Some mobile web antipatterns to avoid, an update on some exciting new mobile webapo technologies and some latest info on Firefox OS. Presented at Forum Oxford in Oxford UK on 2 May 2014.

1. The Web:
You’re Doing It Wrong
Daniel Appelquist
Open Web Advocate, Telefónica
@torgo

2. The Web is Mobile

3. • The Web’s strength is that it is a commons
• The URL is the fundamental glue of the Web
• No one entity controls URLs and they are interoperable
across the entire world
• People understand URLs
• What happens when someone visits a URL is under
the complete control of the web site owner

4. Antipatterns

5. Let’s Talk about Door Slams

7. Image Credit: Terence Eden

8. Ok - so non-modal? Better
but not by much...

9. Why would you send your
customer somewhere else?
• Equivalent of saying to someone who walks into your
shop: “go away and buy our stuff at Walmart.”
• Your customer will more than likely be pushed other
competing products ... or just get distracted

10. Even More Mystifying
• "download our app" as a call to action on print or TV
advertising?
• You're jamming your message with other brands, creating a
confusing and frustrating customer experience
• What if they have a phone you don't support? The message is :
f--- you!
• This is 2014 - people know what to do with URLs on their phones
and tablets
• Even if you want to send your user to an app, let the Web page
be the front door - control the experience

11. Nissan
• Television and print advertising
push "download our app" (IOS
and Android only, please)
• What am I supposed to search
for? "Nissan?"
• This dumps me on a screen
where I could just as likely
download a game...
• And their web site looks great on
mobile devices (responsive
design++)
• Sorry: the App Store emperor has
no clothes

12. Star Trek
• Clear how to find out more
• Brings you to a responsive web site with
relevant actions you can take (last year:
buy tickets; this year: buy blu-rays)
• Also, download apps

13. “We Want our App to be on
the User’s Phone”
• FT and many others use
“Save to Homescreen”
• Guide your user through the
process of adding the web
app to their homescreen
• Thereafter, the web app
appears as an app
• Optionally, it can be launched
in a “chromeless” view

14. …but…
• Do you really need your app to be on the user’s home
screen?
• How many apps do you have in your app ghetto?
• Users are getting app fatigue
• One-off experiences such as “buy tickets to a movie” don't
necessarily need to stick around on the user’s home screen
• How about encouraging users to “favorite” or (gasp)
“bookmark” your webapp?

15. Best practice for Mobile
(Web) Apps
• Use the URL - understand that URLs will be passed
around out-of-band and build that in to your design
thinking
• Get a short domain and export short URLs
• Even if your preferred experience is in an app, offer a
Web version of that experience
• If people want to interact with you via the Web, let
them!

16. What’s missing from the
Web?

17. From 2010

18. Google’s Own Jake Archibald at
State of the Browser (@webstandards)
From This Weekend

19. So what’s changed in 4
years?
• We are now working together
• Web on mobile is no longer seen as “a mobile industry
thing”
• The major Web players agree what the gaps are and
are working together on the solutions
• We have solutions in the market (e.g. Firefox OS,
Chrome)

20. • Push API - Mozilla and Google working on
implementing the W3C API
• Offline experience - HTML5 appcache and related
technologies have been around for a while but are
difficult to use, ServiceWorker coming (Google and
Mozilla)

21. So Firefox OS
• What I said at Forum Oxford in 2012:

22. Since then:
• OEMS: Alcatel, Huawei, LG, ZTE
& Geeksphone (developer handset)
• Launched in Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Germany, Spain, Greece,
Hungary, Italy, Montenegro, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Serbia,
Uruguay, Venezuela
• Open Web Device Compliance Review Board launched: DT,
KDDI, Telefónica, Telenor, LGE, Qualcomm, Sony, TCL, ZTE…
• Firefox Marketplace launched
• Firefox OS has progressed from 1.1 to 1.5 with 2.0 (Haida UI) just
announced

23. Low-Cost Phones
are Key Driver

24. Flame
Reference
Device
• Qualcomm MSM8210 Snapdragon,
1.2GHZ Dual core processor
• 4.5” screen (FWVGA 854×480 pixels)
• Cameras: Rear: 5MP / Front: 2MP
• 3G UMTS quad-band (850/900/1900/2100)
• 8GB memory
• 256MB -1GB RAM (adjustable by developer)
• A-GPS, NFC
• Dual SIM Support
• Battery capacity: 1,800 mAh
• WiFi: 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth, Micro USB

25. Foxconn Tablets
• 10” screen (1280 x 800 pixels, 24-bit color)
• A31 (ARM Cortex A7) Quad-Core 1.0GHz
w/ PowerVR SGX544MP2 GPU
• 16GB storage
• 2GB RAM
• Cameras: Rear 5MP/ Front 2MP
• A-GPS
• Battery capacity: 7,000 mAh
• WiFi: 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth, Micro USB

26. New “Haida” UI in the works -
further blurring of the lines
between Apps and Web

27. Thanks!