Opinion

Yesterday saw the BBC launch a responsive version of the news home page for all device types. As the BBC operated an m. web site providing different layout for desktop and mobile phones the approach was to replace the desktop web site with a slightly modified version of the mobile site.

While well aware that any change to a much loved web site will generate negative feedback, I remain concerned that digital technologists treat such feedback as a sign of both success and progress. This brief analysis focuses on specific examples where the use of RWD has demonstratably degraded user experience.

As another year draws to a close we take a look at some of the biggest technology innovations seen throughout 2014. First we'll see a couple of innovations that were expected but never made it to light this year, then we'll look at some of the bigger innovations seen this year.

It's almost that time of year again, rooms decked with bright flashing lights and millions waiting to see what new toys they can play with. That's right it's almost time for the Consumer Electronics Show! (CES) 2015

The media coverage of the Black Friday failure of major web sites including Tesco, Argos, Best Buy and Boots highlights how consumer expectation of the internet has changed in just a short period of time. When a competitor is just a screen tap away performance and availability is essential.

Responsive Images are on their way. It's official. Designers worldwide now have an exciting new tool that will solve the problem of providing large images and graphics for every device. See examples of using <picture> element as well as an <img> element with srcset and sizes attributes. Learn how you can combine the Responsive Images technology with 51Degrees Image Optimizer to make your life simpler and fully enjoy the benefits of RI.

Wearable technology has been around a long time, in 16th century China the Qing Dynasty saw the introduction of a fully functional abacus on a ring. However the first wearable digital computers weren't seen till the 1980's, although these were mostly unsuccessful. The first watch phone debuted in 1999 but it wasn't until the late 2000's that we began to see more advanced wearable technology. These advances were made possible by improved battery and display technology as well as vastly aided by new interface standards such as Bluetooth. These early wearable computers would go on to shape the modern smart wearables available today.

Analytics techniques haven't kept pace with the rapidly evolving techniques of Responsive Web Design (RWD) and server side adaptive design. Google Analytics will provide information about the device model (i.e. iPhone or Galaxy S4) or whether the device is classified as a mobile, tablet or desktop, but this isn't often sufficient to make informed design decisions to improve a web page or site. Consider click through rate (CTR) on advertising. How do you know if adverts on a 3 to 4 inch diagonal screen performs better or worse than a 5 to 6 inch diagonal screen? You don't without some enhancements.

Mobile World Congress 2015 is approaching rapidly. This is one of the biggest world-wide events that helps shape the future of the mobile industry and allows thousands of professionals from around the globe share their ideas, network and advertise their services. 51Degrees has been an active participator at WMC in the past and will again be attending the conference in 2015. See the live countdown to the event.

Take 3 phones of 3 different OEM from the same price range. Will you get the same hardware and will Brand influence cost?

Learn what user agent spoofing is and why it works well with device detection. See examples of user agents and how a change in a user agent string is likely to influence the detection result.