Re: Perl & Templating for a mobile future.

in reply to Perl & Templating for a mobile future.

Just to open the discussion.

I see that many websites offer the "classical" site for the usual PC/laptop/netbook browsers at say "www.XYZ.com" and mobile devices optimized versions at "m.XYZ.com" or "mob.XYZ.com" or such. Is this due to lack of reliable browser recognition? Or is it lack of knowledge from their programmers and web-designers?

I have also seen sites that have a button saying something like "On a mobile device? Click here" and then you are shown a mobile device optimized web-page at the same URL (they probably store a cookie on your site to make sure to send you the right version). Again this makes me doubt the reliability of recognizing the kind of device you are using to view the website.

In theory, just switching the CSS might be sufficient to be able to switch between a "normal" and "mobile" version, but alas proper use of CSS is even less common than properly written HTML. CSS 2.1 has rules for different media types, one of which is "handheld".

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Comment on Re: Perl & Templating for a mobile future.

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Re^2: Perl & Templating for a mobile future. by punch_card_don (Curate) on Jan 15, 2013 at 21:07 UTC
I see that many websites offer the "classical" site for the usual PC/laptop/netbook browsers at say "www.XYZ.com" and mobile devices optimized versions at "m.XYZ.com" or "mob.XYZ.com" or such. Is this due to lack of reliable browser recognition? Or is it lack of knowledge from their programmers and web-designers? This is an old strategy. Rudimentary device/browser detection and two completely separate websites, one for pc and one for mobile. Nightmarish for content management - essentially two parllel sites to maintain. Plus, administrators would strip down the pc site for mobile, meaning mobile users got a crappy, incomplete version of the site. Objective today is to provide as close to the same content as possible on both. And to have as little duplication as possible. These were the objectives of approaches like Progressive Enhanvcement and Responsive Design. But those move sooooooo much processing to the client side. I'm already seeing articles announcing the death of Progressive Enhancement. I figure a good compromise that optimizes the balance between the solid footing of server-side processing, minimal duplication, and unlimited custom formatting for devices is good old Templating and dynamic generation. Serve it all prep'd and don't rely on the device too much. But, then sniffing is key. Or - the Perl world has developed a much better idea, and I'd looooove to read about it. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.	[reply]

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Re^2: Perl & Templating for a mobile future.
by punch_card_don (Curate) on Jan 15, 2013 at 21:07 UTC

This is an old strategy. Rudimentary device/browser detection and two completely separate websites, one for pc and one for mobile. Nightmarish for content management - essentially two parllel sites to maintain. Plus, administrators would strip down the pc site for mobile, meaning mobile users got a crappy, incomplete version of the site.

Objective today is to provide as close to the same content as possible on both. And to have as little duplication as possible. These were the objectives of approaches like Progressive Enhanvcement and Responsive Design. But those move sooooooo much processing to the client side. I'm already seeing articles announcing the death of Progressive Enhancement.

I figure a good compromise that optimizes the balance between the solid footing of server-side processing, minimal duplication, and unlimited custom formatting for devices is good old Templating and dynamic generation. Serve it all prep'd and don't rely on the device too much.

But, then sniffing is key.

Or - the Perl world has developed a much better idea, and I'd looooove to read about it.

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

[reply]

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