What do I have to do to allow my web application run on mobile phones?

Question

let's say I have a webaplication with server programmed in Java and Javascript on client. What do I need to do in order to make this application run on common mobile devices, let's say with android OS or iPhones?

Do I even have to do anything? I know I will have to adjust Javascript UI for mobile phones and touch screens, but anything else? I have no experience with android or iPhone programming.

Thanks for help.

Answer 1

If you just want to have your webapp in a normal app, you would make a webview (Like a small browser) and point it at your website. If you want it to run in browser, it probably does already.

If you want a real app that can use the services your server provides, look into QuickConnect: http://www.quickconnectfamily.org/qc_hybrid/ It is a cross platform framework that lets you write your app in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript while providing access to a bunch of native functionality.

Answer 2

Actually, that is it. You already know what you have to do. Just make sure you read the docs for mobile safari and the android webkit browser (especially for touch and other event handlers) Other than that, there's no experience of iOS or android programming is required. Just a suggestion, instead of developing the UI from scracth, use available frameworks like jQuery mobile or sencha (google them).

Answer 3

Ideally you do not have to do anything to make your web application available on iPhone or Android. The browsers in iPhones and Android would be able to render them since they are HTML5 compliant generally.

Practically however, you may not want to have your customers scroll both ways to use your web application on their mobile phones. You may want to create micro sites for this purpose which condenses all the essential features into a web page which the user may not have to scroll both ways.

I have also encountered some problems with some jQueries and Java scripts which works fine on PC browsers but causes problems in mobile browsers. JQuery have come up with a mobile jquery product for this purpose.

Answer 4

Your web application probably displays too many things on the screen and this makes it more difficult to use on a device with a small screen. You should re-design the user interface for this and automatically try to display this alternative interface to users. Allow them to switch to the desktop interface though.

Answer 5

You may be OK with the javascript, but neither Android, nor iOS will run Java applets as they don't have a native JVM.

Some devices may have had a JVM hacked onto them (I believe when you jailbreak iOS devices, you can install a native JVM), but these will be so few that there will be no point targetting them.

Although you program in Java for Android, the compiled Java byte-code is converted to Dalvik byte-code before it can run on Android. With Android, you can download your Dalvik classes and dynamically import them for use, but you would still have to do this from a native app, not from the web.

I would probably suggest you go for something more server-bound, most likely something around HTML5. There are certain cross-platform toolkits, but these have the disadvantage that you typically have a user interface that doesn't quite comform to either platforms standards and so looks out of place everywhere.

Answer 6

Nope nothing to do but graphical design and interaction evolution. Mobile devices use massively HTML5, and follow standards. :)