INTRODUCTION TO JQUERY MOBILE FRAMEWORK

ABOUT THE AUTHORName: Shreerang Patwardhan

A Sr. Web Developer with a MNC in India and loves the Jquery Mobile Framework. He actively blog about Jquery Mobile on his blog “Spatial Unlimited”.

AGENDA

Overview Why mobile? What’s the big deal? The problem Responsive Web Design What’s Jquery Mobile? Why Jquery Mobile?

Features Compatibility (Supported Platforms)

Jquery Mobile Components (JQM 1.3.1 is used) Theming Debugging mobile applications Pros & Cons of Jquery Mobile

WHY MOBILE?

Personal Billion Users Will be the #1 web

browsing device soon

Makes users focus Always available … and everywhere

WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL?

Web development is still HTML, CSS, Javascript; isn’t it? What’s

the big deal with the mobile web then?

THE PROBLEM… WELL PROBLEMS

CLIENT REQUIREMENTS V/S WHAT IS ACHIEVABLE

What Clients want What is achievable

LOTS OF PLATFORMS Tizen Jolla Firefox OS Ubuntu OS Android iOS Blackberry Windows Bada Meego Symbian S40 Nokia Proprietary … and about a ton more Further fragmented in

versions as well…

LOTS OF MOBILE WEB BROWSERS Too many (some) too limited (some) too innovative (some) proxy based (most) without

documentation (most) without a name (most) without debugging

tools (some) touch based (some) multi-touch based (some) with zooming

support (most) unknown to web

devs (all) available in various

versions

OTHER MAJOR CHALLENGES Mobile devices available in several form factors (sizes)

Mobile devices ranging from 2” to 5” Phablets ranging from 5” to 7” Tablets ranging from 7” to 10”

Comparisons to native web applications Speed Animations

Lack of definitions Mobile web lacks standards and a defined set of rules There are no guidelines set to mobile web development

Testing & Debugging Device specific issues OS version specific issues Browser specific issues … and yes a combination of all the above

RESPONSIVE WEB DESIGN

INTRODUCTION TO RESPONSIVE WEB DESIGN

Why do we need RWD?

It is an approach aimed at crafting sites to provide an Optimal Viewing Experience across a wide range of devices.

Portrait and Landscape mode on the same device

Scalability across device form factors All widths to be in percentage Images should be responsive too…

JQUERY MOBILE FRAMEWORK

INTRODUCTION TO JQUERY MOBILE

What is Jquery Mobile?

It is a unified UI system that works seamlessly across popular mobile device platforms.

Built on HTML5, CSS3, Jquery and Jquery UI. A wide variety of mobile platforms are targeted,

so that no browser or device is left behind. All Jquery pages are built using a clean,

semantic HTML to ensure compatibility with a wide range of platforms.

Accessibility features like the WAI-ARIA are tightly integrated.

INTRODUCTION TO JQUERY MOBILE

Why Jquery Mobile?

Jquery Mobile is a new, easy to learn and simple to use UI framework for building cross-platform mobile web applications.

The framework is optimized to run on several phones, phablets, tablets, desktops and e-readers.

Helps create a unified user-experience across various platforms.

Constantly evolving and improving. A large user base and community.

JQUERY MOBILE FEATURES

Lightweight and minimal dependency on images Progressive enhancement Responsive Design Powerful AJAX-navigation system Touch and mouse event support Powerful theming framework Easily customizable Built on Jquery core Compatible on various device platforms and

mobile web browsers HTML5 markup-driven configuration for fast

development and minimal required scripting

JQUERY MOBILE SUPPORTED PLATFORMS

Platform support is available in 3 grades A-grade : Fully enhanced experience with AJAX-

based animated page transitions B-grade : Enhanced experience without the

AJAX navigation features C-grade: Basic, non-enhanced HTML experience

that is still functional

JQUERY MOBILE SUPPORTED PLATFORMS (A-GRADE)

Platforms Browsers

Apple iOS 3.2*-6.1 Chrome for Android 18

Android 2.1-2.3 Skyfire 4.1

Android 3.2 Opera Mobile 11.5-12

Android 4.0 UC Browser

Windows Phone 7.5-7.8 Internet Explorer 8-10

Blackberry 6-10 Firefox Desktop 10-18

Blackberry Playbook (1.0-2.0) Opera Desktop 10-12

Palm WebOS (1.4-3.0) Safari Desktop 5-6

Firefox Mobile 18 Chrome Desktop 16-24

Tizen

Meego 1.2

Samsung Bada 2.0

Kindle3, Fire and Fire HD

JQUERY MOBILE COMPONENTS

JQUERY MOBILE – SINGLE PAGE ARCHITECTURE Page is a primary unit of interaction in Jquery Mobile. Jquery Mobile page must start with HTML5 doctype. In the head – references to Jquery, Jquery Mobile and

Jquery Mobile CSS are all required to strat things off. Include the mobile spedific viewport meta tag. Inside the <body> tag, each view or “page” on the

mobile device is identified with an element (usually a div) with the data-role=“page” attribute.

For typical pages in Jquery Mobile, the intermediate children of a “page” are divs with data roles of “header”, “content” and “footer”.

Demo link: Basic single page template

JQUERY MOBILE – MARKUP ENHANCEMENT

Semantic HTML Markup

Jquery Mobile Page

Enhancements

JQUERY MOBILE – MULTI PAGE ARCHITECTURE

Multiple “pages” are loaded by stacking multiple divs with a data-role of “page”

Each “page” block needs to have a unique id which is used to link internally.

All “pages” loaded at once and so available in the DOM at the same time.

Demo link: Basic multi page template

JQUERY MOBILE – AJAX NAVIGATION & TRANSITIONS Jquery Mobile includes a navigation system to load pages

into the DOM via AJAX, enhance the new content, then display pages with a rich set of animated transitions.

Jquery Mobile supports a wide range of animations for inter-page transitions, opening/closing dialogs, pop-ups, panels and many such components.

Transitions supported include: Fade Pop Flip Turn Flow Slidefade Slide SlideUp SlideDown None

Some patforms currently have issues with transitions, especially Android

Devices that lack 3D support will fail for several transitions and fallback to “fade”

Caution: Use transitions with care Demo link: Inter Page transitions

JQUERY MOBILE - LISTVIEWS A listview is coded as a simple unordered list (ul) or an ordered list

(ol) with data-role=“listview” attribute and has a wide range of features and theming.

Read only ordered/unorderd Linked Inset Filter Filter reveal List dividers Auto list dividers Count bubbles Icons Thumbnails Split buttons Formatted content Theming icons Customization – The easy way & The challenging way

JQUERY MOBILE – COLLAPSIBLE LISTVIEW

Creating a collapsible listview or in common terms the Accordion control is simple with Jquery Mobile.

Wrap your content within a div with data-role=“collapsible”

A collection of collapsibles can be created by wrapping the divs with data-role=“collapsible” within a div with data-role=“collapsible-set”

Collapsible/ Accordion Collapsible Set

JQUERY MOBILE – FORM ELEMENTS All form elements are native form elements enhanced to make

them more attractive and finger-friendly. HTML5 input types are further enhanced. Buttons Slider Range slider Flip switch Check boxes Radio buttons Selects Text inputs & Textareas

Different styles with the basic input type text Other input types Advantage of HTML5 input types in the mobile web Customizing the input type search

Native Form elements Refreshing form elements

JQUERY MOBILE – TOOLBARS & NAVBARS Header Toolbar

Serves as a page title Usually the first element inside each mobile page Usually contains page title and up to 2 buttons Demo link: Header Toolbar

Footer Toolbar Usually the last element inside each mobile page More freedom compared to the header toolbar Usually contains a combination of text and buttons Demo link: Footer Toolbar

Navbar A coded unordered list of links wrapped in a container

element with data-role=“navbar” Useful for providing up to 5 buttons with optional icons in a

bar Demo link: Navbar

JQUERY MOBILE - DIALOGS

A page presented as a modal dialog. Implementation is done in 2 parts:

Anchor link with data-rel=“dialog” A container element with data-role=“dialog”

Animation can be provided using data-transition attribute.

Jquery Mobile dialog can be implemented in 2 ways: Using a multi-page approach Including the dialog in a different HTML page

altogether Demo link: Dialog

JQUERY MOBILE - POPUP

Wide range of implementation from a small tooltip to a large photo lightbox.Implementation is done in 2 parts: Anchor link with data-rel=“dialog” A container element with data-role=“dialog”

Animation can be provided using data-transition attribute

Basic Popup Tooltip Photo lightbox Menu popup Nested menu popup Form popup

JQUERY MOBILE - PANELS

Popular mode of providing site navigation Panel markup is at the same level (sibling to)

other components like header, content and footer inside a Jquery Mobile page.

Animations can be provided for opening/closing a panel.

Absolute positioned and fixed positioned panels are used.

Responsive non-modal panel can be created for larger displays

Basic Panel Panel with position fixed Responsive Panel

JQUERY MOBILE – TABLE: COLUMN TOGGLE

Selectively hide columns at narrower widths. Allows users to select which columns they

want to see. Set the priority for each column using “data-

priority” attribute. Important markup: <table data-role=“table”

data-mode=“columntoggle” id=“my-table”> Demo link: Table: Column Toggle

JQUERY MOBILE – TABLE: REFLOW

A stacjed representation of table columns like blocks of label/data pairs of each row.

Table element should be with data-role=“table”

thead and tbody elements need to be included.

A preset responsive breakpoint can be applied via ui-responsive class.

Custom breakpoints can also be included. Demo link: Table: Reflow

JQUERY MOBILE - GRIDS

Jquery Mobile provides a simple way to build CSS-based clumns which can also be made responsive.

Grids are - 100% width Completely invisible (no borders, no

backgrounds, no padding, no margins) Single, 2-column, 3-column, 4-column, 5-column

and responsive Fixed column grid Responsive grid

THEMEROLLER & SWATCHES

Jquery Mobile theme contains a global setting for things like rounded corner radius and active (on) states.

Up to 26 swatches lettered from A-Z can be creaated.

ThemeRoller allows for easy customization and creation of themes which can be shared and downloaded.

Demo link: http://jquerymobile.com/themeroller

WHAT DESIGNERS SHOULD TAKE CARE OF.. Fixed footer should be avoided as it causes a lot of

issues in the iOS and Android devices. JQM default styles which include background-gradient,

rounded corners should be used. Icon sizes should always be double the actual size which

is required for retina display devices. Inter-page transitions should be avoided as Android does

not support transitions really well. Listviews should be an integral part of the design if

Jquery Mobile framework is to be used. Large content in dialogs and popups must be avoided as

scrolling the content in dialogs and popups results in several issues in various platforms and browsers.

Tables with large number of columns and tabular layout in general should be avoided.

MOBILE APPLICATION DEBUGGING

DEBUGGING ON DESKTOP

Mozilla Firefox is your best friend. Offers resizing your browser to various mobile

device sizes (Press Ctrl+Shift+M) Firebug to override the Jquery Mobile default

CSS. User-agents help to some extent in resolving

the platform OS version specific issues. Caution: Changing user-agent does not help

resolving platform-specific and device-specific issues.

DEBUGGING ON IOS PLATFORM

Remote debugging can now be done from iOS 6 and above.

Connect your iOS 6 device to your Mac machine and open up Safari browser on your machine.

Select the remote debugging option and you can debug your web page on the connected iOS device.

Requirements: Mobile OS version: iOS 6 Mac machine Safari browser on Mac machine version: 6.0+

DEBUGGING ON ANDROID PLATFORM

Requirements Android device with Chrome browser installed Windows machine with Chrome browser installed USB cable to connect the device to the machine. USB debugging enabled on the Android device

ADVANTAGES OF JQUERY MOBILE

Saves development time to a great extent. Accelerates the development Takes care of device, OS and browser

fragmentation to a great level. Includes media queries that support a wide

range of device form-factors This framework is pretty light-weight. A large user base and community for all the

help that you need during development.

DISADVANTAGES OF JQUERY MOBILE

Certain level of design constraints Customization overload

QUERIES?You can redirect your queries on my blog “Spatial Unlimited” or tweet me at @shreerangp

THANK YOU- Shreerang Patwardhan