The tough part of being a web developer is that the technology is constantly changing. Its not like being a plumber. The skills they know will still be relevant 5 years from now. The equipment they use will still be useful 5 years from now. For web developers, in 5 years, we will likely have to learn completely new technologies which are incompatible with what we know and do today.
One new technology which has become widespread is the iPhone. Many devices that have been sold and are being use heavily for accessing web sites. While they can view any site with its Safari web browser, most of the sites don’t fit well on its tiny screen and its a challenge to use. Web sites customized for iPhones need to be created if you want iPhone users to continue using your site.
Apple users can install iPhony, which is an iPhone simulator for Macs running OS X 10.4.7 or higher. This can be a problem for Windows users, but they can test iPhone web sites on TestiPhone.com.
Web sites built today should be tested on Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera, iPhone, and the smaller cell phone browsers. PDA or Blackberry web browsers would likely be similar to an iPhone.
Now, trying to get web sites to look similar across all platforms … that’s another blog post.