10 Firefox Add-ons for Mobile Developers

The following add-ons are invaluable for anyone developing mobile sites.

XHTML Mobile Profile
This add-on allows FireFox to support the XHTML Mobile Profile mime type

WMLbrowser
This add-on allows FireFox to support WAP 1.0. Just in case you are unfortunate enough to need it.

FireBug
Just as essential for developers of mobile sites as those viewed on the desktop.

HTML Validator
Because validation is even more important on mobile as some browsers really struggle or even throw errors with invalid markup. 

Web Developer
An essential tool for all web developers.

YSlow
Yahoo's tool for identifying ways to improve the performance of a pages load time (Requires FireBug)

Page Speed
Google's tool for identifying ways to improve the performance of a pages load time (Requires FireBug)

User Agent Switcher
Allows testing how a site will be displayed on various devices. (Assumming that pages are adjusted for sites based on the UA.)

Modify Headers
Because sometimes you need an easy way to test, and change, headers other than just the User Agent.

Live HTTP Headers
Another way to see what headers are being sent.

It's M. R. not mister

Not that it really matters, but...

With the domain www.mrlacey.co.uk (and .com and .net and .mobi) and the twitter name @mrlacey it might not necessarily be obvious, but the 'mr' refers to my initial, rather than my title.

Yes, my full name if Matthew Robin Lacey.
Yes, this makes me Mr M R Lacey.
No, this sin't a reference to a certain pop act.

Notice over, please carry on.

In C#: generate a class for an XML file

For my own reference as musch as anything.

Oftena it's useful to have a helper class to work with a complicated XML document.  Unfortunately, I seem to most often need to do this for documents for which there is no official schema.

Here's a quick way to get things done using xsd.exe.

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\bin\xsd.exe" config.xml 

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\bin\xsd.exe" config.xsd /classes /language:CS /namespace:MyNamespace /out:"C:\path\to\desired\dir"

New Urbanism

ASP.NET MVC vs WebForms

A very entertaining evening. As expected it was a draw.
They both have thier good points and each is more appropriate in different situations.

Every Developer Should Know ... no more

I had this grand idea for blogging. I'd blog about all those things that it amazes me that other developers don't know.  The things that I thought every developer should know, but, it seems so many don't.

In amongst some other grander ideas it was also intended to encourage me to blog more and more frequently.

Unfortunately having 'another blog' didn't motivated me to blog more frequently, it just became an extra pressure.  It therefore seemed an excellent candidate for things to face the cut when I decided to rationalise what I spend my time on.

Until the domain expires it will point here and the original posts are at http://everydeveloper.blogspot.com/

I've also imported most of the posts into this blog (http://blog.mrlacey.co.uk/search/label/evdevshokno). Hopefully I finish some of the draft posts too. - Perhaps.

DDD South West

Last weekend I attended DDD South West.  It was a really good day and I recommend it to anyone.

I once again took the opportunity to give a grok talk on Mobile Web 2.0 and MDBF. The slides from this can be seen below.
Again this talk was well received and I had lots of positive feedback.

Mobile Web 2.0 & MDBF (DDDSW - Grok Talk)

View more OpenOffice presentations from Matt Lacey.

Here's a few pics from the day:

 

Quite a venue.

Guy looking like he's talking to an empty room

He wasn't!

Some people enjoying the sunshine in a break.

crowds for snacks

Cream teas in the afternoon!

The main room

More people relaxing outside

Another of the rooms.

All Keepers No Fluff

Check out: http://www.allkeepersnofluff.com

A few highlights:

14. Avoid spending time with clients who are going to become a bad commercial for your business.

27. Be willing to walk away from a sale today.

32. Believe what you believe because you believe, not because you were taught to believe and then mindless followed.

34. Bridge the gap that exists between you and your potential audience.

37. Build things worth noticing right into your product or service.

46. Constantly get better at doing what you do.

54. Create from the soul, not from what the marketplace wants.

56. Create products people can stumble upon, obsess over, fall in love with, become addicted to and tell their friends about.

57. Create something critics will criticize.

58. Creating things worth demo-ing.

80. Enable your customers to do your marketing for you.

94. Get customers to come back to your website just to see what you’ve been up to.

176. Read every book ever written on your area of expertise.

195. Spend more time educating potential customers on the benefits of your service and not telling them why you are better than the competition.

197. Stay away from convenient tasks that delude you into thinking that you’re actually accomplishing something.

202. Stop doing things that don’t need to be done by anyone.

203. Stop draining all your energy getting something that is worthless.

209. Strengthen the relationships with your biggest fans.

DDD Scotland - Grok Talk

I gave my first Grok Talk at DDD Scotland. It went very well and I had positive feedback. I was very pushed for time so will have to try and shorten it to better fir the available time at DDD South West.

Mobile Web 2.0 (DDD Scotland - Grok Talk)

View more presentations from Matt Lacey.

In all I was trying to get 2 points across:

1. You shouldn't ignore the Mobile Web - because it's the future.
2. Microsoft have recently released a new tool to help develop for the variety of devices/browsers used to access the web when mobile - http://mdbf.codeplex.com/
   

An Internet Watered Down

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

An Internet Watered Down

View more presentations from John Pettengill.

Podcast!

I've been interviewed by "The Social Programmer".
Check it out here: http://www.craigmurphy.com/blog/?p=1398


Yes, I said 'um' a lot.
Yes, I didn't give particularly thorough answers.
Yes, I know they're not all Windows Mobile devices in the picture.

Windows Phone Advert

So the advertising of 'Windows Phones' begins:

Book Notes: Mobile Internet for Dummies

It isn't the little brother of the internet. It's different enough to need a different mindset and a differnt understanding specific to the mobil internet maze, to navigate it effectively.

The mboile internet is a new creature; it's more than just the internet gone wireless.

Make an internet-like experience work on mobile phones - and tha tmeans making it very simple.

smaller downloads - make it as inexpensive as possible

it's right where you want it to be. You most likley have it with you all the time.

Your mobile phone as your personal identifier - ?

so personal that most people refuse to share them with anyone else - even spouses

offices are going mobile so why can't a storefront

search
community or finding dates
accessing financial accounts
browsing news and information
shopping
messaging
downloading digit content

consider:

• language
• power capability
• screen size
• input devices
• network bandwidth

pay-per-view not all-you-can-eat

m.
mobile.
wap.
/mobile
/wap

mobile search results won't match non-mobile

mobile SEO

• less content to index
• fewer links
• dedicated search
• beware content 'on portal'

mobile site builders
site.mobi
not all content will be relevant to mobile

use your friends to crowd source testing multi device support

mobile browsers may not support SSL!

Mobile advertising: 0.4% of advertising budget spent on mobile-advertising - delievered 40% of traffic

design tips:
dotMobi
GAP
OMA
W3C

Widgets - small downloaded applications

Book Notes: Mobile as the 7th of the Mass Media

Eric Schmidt = "Google's future depends on the next internet, on celphones."

Mobile = Magical?

The 6 M's of  Mobile Service

• Movement - beyond the fixed place
  
• Moment - the concept of time
  
• Me - expressing yourself
• Multi-user - share with friends
• Money - Spend it
• Machines - Automation

"make no mistake about it, mobile is not the dumb little brother of the internet."
Like TV is to radio, soon so too the movile will be to the internet

Mobile is not fixed internet on phones

Screen size:
Laptop (14") = 27x20cm = 540cm²
Nokia N-Series (2.5") = 4.2x3.6cm = 15cm²
36 times the size : 3% of the size

cinema : tv = 379 times the size

Mobile internet user base by age
56% 34 or under
26% age 35-54
18% 55 or under

Phone input is superior?
Yes a full keyboard can be faster but 12 keys can allow for fast entry
2D Barcode entry?

Packed full of Radio gear?
Quad band GSM
WCDMA/HSDPA - (3[.5]G)
FM receiver
Bluetooth transmitter
WiFi Transmitter
GPS receiver
NFC?
TV receiver?

1.3 billion internet users.
67% use mobile and/or PC/laptop
33% only PC/laptop

iPhone - the transition to wider adoption is underway
- tipping point?

"The users on cellphones are often in a hurry, multi-tasking, and the usage on cellphones tends to be of shorter duration thann on the PC."

PCs for heavy usage. However data revenues are larger for mobile.


Power/functionality of devices driving changes. - And advertisment of features.

PCs replaced roughly every 3.5 years - Mobiles replaced roughly every 18 months.

"Our thinking is guided by what we know"

Henry Ford - 'If people were asked what they wanted when cars were being introduced, they would have said they wanted a faster horse'

"Over the next ten years at least, both (mobile & fixed internet) will co-exist and grow, and a healthy business can grow upon either - or both."

Mobile internet benefits:

• Personal
• Permanently carried
• Always on
• Built-in payment channel
• Available at creative impulse
• Best audience info
• Captures social context

Value of paid content on the internet in 2007 = $25 Billion
Value of paid content on MOBILE in 2007 = $31 Billion

'People pay for premium bottled water - You can definitely convince internet users to pay for content and services that once used to be free.'

The 8 c's of Cellphones

• Communicate
• Consume
• Charging
• Commercials
• Create
• Community
• Cool
• Control (remote)

supercomputer in your pocket.

"Everything can always be simplified and made more delightful to use"

"Everything that can be mobile will be mobile"

Internet access in 2007:
Mobile only - 31%
Mobile & PC - 31%
PC only - 38%

2008 (from the almanac)
Mobile only - 32%
Mobile & PC - 46%
PC only - 28%


PC Internet

• smaller internet
• dumb pipe
• cumbersome web
• poor internet
• occasional internet
• legacy internet
  

Mobile Internet

• bigger internet
• smart internet
• efficient web
• money internet
• ubiquitous internet
• next internet

Windows Phone or Windows Mobile

When Windows Mobile 6.5 was announced last month, it was also announced that phones that use the operating system will be marketed as "Windows Phones".

The idea (as far as I understand it) is that from an end user perspective they won't need to get confused by the 'Mobile' name or any numbers. They can just look for a 'Windows Phone' to go with their 'Windows PC'.

Why this may be good:

• A unified marketing message may drive adoption leading to more people with Windows Mobile based phones.
  

Why this may be bad:

• In that the operating system will still be called 'Windows Mobile' this may lead to some confusion.
  
• As soon as there are multiple versions of Windows Mobile being advertised as being "Windows Phones" there are likely to be software compatibility issues. This will require knowledge of the underlying operating system, so the user will have to know which version of Windows Mobile is being used.
  
• Users may expect software that works on a Windows PC to work on a Windows Phone. - It' wont. (This has been an issue in the past, when users first saw 'Windows' on a phone.)

What the outcome of this change in marketing message turns out to be will be seen in time.

Comparing touchscreens - Capacitive V Resistive

There are two main types of touchscreens used in mobile phones

They are: Capacitive and Resistive.

Capacitive (wikipedia)
Capacitive screens detect a single point of contact between two layers when they are pressed together.

Resistive (wikipedia)
Resistive screens detect electric fields (such as the one in a human body) coming into contact with the electircal current passing through the screen.



Why might you be interested?

• Resistive screens work best when used with a stylus.
• Capacitive screens work with a finger.
• Capacitive screens don't have to have contact made to detect input.
  
• Capacitive screens are commonly acknolwedged to be easier to use and more intuitive.
  
• Windows Mobile only officially supports resistive screens. While there have been examples of Windows Mobile running on a device with a capacitive screen, such devices are not available and are unlikely to be so in the foreseeable future.
  

Finger frustration, not finger fun!

What's new in Windows Mobile 6.5?

The short answer is not a lot.

Last week there were several announcements relating to Windows Mobile.

One of those announcements was the release of a new version of the operating system, version 6.5.

It really only brings two new features of any note.

1. An improved interface for touch screen devices.
2. An improved version of the IEMobile browser, which adds support for gestures.

It's not that big an announcement for a number of reasons:

• It was totally expected.
• It won't be on any devices that you can actually buy until then end of this year.
• It feels like some minor changes to keep it in the running until they can get the next version (7) out.
• It doesn't make me excited about it or particularly want to own a device that runs the OS. (Though I probably will in time.)
• There are better third party UIs available.
• Upgrades for existing devices are unlikely to be available.

Here's hoping for more from Windows Mobile 7 - Expect that announcement in February 2010.

SMS Déjà Vu - Interested?

Do you find yourself sending the same messages to the same people regularly?
Do you have a mobile phone that uses the Windows Mobile operating system?
Are you interested in some new software to make sending those messages simpler?


SMS Déjà Vu might be just what you need then.
It makes it possible to send a predefined message to a person in just two clicks - subject to a mapped hardware button to launch it.. (That's faster than anyone can type!)

At the moment the app is usable but far from perfect.
I'll happily send you a copy if you give me feedback/suggestions while I make changes to get it in a state where it can be widely distributed.

Drop me an email (matt [at] mrlacey [dot] co [dot] uk) if you're interested.

Fjord 09 Mobile Trends

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Fjord 09 Mobile Trends

View more presentations from Prashant Agarwal. (tags: mobile trends)

Vista "Program Files" Virtualization

Just a quick note to self to remind me where Vista virtualizes "Program Files" to.

C:\Users\......\Appdata\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\

Remember to have hidden files shown.

PayPal - make it easier

I have a long and frustrated history with PayPal.
The above seems to sum things up quite well.  After struggling to work out which email address I'd used to register with. (They won't tell you that an email address hasn't been registered with them, only send emails to ones that have.) I hit upon this issue when trying to change the password to something I'd remember. Yes, no OpenID :(.

OK, it's foolish of me to try and change it to the value it already is, but why prevent this change? Or don't change it, becuase it doens't need to be, but don't tell me that. Just say it's been changed and carry on. No unnecessary extra effort.

As a user they should be trying to make everything as easy as possible for me.  But it just feels like I run into frustration every time I try and do anything.

Windows @ MWC

These are my notes from watching the Microsoft keynote at MWC.

• Global Smartphone penetration in developing world to increase to 50%
• People want a single phone, not one for work & one for personal
• Windows Mobile needs to move to another level - MS want to put the full Windows experience on a phone.
• Make phone unique to the individual
• A Windows phone which meets everyones needs.
• End to end connectivity experience
• What are now being called Windows Phones.
• 1st announcement: Windows Phones will run the Windwos Mobile 6.5 Operating System
• It's not how the phone works by itself but how it combines with PC and Internet
• 2nd announcement : MyPhone - web backup of device settings & storage
• 3rd Announcement : Windows Marketplace - freedom & convenience to allow developers to distribute apps

• "Windows Phone" is a "Strategy"
• "Your life in your pocket"
• Improved Finger navigation
• Latest IE Browser? - but what is it really? Pocket IE 6? More than what's on 6.1.4 (gestures)
• WM6.5 = 1st generation Windows Phone
• Time, appointments & notifications on the lock screen
• Same experience as on Windows PC???
• Gestures in IE
• Trying to create exact same browser experience on Phone & PC

New HTC devices: Touch Diamond 2 & Touch Pro 2 - free upgrade to WM6.5 when available. (Subject to operator support no doubt!)

LG & MSFT R&D partnership


MSFT - very committed to mobile computing.


All devices - at least 3 buttons: windows button, call & hangup

Professional, Standard, Classic names to go.!?

WM7 not on the same time frame as Window7

Vote for my session

Developer Day Scotland - voting open

24:00:01

So there's a leap second. So what?
There are people getting upset about how computers will cope with the extra second.
They are concerned that over time (hundreds of years) these seconds will add up and cause issues.
Their solution. Have a leap hour, once, and then forget about leap seconds for a few thousand years (forever?).

The only issue is that a leap hour will cause work (and problems) while a leap second can be ignored in almost all cases.

sales notes

• need for a product vs power to buy
  
• do they know what the need/mean
• There is always an alternative
• soutions to problems, not products
• everyone sees things differently
• buying is emotional
  
• focus on the individual
• perceived value vs perceived price
• sales people: attitude over experience