A program or file is device independent when its function is universal on different types of device.
For the World Wide Web, this means writing simple common denominator Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) so that most Web user agents on most devices can render it acceptably.
For computer programs, this generally means that it is written in a metalanguage that can be read by any platform. A program that was not originally written for a certain environment can be ported, i.e. the code can be adapted for a certain platform and compiled for the platform it will be functioning in. Unfortunately, this can lead to confusion if the user interface still resembles the one for the platform it was initially designed for.
For computer files, device independence means that software (or, theoretically, hardware) is in place that can interpret the file and allow the user to view or manipulate it. Good examples of cross-platform or device independent file formats are HTML and PDF, GIF and JPEG.
Famous quotes containing the words device and/or independent:
“Irony, forsooth! Guard yourself, Engineer, from the sort of irony that thrives up here; guard yourself altogether from taking on their mental attitude! Where irony is not a direct and classic device of oratory, not for a moment equivocal to a healthy mind, it makes for depravity, it becomes a drawback to civilization, an unclean traffic with the forces of reaction, vice and materialism.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)
“I’d like to come back as an independent woman who has more ambition than I have.”
—Jenny Bird (b. c. 1937)