The Smashing Editorial

About The Author

The Smashing Editorial The Smashing team loves high-quality content and cares about the little details. Through our online articles, Smashing Books, eBooks as well as Smashing Conferences, we are committed to stimulating creativity and strengthening the web design community’s creative forces.

Welcome To The Smashing Mobile Section!

This Mobile section of Smashing Magazine is curated by our editor Derek Allard and features articles on best and emerging practices for responsive Web design, Web apps and native apps. While the mobile Web is still in its infancy, we can learn from the experiences of professionals who are working on mobile every day. Introducing Derek Allard Every day new articles are written with new...

This Mobile section of Smashing Magazine is curated by our editor Derek Allard and features articles on best and emerging practices for responsive Web design, Web apps and native apps. While the mobile Web is still in its infancy, we can learn from the experiences of professionals who are working on mobile every day.

What type of content can you expect?

By and large, Derek will be presenting specific, actionable articles on techniques you can use in your work today. From responsive website design to mobile Web apps to native apps to testing techniques..We’ll highlight techniques and tools and case studies that you can all learn from, comment on and help drive the conversation to shape the mobile space.

Of course, if you have an idea for an article please don't hesitate to get in touch with Derek directly — he truly values the amazing community of Smashing Magazine readers (heck, I've been one for years!) and want you involved.

Introducing Derek Allard

Derek Allard“I’ve been working on the Web since the late 1990s and still remember the days of the original browser wars. Over the years, I’ve worked for large companies, small design shops and as a freelance design/developer. I have been on the front lines of working with clients to determine the best approach to meet their mobile needs and I pride myself on continuing to learn every day.

Mobile is the brave, new frontier in digital design and it is an exciting time to be involved with all things mobile! When Vitaly first asked me to serve as the editor of this new mobile section—I will confess—I was a bit apprehensive. Sure, I've worked on mobile projects, but there is so much more that is unknown in this space. Best practices are still emerging. New technologies are still emerging. Every day new articles are written with new techniques, new strategies and new thinking. And that's when it occurred to me... all of us are in that same boat! My hope in serving as the mobile editor is that I can help steer the conversation to practical, worthwhile thinking that we can all benefit from.

Serving as the editor of this mobile section is an honor. Over the past few months I have connected with many of the best minds in mobile and worked with them to develop articles that I trust you will find insightful and educational as we make this journey into the brave, new mobile frontier... together.

Currently, I work at Gravity Switch, an innovative Web design shop located in Northampton, MA. I specialize in working with ExpressionEngine and have a bent towards website optimization through the use of analytical tools. I also present workshops regularly on a wide range of topics related to design and development and I am frequently found conversing on Twitter @derekallard.

When not working I am an avid cyclist (rode over 5,000 miles last year!), a dabbler at the piano and the wrangler of a 10 pound chihuahua/yorkie terrier… that my wife picked out.”


More Articles on

Removing Stumbling Blocks In Mobile Forms

by Robert Brauer

A few weeks ago, I was quite surprised when I saw the pavement quickly approaching while I was out for a walk. Laying there stunned, I soon realized what had happened: I fell. Ouch. B-minus. I normally try to be as attentive as possible, but this time a big crack in the pavement caught my shoe and threw me completely off balance.

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Why We Shouldn't Make Separate Mobile Websites

by Bruce Lawson

There has been a long-running war going on over the mobile Web: it can be summarized with the following question: "Is there a mobile Web?" That is, is the mobile device so fundamentally different that you should make different websites for it, or is there only one Web that we access using a variety of different devices? Acclaimed usability pundit Jakob Nielsen thinks that you should make...

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The Art Of Launching An App: A Case Study

by John Casey

You’ve made your first app! Now what? Anyone in the app business knows that marketing an app is tough. And according to a recent article on TechCrunch, “Getting a mobile app noticed in the increasingly crowded mobile app market is more difficult than ever.” Some titles and concepts are truly unique. Angry Birds? Its title and screenshot alone were enough to catapult it to number one in...

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