Monthly Archives: April 2012

Weekend Roundup: Fiddle Favorites

“Only Robinson Crusoe had everything done by Friday.”

-Unknown Author

With the first quarter of 2012 now just about in the books, it is tempting to take a minute and reflect on the events that have taken place so far this year. Unfortunately for us, trying to wrap our head around all the enormous leaps and near light-speed developments that have gotten us where we are today would likely make our heads literally explode and in turn probably put a damper on our productivity today. That’s why instead we’ll stick to what we always do, and keep our fond reminiscing to just the week past. Here are some of the stories we loved this week.

  • If you haven’t seen Google’s Mobile Playbook that was released this week, drop everything (unless you’re reading this while holding a small child) and go read it now. Amazing information, awesome ideas, and really fantastic advice. Of course once you finish reading it, make sure to come back to your favorite mobile web blog (ahem) for more cool stuff.
  • Remember that guy you saw on the subway who was smelling his phone? Well, it turns out he might not actually be crazy.

That’s all for now everyone, time to put April in the books and coast on into May. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for new developments from us here t FiddleFly, as well as in the world of mobile. We’ll be doing the same so make sure to follow and find us on Twitter @fiddlefly , Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.


Taking customization to the next level, one widget at a time.

When we sat down to build the new fiddlefly platform, we put together a long list of initiatives that we wanted to accomplish to make our software the most incredible on the market. On that list were things like ease of use, speed, and functionality, but maybe the most important goal we set was to make sure the platform was extremely flexible. In web design, flexibility equals enhanced customization, and this week we have yet again taken strides to do just that.

Last week a customer came to us looking to include a mortgage calculator widget into his mobile site. The idea seemed like a useful one so we went ahead and found a custom Java Script for the widget and popped it into our system.

Not only does the calculator display the loan you won’t qualify for, it also utilizes the processors in individual phones rather than working off of a server, thus ensuring that the new feature does not slow down loading time.

Because the new widget was such a hit, it got us thinking. Why not set up a feature within the fiddlefly interface that allows the incorporation of ANY custom widget? Well naturally, that’s exactly what we have done.

Now when you are building mobile sites, you can simply drag and drop in the “Custom Code” feature, and either paste or write in the custom Java code for any widget or program you would like to incorporate on your site. You can host any images or files right on the platform itself and copy the URLs straight into your code.

This new feature lets you cater to the exact needs of clients and build them sites with features users need but no one else has. For restaurants, add a tip calculator to help streamline delivery. For an art gallery, add a slideshow widget to showcase some of the collection. No matter what business you’re building a site for, now you can offer unique and useful new options.

We here at FiddleFly know the importance of always trying to stay ahead of the mobile web. The market is always evolving and new features and operations like our custom widgets will not only help you keep up, they will help you lead the charge.

Let us know what you think about our new feature and tell us about some of the awesome widgets you have built or found. As always, follow and find us on Twitter @fiddlefly ,Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

Weekend Roundup: Fiddle Favorites

“There is little chance that meteorologists can solve the mysteries of weather until they gain an understanding of the mutual attraction of rain and weekends.”

~Arnot Sheppard

It feels like just about every Friday we mention what a crazy and exciting week it has been here at FiddleFly. Maybe we’re slipping slowly into lunacy, or maybe that is just the plight of the startup business in a market that is exploding faster than any we’ve ever seen. Either way, as usual it’s time to take a look back at some of the stories that had our eyes peeled and our heads spinning from the week past.

That’s not nearly all, but it shall have to do for now as we have a beautiful Friday to enjoy. Go forth fiddle friends and enjoy your weekend. Keep your eyes peeled for some new developments on our website (wink wink) next week and be sure to keep in touch by finding us on Twitter @fiddlefly, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

Will wallets go the way of the Walkman?

One of the most interesting things about trolling the tech blogosphere is coming across new technologies that look to change the way we live our lives. It seems almost daily we are hearing about gadgets and ideas that will revolutionize the way we interact. From IKEA’s smart TV, to the James Bondesque Pebble smartwatch, to that little Project Glass thing from some company called Google, the market is ripe with innovation, and the world of ecommerce is no different.

A story that caught our attention today out of the UK, where the financial services company Barclay’s announced the introduction of its newest feature, a pay tag that attaches to mobile devices and allows near field communications (NFC) payments. Although technically the pay tag can attach to anything, the folks at Barclay’s designed and recommend it for use with smartphones, citing the notion that ,”the item we’re most lost without is our mobile phone”.

We’ve seen companies again and again take strides to make mobile payments simpler and more efficient, however more often than not these initiatives are of the digital variety. Companies like Facebook and Google have addressed the flaws in mobile billing and mobile payments publically, and while there may not yet be a perfect solution, the wheels are in motion.

What is so interesting about Barclay’s initiative however, is that it does not neglect the fact that mobile users are actually mobile themselves. An improved mobile web allows for connectivity free of spatial restrictions, so in theory the mobile web should actually promote more physical interaction and increased user mobility. Though Barclay’s initiative does not specifically utilize the mobile web (as the pay tag functions identically as a standard credit card) it will end up being the perfect complement. Now after mobile users search for a restaurant or shop via their smartphones, they can visit it and pay with the same device.

Of course, the pay tag method seems practically antiquated already. It feels almost inevitable that smartphone producers will eventually embed chips that allow the same type of physical payments, but for now the pay tag seems like a step in the right direction.

Smartphones and mobile devices have unified the web community, and innovations like adding NFC technology to these devices will only further unify the consumer commerce experience.

So, unfortunately for all those luxury leather retailers out there, the end of the need for carrying a wallet may be near. If we may make a quick suggestion, it may be time to do yourselves a favor and start making phone covers.

Tell us what you think about mobile commerce, and as always, follow and find us on Twitter @fiddlefly ,Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

Don’t strip down for mobile

Don’t strip down for mobile

Last week, a major war of words fell upon the blog/Twitter/online landscape when one of the mobile web’s biggest contributors Jakob Nielson wrote a blog about best practices in mobile web design. One of Nielson’s arguments was that when designing for mobile, you should strip content down to streamline the user experience. What followed was a series of rebuttals that were, let’s just say, not so friendly (for example, this one, or this, or this little number). While we may not be quite ready to light torches and gather a posse, we here at FiddleFly were glad to see such a passionate uproar in defense of the mobile web experience.

Something we try our best to impress upon people is to always remember that the mobile web is a different medium. That’s why we’re not huge fans of responsive design as a fix-all solution. However, just as important as remembering that mobile and desktop are different experiences, is remembering that the mobile experience is not an inferior one.

Marketers tend to think of mobile users as on-the-go individuals who are accessing mobile sites for quick information or references, but those marketers are forgetting that mobile means anywhere, including the couch, the office, the waiting room, etc. Mobile needs to be a complete experience, not an abbreviated one, as more and more we are seeing web users access the internet exclusively from mobile devices.

So, how do you build a site that is compact and direct enough for users on the move yet complex and intricate enough for users with time on their hands? Well, that is the challenge of great mobile web design, but it is not as tall a task as it may seem.

The key to building dynamic yet flexible sites lies in using all of your resources optimally. For example, if you are trying to incorporate a lot of photo or video content and are worried about flooding your site and slowing down load times, you might consider taking some of the content and storing it on a company Facebook page and then linking directly to that page from your site. If you want to create a splash page with a creative and exciting intro video or animation but are afraid of boring returning users, include a link to skip the video.

Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg and you should always be looking for ways to give your mobile users more. Little maneuvers like these don’t take much more than some simple keystrokes, however they will show your users that you have taken the time to consider their experience in full. If mobile users visit a site and can immediately tell that whomever designed the site understands the importance of creating a complete mobile experience, the users will not only stick around, but they will come back for more.

Let us know your thoughts on Jakob Nielson’s article, his detractors, and your own opinions about mobile design. As always, follow and find us on Twitter @fiddlefly ,Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

Weekend Roundup: Fiddle Favorites

Weekends don’t count unless you spend them doing something completely pointless.

~ Bill Waterson

We had a big week here at FiddleFly. Not only did we see more traffic on our site than ever before (and a sincere thank you to all of our visitors) but we also celebrated our one year anniversary this Wednesday. It has been a crazy ride these last twelve months, but we’re only getting started, so get ready for some big things from the FiddleFly team. For now, enjoy some of our favorite stories and mobile happenings from the past week:

  • Venture Beat held a mobile summit this week and executives from all over the web and mobile industries gathered to discuss the mobile web. The big message that came from the summit: Mobile is facing all the same problems the web faced in the 90′s. History repeats itself indeed.

That’s all for now, we’re headed out to celebrate the first weekend of year number two. We hope you all have a good one yourselves, and make sure to keep your eyes peeled for news and developments from the world of mobile. We know we certainly will be so remember to follow and find us on Twitter @fiddlefly ,Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

Industry heavyweights give up a billion dollars for Lent.

Maybe there was simply some lingering cheer left over from the holiday weekend, or maybe there’s something in the air that the rest of us aren’t seeing, but yesterday it seemed the climate was just right for some huge, HUGE checks to be signed. We all heard about team Zuckerburg and its billion-dollar acquisition of everyone’s new favorite photo sharing program Instagram, but the Facebook gang wasn’t the only one making game-changing moves on a not-so-quiet Monday.

Yesterday, Microsoft announced it would be buying 800 patents from AOL for just over a billion dollars, and, not to be outdone, AT&T announced its own billion dollar deal, selling its majority stake in Yellow Pages to Cerberus Capital. All of these transactions made big headlines in business publications worldwide, but as always our interest is focused on the mobile world, which promises to see a significant impact from each of these deals.

The obvious place to start in this discussion is with the darling deal of market Monday, which saw Facebook realize its biggest weakness, photo sharing, and address it by tossing a defensive billion dollars at one of its biggest threats. While the deal was a genius tactical business move (if you can wrap your head around the concept of spending a billion dollars being tactical), it also promises to have some major impacts on the mobile web landscape.

With Facebook being the most downloaded app of all time, and Instagram climbing the charts faster than any app ever, the two forming an alliance makes perfect sense and is sure to change the way we share photos on the go. We’ve already seen the folks at Facebook make big strides in supporting the mobile web with their commitment to web-based apps, and bringing one of the most effective mobile photo sharing companies along for the ride will only help their case.

AT&T may have been on the other side of the buyers and sellers table yesterday, but that certainly doesn’t mean the company won’t see a benefit in terms of its mobile presence thanks to yesterday’s blockbuster deal. While selling a down-trending company won’t necessarily skyrocket AT&T’s business, and the company itself admits it expects to see little financial benefit from the sale, jettisoning Yellow Pages will allow AT&T to turn its focus to mobile initiatives in a hope to compete with competitors’ growing businesses.

While AT&T was cutting the fat to look to the future, Microsoft was busy doing some strategizing of its own. AOL has long been looking to transition to a more media-focused initiative, recently purchasing The Huffington Post and Techcrunch, so Microsoft was happy to buy up 800 tech patents from AOL, many of which were mobile-oriented. Microsoft has been very publically trying to keep up with competition in the mobile game such as Apple and Google’s Android market, and the acquisition of a slew of new patents may be just the beginning for the tech giant.

So, which billion-dollar baby will have the biggest impact on the mobile world? Well, despite the insistence from the folks at Facebook that nothing will change at Instagram, the sale likely has the most immediate implications of the three moves. Easier sharing of better photos, all streamlined through the mobile landscape, will almost instantly change the way we connect and communicate.

In the long run however, the new weapons that Microsoft acquired may end up being the biggest game-changer. We’ve seen Apple falter sans-Steve Jobs before, and considering some recent slip-ups, it’s not altogether crazy to think it may happen again. Of course, there’s a new rival that Microsoft will have to face head on this time around in the form of a little company called Google, but however the game shakes out, it’s going to get interesting.

Tell us about your thoughts on the billion-dollar deal day we just saw in the comments section below and of course make sure to follow and find us on Twitter @fiddlefly , Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest for more mobile web

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