Academic Web Blog

Google recently conducted a survey of consumers that asked about their use of mobile websites. Here's some key results, along with new data on smartphone usage.

Often, a mobile app uses data that is also displayed on a website. For ease of administration, it's best to have all the information stored in one place and automatically made available wherever it is needed.

Anniversaries, such as last week's 5th anniversary of the introduction of the iPhone, provide a great excuse for retrospection.

Just five years ago, in the pre-iPhone era, the mobile phone world was a very different place. The iPhone triggered a massive, seismic shift in the mobile phone landscape, from carrier-controlled phones with lousy software and pathetic web capabilities to the smartphones we enjoy today.

In creating a great website or app, you have a diverse set of guidelines and considerations to deal with. Despite the wide variety of issues, opinions, and platforms, there is one underlying constant you can depend on (we hope): the user is a human being.

This is going to be an explosive year for mobile web growth, especially for businesses like restaurants that people are selecting while they are on the go. Mobile traffic is now over 30% for some businesses, and about half of Americans own smartphones.

Back in April, I gave a talk at O'Reilly's Ignite event in my hometown of Sebastopol, California (also O'Reilly's hometown). The live video has now been posted, and it's interesting how they differ.

Among all the web-related disciplines, search engine optimization (SEO) surely has the greatest volume of conflicting information. In a field filled with everything from bad advice, outdated information, and outright scams, it is hard to know what to believe.

Financial reports for first-quarter 2012 have started coming out, and there are some impressive unit numbers embedded in them.

We recently launched a new site for the Green Music Center, a world-class performing hall on the Sonoma State campus that has been more than a decade in development.

We are big believers in the importance of mobile devices. But I am troubled by the degree to which responsive design is preached as the only modern approach.