Ajax on mobile devices — making mobile web apps ubiquitous

Ajax has enabled web applications to function as replacements for installable applications on the desktop and it is one of the cornerstones of Web 2.0. On mobile devices the use of Ajax can improve the user experience and has the potential to enable people to interact with the web more naturally than they currently do, independently of their location – and therefore make the web more ubiquitous.

Unfortunately in the area of mobile devices the use of Ajax is more difficult than on the desktop. Devices are limited in processing power, battery life, bandwidth, screen size and the abilities of the browser that is used to access the web. Still, many of the existing web browsers on mobile devices already support the XMLHttpRequest – and Ajax has a lot to offer especially to overcome some of these limitations on mobile devices.

The presentation will show that Ajax can be used to improve the usability of mobile web applications and to solve some problems of bandwidth, but that due to the varying degree of browser support it is rather difficult to develop a universal application that runs on all the mentioned devices. Some best practices will be explored and new approaches to JS frameworks paired with browser detection algorithms will presented using real-life mobile web applications.