Can't every mobile browsers support JavaScript? Which language/technology are used in mobile browsers pages? I mean the mobile websites...
I know XHTML is used much, What are the rest?
iPhone and default Android and BlackBerry all use WebKit. Opera and FireFox offer mobile browsers as options.
Windows Phone uses a version of IE9.
All of above support JavaScript. You can see phones from 2+ years ago that have browsers w/o JS, but they're not common anymore.
Most modern smartphones' browsers are based on Webkit - the same engine that powers Chrome and Safari. IE on Windows Phone 7 and Firefox are supposed to be standards-compliant too. Opera does have some support but don't count on it too much.
So, yes, they do support Javascript, and the technology stack is the same as for desktop ones (HTML, CSS, javascript). You even get broader support for HTML5/CSS3 in them.
Older phones, however, are a completely different story, and believe me, you don't want to go there :)
Related
I'm developing a mobile site using AngularJS (v 1.5) and it doesn't load in Opera mini. So I started searching and found one article about how Opera mini is a proxy based server and it stripes maximum JavaScript data.
But except that one article, I haven't seen it stated explicitly that Opera mini isn't supported, so I'm a bit confused.
I know Angular 2 is supposed to be released with the view of mobile-first architecture, but does Angular 1.x support opera mini?
Thanks in advance.
It seems Opera mini no longer supported by AngularJS. Check this:
https://mobiforge.com/news-comment/angularjs-to-opera-mini-youre-just-not-worth-it
Edited:
Quoting from AngularJS FAQ (latest stable v1.5):
What browsers does Angular work with?
We run our extensive test suite against the following browsers: the
latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Safari
for iOs, as well as Internet Explorer versions 9-11. See
Internet Explorer Compatibility for more details on supporting legacy
IE browsers.
If a browser is untested, it doesn't mean it won't work; for example, older Android (2.3.x) is supported in the sense that we avoid
the dot notation for reserved words as property names, but we don't
actively test changes against it. You can also expect browsers to work
that share a large part of their codebase with a browser we test, such
as Opera > version 12 (uses the Blink engine), or the various Firefox
derivatives.
I am currently developping a HTML/Javascript mobile application, and my question is :
are DOM2 addEventListener(...) functions compatible with mobile browsers/which ones?
PS couldn't find the answer on http://www.quirksmode.org/m/table.html
Browser compatibility on MDN states effectively all mobile browsers support this:
Android Firefox Mobile (Gecko) IE Mobile Opera Mobile Safari Mobile
1.0 1.0 (1.0) 9.0 6.0 1.0
Looking at that table and IE Mobile versioning, my guess would be only Windows Phone 7.0 users who haven't updated since day 1 (of which there are probably about 3) probably don't have this functionality. Safe to assume that you can use it for mobile development.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Web/API/EventTarget.addEventListener
Yes, addEventListener will be available in any sort of modernish browser, with the exception of some of the older Microsoft based devices.
That has been an implemented standard for at least a decade now.
Our company develops ERP and CRM, and so far our products support IE and Firefox. Now we want to support Chrome, Safari and even Opera. Is there any comprehensive materials that introduce browser compatibility of JS and CSS? thks!
theres the mozilla dev-center that has a great CSS- and JavaScript-reference. Every entry has information about browser compatibility.
For a quick overview, you cauld also take a look at caniuse.com (CSS and JavaScript) that provides simple tabular lists for the different features.
I've been coding the front-end for over a decade and a half now, and things seem to get better over time in regards to cross-browser compatibility. I've found that if I write and test my code using Firefox, most everything will work flawlessly on Chrome, Opera, Safari and the only thing you'll end up having to debug would be MSIE. 10 years ago I would have told you to code and test using MSIE and debug your code in the end with Netscape.
But yeah, if you follow this, you'll find it easier to make all your scripting and markup fully cross-browser compatible with no bugs at all. Enter IE9, of course, a different monster altogether.
Is there any comprehensive materials that introduce browser
compatibility of JS and CSS?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_layout_engines_(Cascading_Style_Sheets)
http://html5test.com/
http://caniuse.com/
"Comprehensive" can change overnight, but there is a great deal of information available.
If your products work for the latest version of Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera will work without major flaws most of the time. If your markup is invalid, you are using many vendor-specific extensions, or you are using cutting-edge features, this may not be the case.
The Zepto.js website says:
Zepto.js is a minimalist JavaScript framework for mobile WebKit browsers, with a jQuery-compatible syntax.
Is it only recommended for use with apps that will be used on mobile devices or can it also be used in traditional computer browser web apps as well? What are the downsides of doing so?
I use jQuery a lot in my regular web apps (for computer browsers) and I've realized (after finding Zepto.js) that I don't always use all of jQuery's features, so Zepto.js is perfect for what I do.
Also, why is there focus on the 'WebKit' engine? Does it not work with mobile Internet Explorer on Windows Phone 7, Firefox Mobile on Android or Opera Mobile?
EDIT: The presence of $.os.android in addition to $.os.ios indicates that there is support for non-iOS platforms, so the last question is answered!
EDIT (final): I guess the real question is "Can the Zepto.js library, intended for use on mobile WebKit-based browsers, be used as a lighter-weight alternative to jQuery for the desktop also?" The answer is no.
Note: This answer is old, and not up to date anymore. Yes, Zepto started as a webkit-only, mobile-specific framework, but it has evolved since then as EBarr points out below.
So always check Zepto's website for the most up-to-date information.
Not to sound too harsh, but did you click the big button on the site to see the presentation?
You basically already answered the questions:
Yes, it's for mobile devices. Support for swipe and tap events doesn't exactly make sense on a desktop computer, where you use a mouse.
Yes, it's for WebKit specifically, because that's what's most used for mobile browsing. That means no support for IE/Firefox/Opera - mobile or desktop. As the presentation says, "No one is running IE6 on an iPhone". Most desktop-browser JS libraries exist specifically to eliminate browser differences. Zepto does the opposite.
jQuery is an offroad truck: Enormous but very capable both on- and off-road.
Zepto is a Formula-1 car: Small, fast, and built exclusively to be great on the racetrack, so it won't work right in any other situation.
It seems that Zepto's purpose has evolved. The site now notes :
Note that some optional features of Zepto specifically target mobile
browsers; as the original project goal was to specifically provide a
leaner alternative to jQuery on for the mobile web.
It lists the following as target platforms (note the inclusion of desktop browsers):
Browser support
Primary (100% support)
Safari 6+ (Mac)
Chrome 30+ (Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Linux, Chrome OS)
Firefox 24+ (Windows, Mac, Android, Linux, Firefox OS)
iOS 5+ Safari
Android 2.3+ Browser
Internet Explorer 10+ (Windows, Windows Phone)
Secondary targets (fully or mostly supported)
iOS 3+ Safari
Chrome <30
Firefox 4+
Safari <6
Android Browser 2.2
Opera 10+
webOS 1.4.5+ Browser
BlackBerry Tablet OS 1.0.7+ Browser
Amazon Silk 1.0+
Other WebKit-based browsers/runtimes
EDIT
List above updated to reflect reality as of January 2013.
The iPhone supports geolocation in mobile Safari via the following call:
navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(
function(pos){
var lat = pos.coords.latitude;
var long = pos.coords.longitude;
},
function(){
/* Handler if location could not be found */
}
);
I'd like to build a good list of devices that have one of the following:
support this feature out of the box, or
support this feature with an upgrade, or
support geolocation with equivalent fidelity of data with some other snippet of Javascript.
I'm only familiar with my own device, so this is my list so far:
Out of the box:
iPhone 3GS
Supported, but only with an update
iPhone 3G
iPhone 2G (?)
PC or Mac computer with Firefox 3.5
Supported with some other snippet
?
What is the level of support in Blackberry, Android phones, etc?
As of today, the W3C Geolocation API (widely associated with, though not technically part of, HTML 5) is support in the following major desktop browsers:
Firefox (since 3.5)
Safari (since 5.0)
Google Chrome (version depends on OS)
Opera (since 10.60)
Internet Explorer (since IE 9)
There are at least two mobile browsers that implement the Geolocation API:
Safari Mobile (since iPhone OS 3.0)
Android (since at least Android 1.6)
On all of these platforms, you should be able to use navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition, etc.
Although I think it's a great practice to standardize on the (draft, by the way) W3C Geolocation API, it's worth noting that there are a few other options in the browser, which can be particularly helpful if you need to target an older platform.
Firefox 3.1 had support for Geode, which uses calls to navigator.geolocation with very similar syntax.
Loki is a plug-in built by Skyhook which works on Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 2, Firefox 3, Safari and Opera. The syntax is substantially different, but still easy.
Google Gears provides a geolocation API with a syntax fairly similar to the W3C API syntax. You can install Google Gears on Internet Explorer 6+, Firefox 1.5+, Safari, Opera Mobile and IE Mobile.
From a similar more recent topic:
"I'm working on an open source library that supports all javascript location capable phones with the W3C standard. So far it supports iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and some fringe browser platforms running in a browser. The lib can also be used when writing web stack standalone apps for Nokia OVI and the Palm WebOS.
http://code.google.com/p/geo-location-javascript/"
The W3C version works on android 2.*. On android 1.6 you can fallback to gears, which will work pretty much the same way. In theory the W3C standard should also work on Firefox mobile (Fennec), which currently is available for Nokia's Maemo devices and will be standard on MeeGo.
You don’t have to have the newest mobile phone to use GPS and Geolocation API. Almost every mobile browser (without proxy server) can be used to read position from buidin GPS. If You have Java and GPS in Your phone – You can use mobile-gps-web-gate – see at http://code.google.com/p/mobile-gps-web-gate/
I know this is an old question, but you'll find a list of devices that support geolocation here: http://www.quirksmode.org/webkit.html. This list is being maintained by the site author so it should stay up to date.
Franson's GPSGate is a commercial product that can expose a Windows machine's hardware GPS to any browser through javascript. The interface is a little different from the W3C's implementation though.
Update: the Express (lite) version of GPSGate is free.