Blaze New Media

After this morning’s announcement from Apple, it’s interesting to consider the possible impact of the iPod touch on a web developer’s world.

The iPod touch is Apple’s new touch screen iPod offering. It’s essentially an iPhone without the phone features. It includes Wi-Fi, as well as the Safari web browser for internet access.

The crucial difference between the iPod touch and iPhone however, is the fact Apple is selling the iPod touch worldwide from the end of September.

Apple have already sold over 100m iPods, not all of which were full sized versions, but it gives an idea of the numbers. This means there is the possibility of many millions of people with the ability to browse the web on a quality mobile device. As Steve Jobs said, this is not the watered-down mobile web, this is the full web experience.

What does this mean for Web Developers?

With the potential for millions of people to use their iPod to browse the web, it could become a significant platform. It definitely will become a platform that needs to be tested on by developers, making sure that sites work with the screen-size and interface.

However, the bigger question is when will clients start requesting “iPod enabled” websites? We have already seen the likes of Digg and Facebook creating iPhone specific interfaces, making use of the iPhone’s screen size and touch interface.

I wonder if it will ever get to a point in time where people head on over to your website or web app and expect an “iPod enabled” interface?

Lots of things to consider, but you can see how the inclusion of a web browser on the iPod opens the doors to many new possibilities.

What are your thoughts?

Create a great new YikeSite theme before October 5th and you may well wind up with a new iPhone heading your way.

Head on over to the YikeSite Blog for more details on the contest. It’s even open to non-US residents.

As part of their one year anniversary, Smashing Magazine have compiled answers to six questions from fifty web professionals across the globe. It’s yet another excellent insight and resource from them.

As with their previous article a few months back, I was again flattered to be asked to contribute. The questions this time around were a little more in-depth, as a result there are some really well thought out, high quality answers in there.

They have split the article into two parts, with the first part covering the first three questions. The second part will be released later in the week.

Head over and check it out, it’s an excellent read and it was a lot of fun taking part.

YikeSite – a brand new rails based CMS solution launched this afternoon. I just got back from the launch party, and they had great cake!

YikeSite offers the best of both worlds. It’s simple enough for the technically challenged to log in and edit their website, but also offers advanced customization functions and a theme API for the more technically astute.

Jeff Ward who is the president of Animikii, and the chief brain behind the YikeSite project was recently interviewed by The Web 2.0 Show. If you’re interested in listening to what Jeff had to say about the project and the development process, head on over and download the MP3.

I recently worked with Jeff and Animikii to design and code the public website and default template for YikeSite. It was really awesome to work with them, especially on such a new and cool project.

If you’re looking to start up an easy to maintain website, or want to get your clients using something they can understand, give YikeSite a shot.

People emailing me over the past couple of days may have had their messages rejected. My domain registration expired two days ago, and I wasn’t notified to renew it. Everything should be back up and working now, sorry for the outage!

Please try resending your messages.