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Enterprise Guide to
HTML5 Mobile
Re-defining enterprise mobility with a
cross-platform delivery strategy.
TimeWave Media
HTML5 is redefining the possibilities of enterprise
mobility. With the explosive emergence of mobile
devices in today’s workplaces, IT has entered a
new paradigm. Today’s digital channel reaches far
beyond the desktop - smartphones and tablets are
revolutionizing the way users interact with data.
With a constantly evolving mix of hardware plat-
forms, device display sizes, and screen resolutions;
A Multi-Screen Reality
The desktop environment has been the primary mode
of enterprise data consumption for the past 35 years,
but it is no longer the only player in town. The rise of
smartphones and tablets and their associated software
applications has fundamentally changed the way in
which users interact with data.
the challenge and goal is to provide the best mobile
experience to as many users as possible. HTML5
mobile applications transcend the limitations of hardware fragmentation by harnessing the web browser
as a common abstraction layer for the delivery of
data, allowing users to access application content
from the device of their choice.
This paper provides a brief overview of HTML5
technologies and considers the factors for the
increasing adoption of HTML5 in contemporary
enterprise mobility solutions.
Today’s mobile-enabled workforce is increasingly
sophisticated. Correspondingly, expectations for
quality of user experience in the mobile channel
have also risen. Enterprise mobility initiatives must
deliver a caliber of user experience that meets or
exceeds contemporary user and market expectations.
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Enterprise Guide to HTML5 Mobile
TimeWave Media
Mobile Workforce
At the core of the native app versus web app delivery
Mobile devices in the workplace provide easier
debate is the reality of hardware fragmentation: there
times. These devices serve as elegant interface
An enterprise mobility strategy is inherently tied to
business application data. Net gains of enterprise
reach and coverage considerations.
employee productivity. Indirectly, enterprise
A common denominator shared between 95% of
contemporary workspaces and corporate cultures
browser standards. By taking advantage of these
access to information, in more places, and at more
are a deluge of devices that need to be catered for.
extensions for accessing rich stores of pre-existing
its data delivery method and associated hardware
mobility efforts are directly realized in overall
mobilility initiatives help to foster progressive
today’s smart devices is web access with WebKit
within a given organization.
agreed upon browser standards, today’s enterprise
mobile applications are increasingly utilizing the
web as their means for delivering application con-
A Web Delivery Strategy
Enterprise mobile applications are here, but there is
tent, simultaneously reaching many devices and
platforms with the same set of reusable code
an important co-dependent consideration associated
and data.
and data? Currently, there are two basic ways in
The mobile web delivery approach stands in stark
delivered through a piece of software running as a
many IT departments had adopted during the early
or it can be delivered through the device’s internet
this strategy is that the list of mobile devices keeps
with this: how will users access application content
which this can be achieved: data can either be
contrast to the native delivery approach, which
native application on the device’s operating system
years of enterprise mobility efforts. The issue with
browser via standard web markup languages.
expanding and managing the content delivery and
updates of independent codebases for multiple device
platforms is time and resource intensive compared
to its alternative: HTML5 mobile apps.
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Enterprise Guide to HTML5 Mobile
TimeWave Media
HTML5 Mobile Apps
HTML5 Mobile Frameworks
HTML5 mobile apps are created using a family
Migrating and retrofitting pre-existing services to
data delivery standards (AJAX, JSON, YQL, etc.)
are now HTML5 mobile development frameworks
of web languages (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) and
that designers and developers can combine and
manipulate in order to create powerful applications
within the user’s web browser that look and feel
like native applications across desktop, handset,
and tablet devices. In an HTML5 app: the HTML
defines the structure of the content, the CSS handles
the visual presentation of the user interface, and the
JavaScript manages the behaviors of the app.
mobile environments has never been easier. There
available that standardize, as well as simplify, the
process of requesting pre-existing service data and
binding that data to mobile interface elements and
views. Utilizing these modular user interface libraries
allows mobility teams to drastically reduce project
resource and timeframe requirements for HTML5
app development.
The Rise of Sencha Touch
One framework in particular, Sencha Touch, has
radically disrupted the HTML5 mobile development
HTML5 mobile apps are delivered through the web
browser, but they are more than just mobile websites:
they are rich web applications. HTML5 mobile apps
are unimpeded by app store ecosystem limitations;
they are always accessible, and updates as well as
bug-fixes are a seamless affair - no user prompts or
downloads are required to update the users’ current
running version of the app.
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Enterprise Guide to HTML5 Mobile
space by allowing a degree of cross-device cohesion
that has been unheard of until now. The framework
provides the foundation for enterprise IT to seemlessly extend and manage the virtualization of
existing services across today’s mobile devices.
With features like hardware acceleration and
state-management baked into the core, Sencha
Touch is focused on allowing teams to create highperformance HTML5 mobile apps that work on an
ever-growing list of web-enabled smart devices.
TimeWave Media
Sencha Touch is built off of the architectural found-
ation of Sencha Ext JS, an industry-tested and proven
JavaScript framework that allows developers to use
a model-view-controller (MVC) architecture when
building apps; enabling a modular approach for
defining user interface components and interactions.
At its core, the Sencha Touch framework provides
an underlying architectural flexibility, maintaining
the capacity to seemlessly implement modifications
or new feature iterations at will. Project timeframes
and associated resources required for Sencha Touch
development projects are also exponentially less than
their native alternatives. Utilizing a Sencha Touchbased HTML5 delivery layer is a flexible, cost-
effective, and broad-reaching delivery approach for
enterprise IT mobile intitiatives.
As an agency, we utilize HTML5 framework libraries
extensively in development. We actively advocate
leveraging Sencha Touch to allow clients the ability
to conveniently bundle their pre-existing software
services and data for repackaged delivery targeted at
today’s web-enabled smart devices.
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Enterprise Guide to HTML5 Mobile
HTML5 Going Forward
HTML5 has changed the realities of enterprise
mobility. The mobile web now has the ability to
deliver rich browser-based user experiences that
more than rival native apps. HTML5 mobile frameworks like Sencha Touch are fueling the rapid progression and evolution of this development space.
As more mobile devices continue to come online,
the growth, influence, and importance of the mobile
web will continue to be realized.
HTML5 sits as the technological cornerstone of
this new mobile paradigm. It is the thread that binds
today’s divergent device hardware and protocols
together, a major factor for why contemporary enterprise mobility initiatives are increasingly turning
to HTML5 for their own immersive cross-platform
mobile solutions.
© 2012 TimeWave Media, LLC
www.timewavemedia.com
[email protected]
TimeWave Media is a creative agency dedicated
to developing great user experiences in the digital
channel. TimeWave Media works with clients to
discover and deliver solutions across the desktop,
handset, and tablet mediums. The agency serves as
an infrastructure partner for clients seeking flexible
best-in-class technology solutions.
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