Mobile Internet Standards

Strathmore Mobile Boot CampNovember 2010

Mobile Website DevelopmentMobile Internet Standards

Facilitated by:Michael WakaheShujaa Solutions Ltd

Table of Contents

Copyright © Shujaa Solutions Ltd. 2010. All Rights Reserved.

Introduction to Mobile Web Standards

Structure

Presentation

Client Side Scripting

MIME Types

Standardization Bodies

Introduction to Mobile Web Standards


Mobile Web Standards


Fundamentally, there is one Web.

Its content is standardized markup, styles, scripts,

and multimedia viewable using web browsers.



A standards-based approach to Mobile Web

development ensures compliance and usability

across mobile browsers & platforms.

Knowing all the rules & knowing when to ignore the

rules is necessary for success on the Mobile Web.



Various standards involved in:

Structure

Presentation


Structure




XML-formatted markup defines the document

structure

Handsets may support WML, XHTML, HTML4, HTML5

in varying degrees

These XML standards have various versions &

derivations


Previously WML was dominant, now best results with XHTML MP

Specifically XHTML MP 1.0

Most modern phones support WAP 2.0, which uses XHTML MP as the primary markup language while WAP 1.0 used WML.



XHTML-MP (Extensible Hypertext Markup Language - Mobile Profile) is a specialization XHTML designed to incorporate features useful to mobile devices.

XHTML-MP 1.0 was defined by the OMA and is an extension of the original W3C-inspired XHTML Basic 1.0.



Over time, OMA has developed XHTML-MP and now has a proposed 1.2 version of its specification.

XHTML-MP comes with a mobile-friendly means of using CSS to separate presentation from the markup, just like on the desktop.



XHTML-MP 1.0 sets the base tags for mobile markup.

XHTML-MP 1.1 adds the <script> tag and support for mobile JavaScript.

XHTML-MP 1.2 adds more form tags and text input modes.

Currently many mobile browsers do not support XHTML-MP 1.2.



Mobile Web sites targeting only smartphones can use the full feature set of HTML 4 & in the near future, HTML 5.

Using desktop markup also invites transcoders - network appliances designed to optimize the Desktop Web for mobile devices by reformatting markup



HTML 5 is the next major release of the foundational

language of the Web.

It is currently a draft recommendation undergoing

active revision at the W3C (

http://www.w3.org/TR/html5/)

HTML 5 will be the next standard for markup and

APIs supported in Web browsers.Copyright © Shujaa Solutions Ltd. 2010. All

Rights Reserved.

http://www.w3.org/TR/html5/

Presentation




Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) control the

presentation.

Most XHTML-MP mobile browsers support Wireless

CSS, CSS Mobile Profile, and/or CSS 2.

CSS 3 is new, coming along with HTML5


The OMA-managed Wireless CSS standard is a subset of CSS and is also part of the WAP 2.0 specification.

Note that Wireless CSS is not backwards compatible with WML.



Wireless CSS and CSS Mobile Profile are tightly

related, but independent mobile subsets of

CSS2 used to style XHTML-MP documents.

Wireless CSS is a CSS2 subset standardized by

the Open Mobile Alliance.Copyright © Shujaa Solutions Ltd. 2010. All

Rights Reserved.


CSS Mobile Profile is a CSS2 subset—with

some features borrowed from CSS3—that is

standardized by the W3C.

The W3C’s goal is to align CSS Mobile Profile

with Wireless CSS as much as possible.



Overall, Wireless CSS is a more restricted subset and

an older standard targeted at Web browsers on

resource-limited mobile devices.

CSS Mobile Profile adds in much more of the CSS2

standard to enable richer web documents but risks

full support on mass market mobile browsers.


Mobile Web Standards You can add Wireless CSS to your document the same way as

you would for a normal HTML document.

Link to an external global stylesheet using the following line: <link href="external.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

Insert styles at the document head the following example shows:

<style> p {

font-size: small; }

</style>



Wireless CSS supports a lot CSS attributes, but not all of them.

More advanced styling techniques won’t likely work across multiple mobile browsers.

The best advice is to keep your CSS as simple as possible.




Client-side scripting mainly through Javascript

ECMAScript-MP or mobile JavaScript targets mobile

phones

WMLScript is a scripting language which

complements WML.



Client-side scripting in mobile browsers used to be

the exclusive domain of smartphones, but this is

rapidly changing.

Many mass-market mobile devices beginning to

support mobile JavaScript.



As with any client-side mobile technology, testing

JavaScript on actual mobile devices is critical for

effective development

Testing on emulators and in Firefox might not

uncover syntax problems and performance issues

that can occur on the target mobile device.



Mobile and desktop JavaScript have virtually

identical syntax.

The mobile version is stringent about ending

lines with semicolons.



Mobile JavaScript reduces the supported

character sets and excludes computationally

intensive language elements.

It differs from its desktop counterpart in the

extent of its DOM and event support in the

mobile browser.



DOM and event support can vary from one

browser vendor and version to another.

On-device testing is critical for success with

mobile JavaScript.



You can use device awareness and content

adaptation techniques that enable conditional

inclusion of scripting to target only mobile

browsers with support for JavaScript.

MIME Types




Mobile MIME types (or content types) identify

the format of Mobile Web content.

Formats are differentiated by web servers and

browser clients in an HTTP transaction using

MIME types



Text documents containing mobile markup

Binary files include viewable or playable

content like ringtones, wallpaper and videos,

and binary executable mobile applications

Standardization Bodies




Mobile Industry Groups and Standards Bodies

adherence to Mobile Web industry standards and

best practices is important for flexible and cross-

platform development.

Several Internet and mobile industry bodies govern

Mobile Web standards and recommended best

practices



W3C: This body standardizes mobile markup

languages and publishes best practices documents

for Mobile Web development and testing.



Open Mobile Alliance (formerly WAP Forum): This

body standardizes mobile markup and style

languages and other mobile technologies designed to

be interoperable across devices, geographies, and

mobile networks.



dotMobi (http://mtld.mobi): This body controls

the .mobi top-level domain, the content of which

must be device-adaptive and compatible with mobile

devices.

This body also publishes best practices for Mobile

Web development and nurtures mobile developers,

marketers, and operators with online communities.



Mobile Marketing Association: This body

centralizes technology recommendations and

best practices for marketing and advertising

on mobile devices.



Open Mobile Terminal Platform (OMTP)

(www.omtp.org/): This operator-sponsored

mobile industry group standardizing mobile

device access from Web applications.

Mobile Internet Standards

Technology

Transcript of Mobile Internet Standards