In addition to the network limitations that you will run into when working with Mobile Website, like we previously talked about, you will also need to worry about device limitations.
These are a most commonly identified limitations that you will run into.
Device Sizes
The size of the device can cause obvious problems. Being smaller they can be harder to see, especially for long times, or if you have to read a lot. Not only are the devices smaller, they come in different sizes and proportions.
The size difference often is called device fragmentation.
Screen Sizes
Not only are the devices different sizes, but so are the screens. There are two sizes we have to consider.
Physical Size
Two phones can be the same size, but have different size screens. How, we the bevel between the edge of the phone and screen can be different. Does the phone have physical buttons, or are the “soft buttons” which take up part of the screen?
Pixel Density
This is how many pixels are packed into a square inch. With the start of the iPhone’s retina display, devices not only had to contend with physical size, but pixel density. However, this means that 100px is no longer 100px… while the Retina display from Apple, and some other high density displays on Android devices try to offer a more consistent view for users, you cannot be guaranteed that your site will look the same.
Operating System/Browser
On a normal computer, you have a few browsers to worry about. And this can cause problems in developing websites. On the mobile frontier, it is even more complicated. Apple generally gets their users to update the OS versions, however, Android phones are notorious for not being updated to the latest version, especially if it was bought as part of a plan from a carrier.
This is the other form of device fragmentation. There are still people out there using Android 2.x, while others are using 4.2 and all places in between.
This means that not only do you have different default browsers, you also have different versions of browsers, and there are more browsers users can download. This means you need to define lots of testing, and possibly a minimum qualified device.
Working with the Limitations of the Mobile Web – Device Limitations was originally found on Access 2 Learn
