Comments about O'Reilly Media jQuery Mobile:

Since the release of jQuery Mobile 1.0 final, this book is no longer relevant as the semantic markup for jQuery Mobile has changed to better degrade using divs instead of the "section, header, footer" markup as used throughout the text. An experienced developer can convert the necessary markup but only after reading up on the changes on the jQuery Mobile site. Please update.

Comments about O'Reilly Media jQuery Mobile:

jQuery mobile framework enables us to write applications (using HTML,CSS and jQuery frameworks) that would work across mobile platforms be it iOS, Android or any other devices. jQuery mobile is in its alpha 4 release right now.

If you want to learn jQuery Mobile, this book by Jon Reid, will get you started soon. Jon Reid works as Senior Developer at EffectiveUI. Its a very precise book spanning less than 200 pages. Though precise, it packs a lot of material. Knowledge of HTML,CSS and jQuery framework is a pre-requisite to read this book. The author gives a great introduction to jQuery mobile framework by working through a Twitter app using the framework elements. There are enough examples and code illustrations in this book. This is a good book to get started in mobile development.

I got this book as a part of the OReilly Blogger review program, in exchange for a review.

Comments about O'Reilly Media jQuery Mobile:

In this succinct book, Jon Reid covers the key components of the new jQuery Mobile framework - conveying both the syntax and the applied usage of each aspect of the framework along the way. The book is full of code and pictures to help with the learning process, and I mostly found the extreme focus of the book a nice change for reference books.

There is a gentle introduction to jQuery Mobile in the first chapter, after which the author delves into the many popular mobile elements - lists, buttons, sliders, CSS3 page transitions and much more. The neat thing about jQuery Mobile is that the framework abstracts the mobile experience to work across a great number of devices, with a single website powering all of the devices (instead of native apps for each device). I also think the book was well designed in having few distractions from the task at hand - jQuery Mobile.

That being said, I think it's very important to note that you must be familiar with the jQuery library, as well as HTML and CSS, to truly benefit from this book. There are no introductory chapters on HTML, jQuery, etc., so if you need to learn these languages first, you'll have to find a separate book on those technologies. I was familiar with these languages already, but I think that the book would have felt more comprehensive with some explanation of certain jQuery features - in particular, I am not familiar with the jQuery plug-in architecture. I think everyone has some gaps in their knowledge, and some short review of key concepts would have helped in reading this book.

Overall, a great book. I definitely feel I am ready to start working with jQuery Mobile, with confidence. Thanks for writing it.

I should disclose that I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review, through the O'Reilly Bloggers Program.

Comments about O'Reilly Media jQuery Mobile:

Although JQuery Mobile is still in it's Beta phase (actually Alpha phase when the book was written) you can already start using it. If you don't want to learn the language for a specific mobile device (iOS, Android, PalmOS etc.) and you want to leverage your webbuilding skills to mobile devices then jQuery Mobile is probably your best bet. You can leave the specifics for every platform to the jQuery team while you can focus on the look and feel of you application. And this book is a pretty good starting point for your first steps doing mobile development.

Comments about O'Reilly Media jQuery Mobile:

Ever since July 2008 and the launch of the Apple App store, the world of mobile internet has been in a constant state of change. Up until this point, Steve Jobs and the rest of the Apple marketing machine had been all about providing the best possible mobile browser, and the best mobile websites. They even had a page on the main Apple website promoting pages that worked the best in the fledgling iPhone OS (now iOS) browser. Following the launch of the App Store, the focus of mobile internet has changed, moving steadily away from in-browser experiences and edging ever closer to a world where apps are king.

With the ever-growing popularity of Android, and the diverse range of other platforms available - including HP (Palm) WebOS, Blackberry OS, Samsung Bada, HTC Brew and Windows Phone 7, Nokia MeeGo and Symbian - many businesses are left with a choice:

Do we produce an app for every platform? At a huge cost and long timeline, this option isn't available to all businesses.
Do we pick one platform and hope our target market finds us? Risky again, if you get it wrong then you need to start again.

Luckily there is another option. Whilst many developers have been moving towards the 'app model', there has also been a great deal of innovation in the 'mobile browser' space, and with the emergence of jQuery mobile, developers now have a real alternative to developing custom apps for each platform.

jQuery Mobile by Jon Reid provides an excellent introduction into the world of creating cross platform (and cross browser) websites and web apps that provide a consistent experience for all users with all of the benefits of a specially created app, and little of the overheads. The book blurb states that 'The future belongs to mobile web apps that function on a broad range of smartphones and tablets. Get started with jQuery Mobile, the touch-optimized web framework for creating apps that look and behave consistently across many devices.' The mention of tablets here is key, as although iOS apps can be universal and work well on both the iPhone and iPad, it takes a great deal more effort to achieve this. On Android the process is even more complex, and with so many different tablet screen sizes, processors and specifications to aim at, the job of creating a universal app that looks good for everyone is not an easy one.

jQuery mobile 'provides HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript code examples, screen shots, and step-by-step guidance to help you build a complete working app with jQuery Mobile' and is a great introduction for web developers and designers looking to get more involved in the mobile space. The current support for platforms is pretty good considering it is in Alpha with the jQuery Mobile website listing the following:

Apple iOS 3.2-5.0 beta: Tested on the original iPad (3.2 / 4.3), iPad 2 (4.3), original iPhone (3.1), iPhone 3 (3.2), 3GS (4.3), and 4 (4.3 / 5.0 beta)
Android 2.1-2.3: Tested on the HTC Incredible (2.2), original Droid (2.2), Nook Color (2.2), HTC Aria (2.1), emulator (2.3). Functional on 1.5 & 1.6 but performance may be sluggish, tested on Google G1 (1.5)
Windows Phone 7: Tested on the HTC 7 Surround
Blackberry 6.0: Tested on the Torch 9800 and Style 9670
Blackberry Playbook: Tested on PlayBook version 1.0.1 / 1.0.5
Palm WebOS (1.4-2.0): Tested on the Palm Pixi (1.4), Pre (1.4), Pre 2 (2.0)
Firebox Mobile (Beta): Tested on Android 2.2
Opera Mobile 11.0: Tested on the iPhone 3GS and 4 (5.0/6.0), Android 2.2 (5.0/6.0), Windows Mobile 6.5 (5.0)
Kindle 3: Tested on the built-in WebKit browser included in the Kindle 3 device
Chrome Desktop 11-13 – Tested on OS X 10.6.7 and Windows 7
Firefox Desktop 3.6-4.0 – Tested on OS X 10.6.7 and Windows 7
Internet Explorer 7-9 – Tested on Windows XP, Vista and 7 (minor CSS issues)
Opera Desktop 10-11 - Tested on OS X 10.6.7 and Windows 7

The book provides a high-level overview of jQuery Mobile, how it works and how to use it, a introduction to paging and navigation, UI elements, the jQuery Mobile theme framework & events and customising jQuery Mobile. As well as the above, the author also takes the reader through the process of building a mobile application with jQuery Mobile from start to finish.

Suitable for all those who have used jQuery before, know HTML and CSS, and have a basic understanding of mobile web browsers, this book provides a great start for getting working quickly with the jQuery Mobile Beta.

You can download jQuery Mobile Beta now from the website, and view the updated compatibility table there also.

Don't fall into the trap of only developing dedicated mobile apps, go for the scalable, cross-platform, accessible approach and this book will help you get started.

Comments about O'Reilly Media jQuery Mobile:

Last August, the cover of Wired magazine famously proclaimed that "the Web is dead" and that native apps have taken over how we interact with the Internet. Whether that bold statement is accurate or not is a discussion outside the scope of this review, but what do you do if (a) you have solid web design skills, (b) you'd like to use those skills to develop great-looking mobile applications, and © you don't have a large development team (or a lot of time)? Or maybe you would just prefer to avoid app stores and fragmentation and just give your customers a solid mobile experience. jQuery Mobile (the Javascript framework) may be your answer—and jQuery Mobile (the book) from O'Reilly Media is a great way to get started using this framework.

In jQuery Mobile, author Jon Reid does a top-notch job of introducing readers to the jQuery Mobile framework—first through some basic examples of page creation and navigation, then on to solid documentation on the framework itself, and finally by walking readers through a basic, though functional, jQuery Mobile-based Twitter client that incorporates multiple pages and UI components. The book is a quick read and easy to walk through—Reid's style is well-suited for this style of tutorial/documentation combo.

Two words of caution: If you don't already know jQuery (or, for that matter, Javascript), this book might be a little out-of-reach once Reid's tutorials get more in-depth. If you're already familiar with jQuery, you should have no problem working through the Twitter client tutorial and then on your own jQuery Mobile projects. Second, if you're looking for a reference to help you integrate jQuery Mobile with your application's server-side technology, this book will not help you—jQuery Mobile focuses strictly on client-side technology and does not provide detail on any back-end language (nor does it cover HTML5 concepts like offline caching). A few quick online searches should help you find more information in that regard.

All in all, jQuery Mobile (the book) is a solid introduction and reference to using modern web technologies to develop your next mobile-optimized web app—and jQuery Mobile (the framework) is an excellent combination of these technologies to help put mobile app development within the reach of developers who aren't quite ready to write the Web off just yet.

Note: I wrote this review for O'Reilly's Blogger Review Program and was given a copy of the book in return.