There's no doubt about it: it's a mobile world these days. Folks are getting away from their desktops and even their laptops and accessing more content than ever through tablets and mobile phones. The jury is no longer out on this assertion, and we can be relatively confident that this trend will continue to grow.
When you're ready to create a presence that is more geared towards mobile users, a question that may come up is, "Should I build a mobile website or a mobile app?" This series will help get you up to speed on the most fundamental concepts when it comes to comparing the two choices.
Today, we start by asking this question:
What are the Differences Between Mobile Websites and Mobile Apps?
A mobile website can be built to behave much like a mobile app, and vice versa. And although mobile websites are viewed through a phone or tablet's browser, icons can be added to home screens that make them behave even more like native apps. So the differences between the two application types are sometimes not that easy to discern.
A mobile website is built using the same technology as other websites (typically being built with HTML, CSS, and Javascript), and is rendered through mobile browsers. Like all websites, they function across multiple platforms. The same mobile website can reach customers and patrons who are using iPhones, Blackberries, Androids, etc.
Where a mobile website differs from a traditional website involves the presentation. Mobile websites are designed to be best viewed and interacted with on a small screen, such as those found on mobile phones. They also tend to "perform" more like native apps, often replicating the look and interactivity that would be familiar to, for example, an iPhone user.
Conversely, a mobile app is not a website, but an actual piece of software that is downloaded and installed on a user's device. Some of these apps function entirely "self-contained" where an Internet connection is not required. Other apps do, like the mobile website, pull information from the web, which may be necessary, depending on the nature of your content.
Mobile apps can also be uploaded and distributed for free (or for a price, if desired) to device-specific distribution hubs, such as Apple's iOS App Store or Google's Android Market.
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So, in summary, mobile websites and mobile apps can be designed to behave similarly and, often the difference may be indiscernible to the user, but they are two different animals, particularly with respect to how they're built and accessed.
Next week, in Part 2 of this series, we'll look into what some of the advantages and disadvantages are to each.
2 comments:
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