HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide, 6th Edition

Chapter 14. Mobile Devices

Just now, as most web developers have become very proficient at developing engaging content for the popular PC-based browsers, they are being confronted with the challenge of providing equally elegant pages for those ubiquitous, tiny mobile devices. But mobile web-enabled devices were not anticipated back in the early 1990s when HTML was first defined and refined, and the current standards don't help much, either. In this chapter, we look at the broad range of mobile web-enabled devices, the challenge they present to web designers, and a subset of XHTML that addresses those devices. We also offer some suggestions—and lots of sympathy—for creating effective content that works across many of these devices.

The Mobile Web

With the World Wide Web now firmly entrenched as a part of normal modern life, it is only natural that users want to access web content wherever they may be, at any time. Responding to this demand, vendors now offer an incredible array of devices and access methods to meet that need. Although the types of devices number in the hundreds, the overall market can be examined as a few key product categories.

Devices

Most of today's mobile devices—mobile phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs)—have digital displays, typically an LCD, and onboard processing. So why not a built-in browser?

Mobile phones

The browser software resides in the cell phone's core operating system and the end user cannot easily upgrade or extend it. And, as we discuss ...