Friday, July 25, 2014

How to list your app on top using app store optimization?

Let’s face it, the mobile apps industry has grown multi-folds over the past few years and continues to grow at staggering rates. With hundreds if not thousands of apps under similar categories already competing over the top positions, new app developers don’t seem to have much chance at even getting noticed, that is, unless they are considering to work on their App Store Optimization (ASO).

ASO is similar to SEO, however, for optimization of their mobile apps’ ranking. At present the app industry is split between two major players in terms of market share – Apple’s iOS and Android. Let’s have a look at them.

Google Play for Android

Android is an open source platform and has slightly greater market share and correspondingly more apps under its belt than its counterpart; which doesn't necessarily mean it has “better” apps though. Also, android seems to show an increase in its share, during the course of coming years due to this open sourced nature of the platform.

Apple’s iOS Store

Apple’s iOS on the other hand is not an open source platform, hence, the number of apps available in iOS Store is comparably less. Yet Apple is making more revenue from its apps than Google Play, in-spite of android having more apps and more downloads per app.

App Store Optimization Techniques to optimize your Apps:

Here is a quick tip to help you optimize your apps to hit the top lists.

1  App Titles

An app title is the most important aspect, keeping it small and making sure it highlights the apps main function will add to your ASO. The ideal recommendation for an app titles is 25 characters or less, as longer titles do not appear appealing when viewed through small screens of a mobile devices.

2  App Description

A short and clear explanation on what the app is about on what it does. Consider this as the place where you market your app, so make sure to provide all the necessary details, while making sure it is still short enough for users accessing through mobile devices to understand it preciously. As any misleading information here could lead to your app getting a lot of negative feedback, which obviously is what we are trying to avoid.

3  App Icon / Logo

Make sure you spend your time and effort on developing an icon/logo for your app. Get creative here and make it happen, never ignore this aspect of the app, as it is one of the key for ASO. Developing one that represents the essence of the app is going to make a great difference too.

4  Category

How else are the users going to be able to find your app, if you are not categorizing it under the right one? When not clear on which category your app will fall under, it is best to scope through the different categories, analyze other similar app and the category they are posted in. If the app falls under multiple categories then place it in the one that’s most appropriate.

5  Screenshots / Videos

Users like to have a look at the app before downloading it, be it a game or any other application; this is where you can capture this interest. A neat screenshot or a video demo (Google Play) increases interest and trust, leading to more download probability.

6  Google Play – Google Plus

As, both are products of Google, a Google Plus plugin of your app is also available. More pluses your apps get in it the more likely your app could end up being on top. Use this feature wisely.

7  iOS Store – Keywords

Follow the recommendations of Apple and Keep your keywords as unique as possible and avoid dumping of generic keywords. This could prove counter-productive.

Following these tips will greatly boost your app’s ranking on both the Google Play and iOS Store. However, like all this in like – practice makes perfect.

Monday, July 14, 2014

Browser based video formats in HTML5

Video formats are diverse and each of them can be used in a specified browsers. Few of the video formats are MP4, VP8, VP9, Theora and so on. There are lots of browsers being used in the web. Most of the web developers are not aware of the latest browsers and the video formats supported by the browsers, they automatically use the prescribed or default video formats. In order to display the videos without any plugins, HTML 5 launched an element called ‘video element’.

Let us have brief information about the Video element of HTML 5 and the browser-based video formats in this article…

HTML 5 Supported Video Formats
HTML5 does not state which video formats should be supported browsers. If a video format is appropriate, the browser can support them for free. But, content authors will not allow them to do so, as they consider that the browsers have no least set of video formats to support.

The HTML5 Working Group states that, each browser should support at least one video format. That ideal format of a video should hold the following constraints:
  • Royalty-free
  • Good image quality
  • Low decode processor use
  • Good compression
  • Hardware video decoder must be present with software decoder for a video format. 


Video Element of HTML 5
To download a video file in a browser, two methods are used:
  • JavaScript canPlayType() function

Type refers to the MIME (Multi-Purpose Internet Mail Extension) type and the list of codecs. This instructs the browser to decode the file.
  •  <source>

Fallback is supported by the ‘video’ element through the multiple sources specifications. <source> can be any number of elements. The file to be downloaded can be picked by the browser.

Browser- based Video Formats
Theora and WebM are the free formats. MPEG-4 is the non-free format. The most common browser-based video formats in HTML 5 are:
  • Theora
  • H.264 (MP4)
  • VP8
  • VP9
  • MPEG 4
Let us see in detail about the browser-based video formats regarding their operating systems, versions, and the browsers to be used.
 
Theora


Theora
Browser
OS
Latest Version
3.0
Google Chrome
35.0.1916.153
35.0.1916.153
Manual
Internet Explorer
Windows
11.09
3.5
Mozilla Firefox
Windows 7+, Vista, Linux,  Android and others
30.0
ESR 24.6.0
2.3
Android
Android
4.2.1 Jelly Bean
2.28
Web
All supported
3.12.2
10.50
Opera
Windows Presto,
Windows OS, Linux, FreeBSD
12.17, 22.0.1471.7,
12.16

r18297
Chromium
Unix, & others
-
Manual
Safari
OSX
7.0.5, 6.1.5
4.4
Konqueror
All supported
4.13.1

 
H.264 (MP4)


MP4
Browser
OS
Latest Version
3.0
Google Chrome
35.0.1916.153
9.0, 9.0, 10.0
Internet Explorer
Windows, Windows Phone, Windows RT
11.09, 10.0, 10.0
21.0, 22.0, 26.0, 17.0
Mozilla Firefox
Windows 7+, Vista, Linux,  Android
30.0
ESR 24.6.0
3.0
Android
Android
4.2.1 Jelly Bean
2.28
Web
All supported
3.12.2
11.50
Opera
20 for Android
12.0.22 for Symbian S60
10.0 for Windows Mobile
3.1
Safari
OSX
7.0.5, 6.1.5
Manual
Chromium
Unix
-
4.4
Konqueror
All supported
4.13.1
 
 VP8


VP8
Browser
OS
Latest Version
6.0
Google Chrome
35.0.1916.153
Manual
Internet Explorer
Windows
11.09
4.0
Mozilla Firefox
Windows 7+, Vista, Linux,  Android & others
30.0
ESR 24.6.0
2.3
Android
Android
4.2.1 Jelly Bean
2.28
Web
All supported
3.12.2

11.50

10.50
Opera
20 for Android, 12.0.22 for Symbian S60
10.0 for Windows Mobile
Windows Presto,
Windows OS, Linux, FreeBSD
Manual
Safari
OSX
7.0.5, 6.1.5
r47759
Chromium
Unix
-
4.4
Konqueror
All supported
4.13.1


 VP9


VP9
Browser
OS
Latest Version
29.0
Google Chrome
35.0.1916.153
-
Internet Explorer
-
28.0
Mozilla Firefox
Windows 7+, Vista, Linux,  Android & others
30.0
ESR 24.6.0
-
Android
-
2.28
Web
All supported
3.12.2
16.0
Opera
20 for Android
12.0.22 for Symbian S60
10.0 for Windows Mobile
-
Safari
-
-
r172738
Chromium
Unix
-
4.4
Konqueror
All supported
4.13.1
   
MPEG 4/H.264

This format is widely used. It has good speed, video quality, hardware decoders, and compression.


H.264 is used in MP4 format, with Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) audio. Users of MP4 should hold the licences of both AAC and H.264. This format is supported by Apple and Microsoft.