iPhone Developers Start Here

Yes, I'd love to have an iPhone. Not simply because it's the newest gadget out, but because I think it would crazy handy to have and use. But this article is about developing for it.

A client asked me this spring if I thought mobile browsing would take off and be worth any effort to program/design for it. I gave them a big fat "YES!" If you have any doubts, look at where MP3 technology has taken us so far.

With that in mind, I read a news story this morning about Apple's offering up a web developer's web site. Of course they want us to develop for their machine: if there's nothing to see on the mobile browser, why would anyone need it?

The first step is to download and install Safari for Windows. Safari is the browser employed by the iPhone. Did that and here's my initial thoughts on Safari:

VERY, very fast loading of web pages. This I can grow to love. I'm not kidding here, even quick loading pages in Firefox LOAD FASTER IN SAFARI. I didn't check the difference in IE. I don't care.

Ad blockers are turned on and actually work right out of the box. This control is easy to switch off, just as are all the other options.

Minimalist interface. I'm not sure if I like this yet or not. I'm probably just used to all the on-screen info I get with Firefox.

The best news, at least IMHO as a web developer, is that all my sites work in Safari just as in IE and Firefox. Just shows the awesome power and flexibility of CSS and XHTML and PHP.

When I get time, I'm next going back to the developers web site and see what I can come up with for a site of mine. I believe there would be a great advantage to getting Article-DirectorySite.com mobile ready.