One Web for anyone, anywhere, anytime, using any device

W3C Highlights Mobile Web at 3GSM World Congress

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and mobile industry leaders, through W3C's Mobile Web Initiative, are making good progress in finding solutions to make it easier for the user to access the Web from any mobile device.

The Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0 Working Group recently have reached a preliminary agreement on best practices for mobile Web content. Written to improve user experience, the Last Call Working Draft of Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0 describes how to produce Web content and Web sites intended for delivery to mobile and small-screen devices.

W3C invites press attendees of the upcoming 3GSM World Congress (in Barcelona, 13-16 February 2006) to visit the W3C booth at 3GSM06, located in Hall 2, stand G78, to learn more about the latest mobile Web advances from W3C.

Mobile Web Initiative Aims to Provide a Richer and Easier Web User Experience

Users expect to be able to access and explore the richness of the Web from mobile devices as well as from the desktop. Now, with the wealth and variety of information the Web provides, and the millions of mobile device users worldwide, there is even more imperative to resolve these problems, and make the mobile device experience on the Web easy and exciting.

With the support of international mobile industry leaders, W3C recently launched the Mobile Web Initiative, which aims to use existing standards in documentable ways to improve the mobile experience on the Web.

Mobile Web Initiative Work

The Mobile Web Initiative (MWI) is one of the twenty-three W3C Activities. MWI is composed of two Working Groups:

• The Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group (MWBP WG) is chartered to develop authoring guidelines, checklists and best practices to help content providers to develop Web content that works well on mobile devices. The group published the First Public Working Draft of the document Scope of Mobile Web Best Practices and the Last Call Working Draft of the Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0.
  The MWBP WG is chaired by Daniel Appelquist, Senior Technology Strategist for Vodafone Group.

  
  

• The MWI Device Description Working Group (MWDD WG) is chartered to address the development of improved device description solutions, that is, a database of descriptions that can be used by content authors to adapt their content to a particular device. It has published a first working drafts describing the Device Description Ecosystem surrounding creation, maintenance and use of device descriptions. The group also published a first working draft entitled Device Description Landscape giving a survey of existing technology.
  The MWDD WG is chaired by Rotan Hanrahan, Chief Innovations Architect at MobileAware.

Cooperation brings benefits to all

The Mobile Web Initiative is led by key players in the mobile production chain, including authoring tool vendors, content providers, adaptation providers, handset manufacturers, browser vendors and mobile operators.

• Authoring tool vendors will benefit from MWI through an increased demand for tools that generate mobile -friendly content. In turn, by supporting MWI Best Practices, authoring tools will enable the creation of content that works independent of aparticular handset or browser.
• Content providers will benefit from MWI through more reliable device descriptions. Also, the cost of content creation will be significantly reduced by authoring tools, browsers and handsets that are compatible with Web standards. By following MWI Best Practices, content providers will reach a larger and more satisfied audience.
• Browser vendors will benefit from MWI through reduced browser development costs. Strong liaisons between standards organizations will lower the risk of an expensive divergence between mobile access to the Web and desktop access. In turn, by implementing Web standards, browser vendors will provide a reliable and interoperable target fo content and adaptation providers.
• Adaptation providers - those who supply tools and services to allow content to be selected, generated or modified - will benefit from MWI by sharing the cost of developing and maintaining high-quality device descriptions. In turn, by supporting MWI Best Practices, adaptation tools will be more valuable to content providers and other players in the mobile production chain.
• Device manufacturers will benefit from MWI through increased sales of handsets that provide mobile Web services on emerging mobile data networks. In turn, by making descriptions of device characteristics such as the screen size readily available, device manufacturers will enable a high-quality user experience across a wide range of devices with very different capabilities.
• Mobile operators will benefit from MWI through increased take up of data services, resulting in an increase in the average revenue per user (ARPU). Reliable mobile Web access will also lower the cost of deployment and reduce costs for customer support. By encouraging the use of MWI Best Practices throughout the mobile content production chain, operators will be able to improve the mobile Web experience for all.

About MWI Sponsors

W3C established the Mobile Web Initiative through the MWI sponsorship program and with the financial support of the following Sponsors:

About W3C's Mobile Web Initiative

The mission of W3C's Mobile Web Initiative (W3C MWI) is to make Web access from a mobile device as simple, easy, and convenient as Web access from a desktop device. Through the MWI Sponsorship Program, key players in the mobile production chain, including authoring tool vendors, content providers, handset manufacturers, adaptation providers, browser vendors and mobile operators lead the Initiative. MWI participants develop authoring guidelines, checklists and best practices, as well as a database of descriptions that can be used by content authors to adapt their content to a particular device. For more information see http://www.w3.org/Mobile/