Some Random Moblog

On an average day, I use the Internet on at least 5 different web browsers; Chrome on my work PC (for general browsing), Firefox on my work PC (for personal/design-related tasks), Internet Explorer on my work PC (for work applications which, for one reason or another, don’t work in anything else), Safari on my iPhone, and the in-application browser in my iPhone’s Twitter client.

The point of the Web, the problem it was designed to solve, was to create a single platform for sharing information across networks, computers, operating systems and software. But it isn’t quite working out that way.

A Wired article talks about the idea of the Internet fracturing into separate systems- as any language or system of communication in history has done in some way or other. Well, I think it’s already happening. My iPhone has a great browser, but it can’t deal with Flash (which seems to be more of a problem with Flash than the iPhone- I’m aware that some mobile phones can “do” Flash, but I’m not aware of any that do it well.) Some sites won’t work in Chrome or Firefox; although they are few and far between these days, they do still exist- mainly B2B applications which can get away with it, or can’t justify the expense of moving away from a Microsoft-based framework (depending on your perspective, I suppose.)

Then there are the applications; PC applications that use services my iPhone can’t see, iPhone applications using services my console can’t see.

But what of the future? Well, the next big move for the web is going from the computer screen to the TV screen, and dealing with the challenges that presents. I can use my PC or PS3 to look at a web page on my TV, but I either have to deal with the “incompatibility” of a keyboard and mouse with the position I am in when reclining on a sofa, or the tedious problem of entering text into an address bar or search engine using a game controller pad.

Project Canvas aims to bring online video to the TV, while Microsoft are bringing Facebook and Twitter to the Xbox- but without web browser, are they “solving” the problem? Will I be able to click a link to see what’s being shared with me? And without cracking the UI problem of bringing the keyboard and mouse interface, is it really worth having a browser that’s almost unusable?

Then there is the problem of my browser cookies; I can log into a service to check my emails or RSS feeds, but have to do it all over again if I move from one device to another- and I’m not even going to bother trying to put my reasonably secure password into my PS3 (with a combination of letters, numbers and upper/lower case characters.) If sites want to start introducing paywalls (as Rupert Murdoch is keen to do) then this is a problem that they are going to have to solve now, as it’s going to get more significant.

For me, the web is already fragmented; different services that just don’t work with different devices. But here’s the strange thing; it’s not that bad. Anyone who was using Firefox or a mobile browser just a few years ago will know that it’s getting better- not worse. The devices are improving, websites are getting better designed, more standards-compliant and more accessible.

The mobile phone could be the thing that solves it. If I can use my mobile instead of my browser- the one thing that is always with me- to store cookies, passwords and bookmarks, and use its touch screen as a controller for my TV-connected device (something I already do with the Air Mouse iPhone app) then I could hop from screen to screen without a worry.

So to me, a “fragmented web” is a current problem that is being solved, not a future threat. At least for now…