Google's Mobile Search Not New to Developers

Do you hear that sound? That's the sound of millions of web developers frantically coding to make their websites compatible with Google's new search algorithm, which requires websites to be more mobile-friendly on a mobile device. If web developers fail to meet the new standards by April 21, their websites sink to the bottom of the search results.

With so much revenue at stake, search and financial experts have labeled the event with phrases like "Mobilegeddon" and "Mobilepocalypse". But before you start comparing Google's proposal to the end of the world, you might want to take a little history lesson. The truth is, Google's announcement should not come as a surprise to any web developer, even if Google didn't warn the community months in advance that they were planning to do this (hint: they did).

Further truth be told, instead of placing blame on Google, Google should be praised for rewarding websites that adhere to some pretty fair standards, such as making sure text isn't too small to read, that the viewport fits your display, and making sure the links are big enough and separated enough to tap precisely.

The technology that makes all of this possible is the HTML5 document object model. HTML5 didn't sneak into people's lives. The technology was finalized in October 2014. CSS2.1 followed in December, and JavaScript made its debut back in 1995.

The iPhone first modernized mobile web browsing in 2007.

HTML4? The W3C finalized HTML5's predecessor back in 1997, three years before XHTML was released.

Now listen to that sound again. Among the millions of web developers trying to make their websites compliant with a standard that was set eight years ago, there are a few thousand working on beautiful, energy-efficient websites that respond to mobile devices and retina displays. These are the people who know their history, have been practicing future-facing technologies like SVG, Adobe Creative Cloud and Picturefill, and have their eyes set on the future of web design. These are the people you want to hire.

If he isn't talking about websites, Vance is probably learning about the latest web technologies. As a trainer with over 120 certifications on his LinkedIn profile, Vance respects the past but is always looking towards the future.