Edit comment LC-452 for Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group

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Comment LC-452

Comment Shortname:

Commenter: West, Mark Andrew <mawest2@bsu.edu>

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Section of the document concerned:

[Free text description]Document as a wholeMobile Web Best Practices 1.0 Basic Guidelines W3C Working Draft 12 April 2006 Abstract Status of this Document Table of Contents Appendices List of Best Practices 1 Introduction 1.1 Purpose of the Document 1.2 How the Best Practices are Organized 1.3 Audience 1.4 Scope 1.4.1 Phasing 1.5 Relationship to other Best Practices and recommendations 1.6 Longevity and Versioning 2 Requirements 2.1 Presentation Issues 2.2 Input 2.3 Bandwidth and Cost 2.4 User Goals 2.5 Advertising 2.6 Device Limitations 2.7 Advantages 3 Delivery Context 3.1 One Web 3.2 Background to Adaptation 3.3 Adaptation Implementation Model 3.4 Assumptions about Adaptation 3.5 Establishing Context 3.6 Choice of User Experience 3.7 Default Delivery Context 4 Structure of Best Practice Statements [EXAMPLE] This is a ... 5 Best Practice Statements 5.1 Overall Behavior 5.1.1 Thematic Consistency of Resource Identified by a URI [THEMATIC_CONSISTENC... 5.1.1.1 What it means 5.1.2 Exploit Client Capabilities [CAPABILITIES] Explo... 5.1.2.1 What it means 5.1.3 Work around Deficient Implementations [DEFICIENCIES] Take ... 5.1.3.1 What it means 5.1.4 Testing [TESTING] Carry out ... 5.1.4.1 What it means 5.1.4.2 How to do it 5.2 Navigation and Links 5.2.1 URIs of Site Entry Points [URIS] Keep the URIs... 5.2.1.1 What it means 5.2.1.2 How to do it 5.2.2 Navigation Bar [NAVBAR] Provide onl... 5.2.2.1 What it means 5.2.2.2 How to do it 5.2.3 Balanced Structure [BALANCE] Take into ... 5.2.3.1 What it means 5.2.4 Navigation Mechanisms [NAVIGATION] Provide... 5.2.4.1 What it means 5.2.4.2 How to do it 5.2.4.3 References 5.2.5 Access Keys [ACCESS_KEYS] Assign... 5.2.5.1 What it means 5.2.5.2 What to test 5.2.5.3 References 5.2.6 Link Target Identification [LINK_TARGET_ID] Cle... [LINK_TARGET_FORMAT]... 5.2.6.1 What it means 5.2.6.2 How to do it 5.2.6.3 What to test 5.2.6.4 References 5.2.7 Image Maps [IMAGE_MAPS] Do not ... 5.2.7.1 What it means 5.2.7.2 How to do it 5.2.7.3 What to test 5.2.7.4 References 5.2.8 Refreshing, Redirection and Spawned Windows [POP_UPS] Do not cau... [AUTO_REFRESH] Do no... [REDIRECTION] Do not... 5.2.8.1 What it means 5.2.8.2 What to test 5.2.8.3 References 5.2.9 Externally Linked Resources [EXTERNAL_RESOURCES]... 5.2.9.1 What it means 5.2.9.2 How to do it 5.2.9.3 What to test 5.3 Page Layout and Content 5.3.1 Page Content [SUITABLE] Ensure th... [CLARITY] Use clear ... [LIMITED] Limit cont... 5.3.1.1 What it means 5.3.1.2 What to test 5.3.1.3 References 5.3.2 Page Size [PAGE_SIZE_USABLE] D... [PAGE_SIZE_LIMIT] En... 5.3.2.1 What it means 5.3.2.2 How to do it 5.3.2.3 What to test 5.3.2.4 References 5.3.3 Scrolling [SCROLLING] Limit sc... 5.3.3.1 What it means 5.3.3.2 How to do it 5.3.3.3 What to test 5.3.4 Navigation Bars etc. (Extraneous material) [CENTRAL_MEANING] En... 5.3.4.1 What it means 5.3.4.2 How to do it 5.3.4.3 What to test 5.3.4.4 References 5.3.5 Graphics [GRAPHICS_FOR_SPACIN... [LARGE_GRAPHICS] Do ... 5.3.5.1 What it means 5.3.5.2 What to test 5.3.6 Color [USE_OF_COLOR] Ensur... [COLOR_CONTRAST] Ens... 5.3.6.1 What it means 5.3.6.2 What to test 5.3.6.3 References 5.3.7 Background Images [BACKGROUND_IMAGE_RE... 5.3.7.1 What it means 5.3.7.2 What to test 5.4 Page Definition 5.4.1 Title [PAGE_TITLE] Provide... 5.4.1.1 What it means 5.4.1.2 What to test 5.4.2 Frames [NO_FRAMES] Do not u... 5.4.2.1 What it means 5.4.2.2 What to test 5.4.2.3 References 5.4.3 Structural Elements [STRUCTURE] Use feat... 5.4.3.1 What it means 5.4.3.2 How to do it 5.4.4 Tables [TABLES_SUPPORT] Do ... [TABLES_NESTED] Do n... [TABLES_LAYOUT] Do n... [TABLES_ALTERNATIVES... 5.4.4.1 What it means 5.4.4.2 How to do it 5.4.4.3 What to test 5.4.4.4 References 5.4.5 Non-Text Items [NON-TEXT_ALTERNATIV... [OBJECTS_OR_SCRIPT] ... 5.4.5.1 What it means 5.4.5.2 How to do it 5.4.5.3 What to test 5.4.5.4 References 5.4.6 Image Size [IMAGES_SPECIFY_SIZE... [IMAGES_RESIZING] Re... 5.4.6.1 What it means 5.4.6.2 What to test 5.4.7 Valid Markup [VALID_MARKUP] Creat... 5.4.7.1 What it means 5.4.7.2 What to test 5.4.7.3 References 5.4.8 Measures [MEASURES] Do not us... 5.4.8.1 What it means 5.4.8.2 How to do it 5.4.8.3 What to test 5.4.9 Style Sheets [STYLE_SHEETS_USE] U... [STYLE_SHEETS_SUPPOR... [STYLE_SHEETS_SIZE] ... 5.4.9.1 What it means 5.4.9.2 How to do it 5.4.9.3 What to test 5.4.9.4 References 5.4.10 Minimize [MINIMIZE] Use terse... 5.4.10.1 What it means 5.4.10.2 How to do it 5.4.10.3 What to test 5.4.11 Content Types [CONTENT_FORMAT_SUPP... [CONTENT_FORMAT_PREF... 5.4.11.1 What it means 5.4.11.2 How to do it 5.4.11.3 What to test 5.4.12 Character Encoding [CHARACTER_ENCODING_... [CHARACTER_ENCODING_... 5.4.12.1 What it means 5.4.12.2 How to do it 5.4.12.3 What to test 5.4.12.4 References 5.4.13 Error Messages [ERROR_MESSAGES] Pr... 5.4.13.1 What it means 5.4.13.2 How to do it 5.4.13.3 What to test 5.4.14 Cookies [COOKIES] Do not rel... 5.4.14.1 What it means 5.4.14.2 How to do it 5.4.14.3 What to test 5.4.15 Cache Headers [CACHING] Provide ca... 5.4.15.1 What it means 5.4.15.2 How to do it 5.4.15.3 What to test 5.4.15.4 References 5.4.16 Fonts [FONTS] Do not rely ... 5.4.16.1 What it means 5.4.16.2 How to do it 5.4.16.3 What to test 5.5 User Input 5.5.1 Input [MINIMIZE_KEYSTROKES... [AVOID_FREE_TEXT] Av... [PROVIDE_DEFAULTS] P... [DEFAULT_INPUT_MODE]... 5.5.1.1 What it means 5.5.1.2 How to do it 5.5.1.3 What to test 5.5.1.4 References 5.5.2 Tab Order [TAB_ORDER] Create a... 5.5.2.1 What it means 5.5.2.2 How to do it 5.5.2.3 What to test 5.5.3 Labels [CONTROL_LABELLING] ... [CONTROL_POSITION] P... 5.5.3.1 What it means 5.5.3.2 What to test 5.5.3.3 References 6 Conformance and mobileOK 6.1 Classes of Products 6.2 Extensibility A Sources (Non-Normative) B Acknowledgements (Non-Normative) C References (Non-Normative) C.1 MWI References Scope Techniques mobileOK C.2 Sources WCAG iMode Opera OpenWave Nokia-MP Nokia-VR LSD C.3 Device Independence DIP DCODI DIGLOSS C.4 Web, Protocols and Languages WebArch XML XHTML-Basic CSS HTTP1.0 HTTP1.1 UTF-8 CHARSET1 CHARSET2 C.5 Other References UAPROF TOMCAT APACHE IIS T-MOB MF
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Refinement of the section concerned:

Status:

open proposal pending resolved_yes resolved_no resolved_partial other assigned to Nobody

Type: substantive editorial typo question general comment undefined

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Response drafted Resolution implemented Reply sent to commenter

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No response from Commenter yet Commenter approved disposition Commenter objected to disposition
Commenter's response (URI):

Comment:

I have read the current draft of the Best Practices document. Overall it is a good summation of all the guidelines (esp. OpenWave) I have been using under the Mobile Development Project at Ball State University Libraries.

While I have a few minor problems with the guidelines (GIF really ought to be put on pension since most mobile Web browsers can handle PNG), I take issue with the capabilities guideline (5.1.2): "Do not take a least common denominator approach."

As the mobile developer, my primary concern is to make library information and services available to the largest number of mobile users. I started with no knowledge of mobile devices; with a clunky development environment (IIS/Visual Studio/FrontPage); and with a vague idea of what devices were in use on campus. (Several attempts at an online survey of mobile devices fell flat.) Nonetheless I have created a mobile Web site for the University Libraries, that looks and works perfectly well using a strategy that the Best Practices document has labelled "least common denominator".

Perhaps you can add a "How To Do It" section under the capabilities guideline, or at least explain why following a LCD approach could result in a lesser experience for mobile users.

The University Libraries mobile Web site is http://www.bsu.edu/libraries/mobile/.

Related issues: (space separated ids)

WG Notes: See Action 263

Resolution: We encourage content providers to provide an experience that works for the Default Delivery Context. However, we are aware that the Default Delivery Context is very restrictive and that when mobile devices such as PDAs and large screen mobile phones are used, a better experience can be provided to the users of those devices by exploiting their greater capabilities. A specific example of this is that larger screen devices can display larger images, so we encourage content providers to provide better quality images on devices that can handle them.

(Please make sure the resolution is adapted for public consumption)