What is the best 'method' to do an online MOBILE Text Based 'App'?

Question

With all the different mobile phone browsers and the mobile market being so diverse I'm having a hard time deciding on a way to create a text based online game for mobile phones.

I was thinking about using HTML/CSS/Javascript for front-end and Python CGI for server-side (with a DB).

Now this seems like a very obvious choice... BUT I'm having a hard time finding the "limits" to each one... by that I mean at what point will a popular web browser stop 'supporting' a technology. Like when it comes to HTML I assume you cant use HTML5 features in all popular mobile browsers... or maybe some allow JS but not Jqueary... or maybe some don't allow some common CGI features or DOM is weird... I do not know.

I have read a few different tutorials on various mobile web browser development but nothing really helps to answer my question.

So what I'm asking is basically: 1) What languages/technologies do you recommend for a Text based mobile online multiplayer turn based browser game that will need to dynamically load a lot of info?(front front end to back end) 2) What are some common limitations between popular mobile web browsers I should look out for? I want to be compatible with all popular mobile web browsers.

Answer 1

One of the things to keep in mind is that there is a plethora of mobile browsers out there (Look here for details). So you are probably better off starting with iphone, android and blackberry and maaaybe opera mini browser support. These browsers have sophisticated java script support and you would be able to provide a good user experience. Later on you can work on supporting other mobile browsers.

Regarding your questions, if you look at these browser specs (and they are readily available on Internet) you will see that you will be able to use quite a bit of web technologies (HTML, CSS, Javascript, etc). That wont be a showstopper for you. Designing for a small screen, and a great user experience on small screens, that will make or break your game.