There has been quite a remarkable growth catering to mobile web browser and OS support in the recent past. The most popular platforms we know today are iOS and Android. However, there are many others which are still trying hard to match up the iOS and Android. There was a time when JavaScript was the only platform for building good mobile apps. Times have changed and developers have started preferring jQuery Mobile to build amazing mobile applications that are used on a daily basis by mobile users. It is not as difficult as it seems to create a reliable mobile app based on jQuery. I have mentioned how to design amazing mobile apps using jQuery mobile and this will definitely make you feel comfortable during the entire designing process.
Let check how you can create Web Apps with jQuery Mobile:-
1. Features & OS Support
jQuery mobile is an exceptionally simple framework and this is one the major reasons why it has gained such immense popularity. There are many active developer teams working on writing scripts for jQuery as well as an editing bug. The support is also just overwhelming. It is segregated into 3 tiers A, B and C. A is the top most where you get complete jQuery support, B contains all except Ajax and C has basic HTML.
It supports the following:
- Apple iOS 3-5
- Android 2.1, 2.2, 2.3
- Windows Phone 7
- Blackberry 6.0, Blackberry 7
- Palm WebOS 1.4-2.0, 3.0
2. Standard HTML Template
You will first have to set a template, which has jQuery code (JS and CSS) to get you started with your mobile app. Most of the external codes are hosted from the jQuery CDN. See example code view plaincopy to clipboardprint?
There are two Meta tags which are quite out of the place here. The top most one is for updating the mobile web browser, so that it has a complete zoom effect. The other tag is for rendering HTML by Internet Explorer. Its called X-UA-Compatible. It is also very tricky to construct content using jQuery mobile.
3. Header and Footer
Your web page will have a header at the extreme top and footer at the extreme bottom of the page. jQuery Mobile makes use of its features (data-role) to clearly specify the header, footer, and page content.
Header Buttons
There are two sets of links supported by the header button on mobile apps. The default buttons in iOS are “back” to the left and “options” or “config” to the right.
View plaincopy to clipboardprint?
The code above explains the div container for our About page.
However, the codes can be used to add buttons manually in the content area. It can take much longer to do it manually, than get it done automatically.
Bottom Navigation
Footer is where you can have your copyrights thing, important links and many more such stuff. Although, it may seem useless in the beginning, it is considered a good content area. See the example below – it completely explains the issue of concern.
4. Fancy Design with List Thumbnails
After you are done with the previous things, its time to complete the last procedure of adding the effect. This helps in enhancing the listing of the page using thumbnails. What you can do is segregate your text into heading and description so that you have a pretty thumbnail ready to be displayed, whenever a user opens your app. You can also do a little artwork and include the name of the artist. All this can be done on Photoshop and save everything you have created. Then update the list view items for the additional elements that have been included.
To conclude
You may come across some major bugs, however, that is only because not much information has been posted on jQuery mobile. But, with the changing times there will be more and more advancements in the field of developing. jQuery will definitely prove to be the best alternative for building web applications including support for almost all the major mobile development platforms. If you have anything that can enhance this piece of content, feel free to share it through your comment.
This article is contributed by Samuel, who is a mobile app developer at VITEBMOBILEAPPS assisting mobile app developers india for developing and maintaining innovative mobile apps. Check out our guest post guidelines to publish your guest post on Versed Tech.
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