Mobile Tag

I recently had the opportunity to work for a client who wanted to develop what they termed "app indexing". What they meant by this was that they wanted their users to be directed into a specific screen of their iPhone app when they tapped on a particular Google search result. Put differently, they wanted the user to feel as if Google had returned search results specifically for their iPhone app. They also wanted to be able to send out links via email, SMS or other marketing channels. If the app was installed, opening such a link on their phone would result in the user being taken to the relevant points in the iPhone app. If the app wasn't installed then they would just be taken to the mobile website. The way this is achieved is through what Apple refer to as "Universal Links". In this post I'm going to discuss how we implemented Universal Links at a client of ours, some of the obstacles we faced, and how we overcame those obstacles.

Source code of a great webpage

Problem solving is a major aspect of software development, there are often many different solutions to a problem and a good developer will strive for the most simple without compromising maintainability. However, there are certain times when there’s simply no elegant way to solve a problem so you end up writing what’s commonly referred to in the industry as a hack. You probably won’t be proud of it and you might even have committed the code under a pseudonym so no one can git blame you, but however ugly, the hack still solves a problem and the next thing you know, you’re being asked to write a blog detailing its every hideous crevice.