Responsive web design – the next big thing?

Martin Ridgeway over at Perficient recently wrote an article regarding Responsive web design and the hype surrounding it.  Responsive web design is a tool made possible by CSS3 and the ability to perform @media queries, to get out of the technical side and to state simply, this allows developers to design their websites or applications using one iteration that will be easily viewable on any screen.  Perfect examples would include Sony.com and microsoft.com, if you notice when you shrink your screen size the site changes based on the screen resolution.

Responsive is becoming increasingly popular now that Mobile First design is a starting point for all designers.  To see the massive call for responsive development one simply needs to Google “web trends,” or “web trends 2013” to see that every site, article, blog, or essay mentions responsive as it’s number 1.   To that effect, the most popular website design platform, WordPress, which offers novice web designers the ability to “theme” their sites for quick development, has moved to responsive.  Nearly all new WordPress themes come bearing the mark, responsive, on their download sites.

The alternative to responsive design would be an m.site that redirects a user to a specifically designed mobile page.  m.sites are still very much in use, but a great article on their downfall can be seen over at Mobify.

This leads us to the very topic of this article, is responsive web design(RWD) a fad or the next great way to develop for mobile?  A few years ago, m. was the only way to go, and now we see that being replaced by more and more RWD.  With internet standards changing rapidly and we are already on the horizon of CSS4, will a new technology turn RWD into the outdated m.?

With web standards changing and more and more users accessing the web with multiple devices it seems that responsive development is the next logical step in creating rich content on the web.  We may not see the same responsive design types that first made an appearance in 2010, but some form of RWD will continue to exist throughout the Internet.

Year in Review – 2012 Mobile Statistics and 2013 Projections

Some good to know stats on how your organization might rank among others in mobility and asset management:

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you to all of our existing and new 2012 clients for making 2012 a record year and thank you for allowing Nexcom to provide your formal management process and be your end-to-end change control vendor.

Happy Holidays

How To Receive a Free iPhone Whenever You Order an iPad

Step one – Have a need for an iPad with an embedded modem from any carrier (except T-mobile).

Step two – Order an iPhone 4 (free from the carrier) with a new active #.
Note – This will create a 2 year agreement with carrier.

Step three – Order an embedded modem iPad (same carrier) without a phone # from Apple.  This is the same price as you would buy it from the carrier.

Step four – Call the carrier and move the new phone number from the iPhone 4 to the iPad.  The contract will follow the number, but the new rate plan will be whatever you need to run your iPad effectively.
Note – Depending on the carrier, it does require a different SIM (LTE versions), so have that conversation first – Additional SIM cards are free from the carrier.

Voila – New iPhone 4 with no agreement at no charge.

For enterprise accounts – This model provides bulk spare units for instances when iPhones are lost, stop working when out of warranty, or damaged beyond repair.

For more tips like these – Call Nexcom.

Deploying an Application Successfully

Recently we were asked through a mutual acquaintance on best practices in rolling out an application successfully to end users.  This is a topic we have had many questions on as well as great success.

Challenges we make a point to overcome when deploying successfully are:

  1. Change in anyway is difficult and few users see change as necessary
  2. Most software applications are not typically intuitive and tend to act more like excel spreadsheets or document management systems instead of data collection and collaboration portals – our job is to correct this.
  3. When the client requires a “waterfall” vs. Iterative or Agile development, double the time and cost of the job.
  4. Small user test groups are undervalued in the process.
  5. Avoid software that is only viewable in certain browsers and not made for iOS use
  6. Software training is not available on the user’s schedule

Challenges are simply problems without solutions, to solve these problems we have had the most success with the following solutions.

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Deploying for your users – things to consider

For 10 years Nexcom has assisted companies deploying thousands of devices, tablets, smartphones, and feature phones. One thing we have noticed from these rollouts is that collaboration is the key to success

Last week a client unfamiliar with the complexity of the new mobile platforms attempted to distribute 75 fully functional tablets with no outsourcing. The same day they were received by the users in five separate states, the calls started coming in. “How do we pay for applications that are personal?”; “How do we add business apps and get a reimbursed?”; “What happens if I lose it?”; “How do we fix it if it breaks?”; “Where are my folders?”; “What am I supposed to do with this other than games?”

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