Device agnostic refers to programs or systems that can run on different devices regardless of their native language or operating system. Examples include HTML, image formats, and PDF files. This is becoming increasingly important as the number of operating systems and smart devices continues to grow.
Device agnostic refers to the property of a program or system that will run on different types of devices regardless of the device’s native language or operating system. In the computer world, this is a relatively modern expedient, because for decades, programs were very dependent on the device or operating system they were running on. In fact, early computers were built entirely to run a single program.
One of the earliest and longest-standing examples of device independence is hypertext markup language (HTML). A relatively simple text document with a handful of embedded tags allows any computer running browser software to display it as the author intended. Many extensions for HTML, such as Java, are also device independent, and others will only work in certain browsers.
Other examples of cross-platform or device-independent files are all modern image formats, such as Joint Photographic Experts Group files (JPEG or JPG), Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) files, and Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) files. These allow any computer to display the images without having to create a new format for each device. A photograph on a desktop computer screen from one brand will load and display just as well on any other brand of desktop or laptop computer.
Perhaps the most prolific example of device independence is the Adobe® Portable Document Format (PDF) file. These files have become the standard for storing, transferring and viewing documents on all types of systems due to their portability and independence. A PDF will look the same regardless of the device it is viewed on or the software used to view it. Many organizations and governments have standardized PDF files. One of the largest libraries of PDF documents is perhaps the US Internal Revenue Service, which has put every form, document, and how-to book in PDF format on its website for download.
This same device independence extends to all new smartphones as well as third generation (3G) and fourth generation (4G) devices so that they are capable of displaying HTML, photos, PDFs and other cross-platform file formats like older computers. desktops and laptops. The perspective of device independent applications is very bright. Where there used to be just two major operating systems and a handful of browsers, the number of operating systems is proliferating exponentially. As more and more smart devices are released, with many different operating systems involved and apps that will become the software of the next decade, device independence will become critical to success.
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