The mobile web browser is becoming a place of increased sophistication and the recent announcement of jQuery Mobile will push the envelope further. jQuery is the most popular Javascript library and its goal is to make designing and programming more advanced features of a website an absolute breeze. Having increased access to these on a mobile oriented site can’t be a bad thing.
While this story applies to many mobile web platforms including iOS, Symbian, BlackBerry OS, Windows Mobile, Bada OS, WebOS, Maemo, and MeeGo- take a look at how Android’s native jQuery tests were rated compared to the competition:
Of course A is high quality and F if failing, so you know what that means: Android schools the competition again.
If you’re interested in learning more about the jQuery Mobile goal and vision, they’ve included a presentation which I’ve embedded below that provides a bit more insight.
As Clark from AndroidAndMe notes, at least in part, jQuery already works in the browser: “Currently, our Android and Me mobile site menu is heavily powered by jQuery. jQuery Mobile aims to take things a step further, introducing cross-platform, mobile-specific UI elements and animations.”
I’m sure there are some consumers who are excited about this, but many of them expect to browse the web on their phone and have it “just work”. To me, this story will really appeal to the developers who are tasked with the mission to MAKE it “just work”. Which category do you fit in?