The web gets more “Responsive”
We access data on many different platforms these days with Tablets and smart-phones taking over many duties once reserved for our desktops and laptops. Each of these have different screen sizes which has caused Web Designers and Developers to use techniques for displaying content on this growing range of devices. By using CSS media-queries and sometimes javascript, we can tailor the users’ experience to which device they are viewing on by adding, removing, or restructuring the page to display the content best. The Boston Globe offers an excellent example of responsive mobile web design with its recent redesign. Give it a shot by going to the site on your desktop, tablet and/or smartphone and see how each layout is optimized for that device.
Prediction: With the mobile industry booming, demand for responsive and mobile only layouts will not only grow rapidly but become a staple of modern web design projects.
iPhone/iPad go quad-core
The fancy dual-core A5 processors in your iPhone 4s or iPad 2 might not be the latest and greatest with Apple’s next iteration of iProducts. Developers recently got their hands on the new 5.1 beta versions of Apple’s iOS and noticed references for not only core 0 and core 1 but cores 2 and 3 as well (Most programming languages begin counting at 0 instead of 1).
Prediction: Apple launches a blistering A6 quad-core processor for the next iPhone and iPad.
RIM goes Android
With RIM rapidly losing both developers and market share, Blackberry needs to get app developers on their side before they can mount a resurgence into the mobile market. Almost all smart-phones take high-quality pictures, have GPS, can surf the web, and so on. The conversation now seems to be what apps are available for your device and how well does it run them.
Prediction: This probably will not happen in 2012, but I see the struggling handset manufacturing joining the Android crowd in hopes of regaining market share through its growing Android Market and revitalizing the once dominant brand.
Fight for the web rages on
A dominant tech headline towards the end of 2011 was in regards to the Protect-IP and SOPA bills. These bills define and implement new rules for policing content on the internet. While the bills were originally drafted in hopes of stopping, or at least containing, online piracy; many fear it could severely cripple free speech online and negatively impact the internet we know today.
Prediction: Whichever side you are on, I believe a precedent will be set in 2012 that impacts our freedom on the web for better or worse.
