Designing for the Mobile Web

As reported in an earlier post, the W3C has chartered the Mobile Web For Social Development (MW4D) Interest Group to explore the potential of mobile technology to help bridge the digital divide. See also White Paper on Mobile Web for Social Development (January 2008). By doing so, W3C raises design and usability considerations for the mobile web from the status of an also-ran platform, secondary to other information and communication technologies platforms for the delivery of web content, to a platform deserving product development considerations based on what is unique to the mobile information space. Listed below are several recent books on designing for the mobile web with book descriptions, pricing and order information provided below the fold. [JH]

• Mobile Web Development (2008) by Nirav Mehta
• Mobile Web Design (2008) by Cameron Moll
• Designing the Mobile User Experience (2007) by Barbara Ballard
• Mobile Interaction Design (2006) by by Matt Jones & Gary Marsden

Mobile Web Development
by Nirav Mehta

List Price: $44.99
Paperback: 236 pages
Publisher: Packt Publishing (February 7, 2008)
ISBN-10: 1847193439
ISBN-13: 978-1847193438

Description: This complete, practical guide to writing mobile websites and applications shows developers how to build a powerful mobile web presence. Readers need knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and a server-side language; the examples use PHP, but are easily adapted to other languages. The book does not use J2ME, but uses mobiles' web browsers and other standard features with XHTML Mobile Profile (XHTML MP) and Wireless CSS (WCSS). Examples illustrate each technique, focused on real-world solutions, pragmatic tips, and fast results rather than theory. Whether you want to provide website customers with new ways to access your services, or build applications to keep staff up to date on the road, this book covers it: adapting content to the capabilities of target devices, saving bandwidth with compression, creating server-side logic integrated with a mobile front end, sending and receiving SMS and MMS messages, accepting mobile payments, and developing voice and touchtone responsive systems.

Mobile Web Design
by Cameron Moll

List Price: $19.95
Paperback: 108 pages
Publisher: Cameron Moll (January 29, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0615185916
ISBN-13: 978-0615185910

Description: Mobile Web Design, a book by industry expert Cameron Moll, provides a web standards approach for delivering content beyond the desktop. Much has been written about mobile devices. Plenty has been written about developing websites for the so-called "standards era" of the web. However, little has been written about the two colliding. This resource aims to fill that void. If you're in a position to develop for, manage, or give advice regarding your organizations foray into a web strategy for mobile devices, then this book is for you. Discover how to deliver web content to mobile devices (nearly 3 billion worldwide). Includes statistics, code samples, and more than 40 screens from actual devices.

Designing the Mobile User Experience
by Barbara Ballard

List Price: $80.00 
Hardcover: 260 pages
Publisher: Wiley (April 16, 2007)
ISBN-10: 0470033614
ISBN-13: 978-0470033616

Description: Designing the Mobile User Experience provides the experienced product development professional with an understanding of the users, technologies, devices, design principles, techniques and industry players unique to the mobile and wireless space. Barbara Ballard describes the different components affecting the user experience and principles applicable to the mobile environment, enabling the reader to choose effective technologies, platforms, and devices, plan appropriate application features, apply pervasive design patterns, and choose and apply appropriate research techniques.

Mobile Interaction Design
by Matt Jones and Gary Marsden

List Price: $65.00 
Paperback: 398 pages
Publisher: Wiley (February 10, 2006)
ISBN-10: 0470090898
ISBN-13: 978-0470090893

Description: Mobile Interaction Design shifts the design perspective away from the technology and concentrates on usability; in other words the book concentrates on developing interfaces and devices with a great deal of sensitivity to human needs, desires and capabilities. Features include:

• Exercises, case studies and study questions make this book ideal for students.
• Provides ideals and techniques which will enable designers to create the next generation of effective mobile applications.
• Critiques current mobile interaction design (bloopers) to help designers avoid pitfalls.
• Design challenges and worked examples are given to reinforce ideas.
• Discusses the new applications and gadgets requiring knowledgeable and inspired thinking about usability and design.