose into everything.

4)The mysterious, elitist race known as “the Drupalians”, continue to bizarrely insist that all content management systems but theirs’ are worthless.

5)It emerges that PHP actually stands for “Pretty Hip Party”.

6)The iphone-5 sells out 4 months before its invented.

Wishing you the best for 2012..

One of the early effects has been the web development community’s recent
shift away from usage of Adobe Flash driven websites. This has been
largely attributable to increased takeup of the iphone and ipad and
Apple’s longstanding refusal to support Flash player on those devices. The
reasons for this have been widely well documented.
But even in devices such as Android whose most recent incarnations support
Flash Player, the interactive user experience is lessened in a ‘mouse-less
environment’.

This aside, how websites display in the mobile realm is sure to become an
ever growing concern of both site owners and consumers alike. With growing
usage there will come growing attention. As a result web developers who do
not jump on board with optimizing their site builds for both PC and mobile
devices will get left behind.

If one is to look at a random selection of websites on various devices and
operating systems, a wide range of display quality variations will soon be
detected.
Illegible text, distorted images and skewed tables among other things are
some of the device type discrepancies that may be noted.

So what sorts of techniques can be adopted to ensure optimal display of
any given website regardless of device type?
There are a few different approaches been used:
1.Develop separate site versions for mobile devices and PCs. This involves plenty of extra coding- i.e. two sites for the price of one. However it can produce excellent results with a script running which decides which version the viewer will see. This allows for a rich web experience even on a small screen.
2. Define the site for mobile devices using CSS. This can be a much simpler solution to code when implemented correctly. This can often involve just showing the left portion of the site on a phone without a noticeable break- horizontal scrolling can be used to view the rest of the site in smaller screen environments.
3. Utilize responsive design techniques. This involves effectively slimming down the website as the resolution decreases. Text aggregates into thinner and thus readable columns, while images also ‘go on a diet’. This can look great when done well.
4. Minimize the site down to bare bones by removing images and style features. This is probably the easiest of all these approaches to implement, but has its pros and cons as they all do.
As the ‘mobile web’ continues to gain traction, we will doubtless see other methods added to this list and further development of those methods listed above. To ensure a successful future, those making a living in the World of Web Design should sit up and take note.

We will be tidying up any loose ends over the coming week- however please feel free to point out anything we may have overlooked.

And yes please, give us your feedback on the site in comments on this blog post- we really want your input!

Feel free to drop by this blog any time, we very much intend to keep it interesting and informative, without getting overly technical (or boring).

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