Articles by Barbara Ballard

Java ME Is Dead, Long Live Java ME

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 08:15:00 EST

4 of our 6 first quarter projects have major components in Java ME. These are new applications, from companies who understand the porting issues and the complexities. This quarter is not particularly different from other quarters: we get far more work designing applications than designing web sites. Java ME is going to keep on chugging, maybe even seeing a rebirth, for quite a while yet.

Mobile Design: Tips and Tricks

Sat, 01 Jan 2000 00:00:00 EST

Mobile Internet sites are not as easy to use as their computer-targeted Web-site cousins, due to smaller screens, more difficult text input, and a wide variety of user situations. Despite these factors, industry experts agree that mobile access to Web sites needs to be more usable than computer access. Although there are many resources from browser manufacturers, carriers, and industry organizations available to achieve this (see design reources at the end of the article), severe design mistakes continue to be made.

Write Thrice, Run Anywhere

Sat, 01 Jan 2000 00:00:00 EST

The explosion of devices, markup languages, and platforms in the mobile application arena has developers pulling their hair out. Trying to have a separate application for every language is hard enough - but even then, the application still needs to be optimized for different devices. Developing and maintaining multiple applications typically becomes extremely costly...and still ends up restricting users' choices.