W3C Standards Make Mobile Web Experience More Inviting
New Work Started on Mobile Web Application Guidelines
http://www.w3.org/ -- 29 July 2008 -- W3C today announced new standards that will make it easier for people to browse the Web on mobile devices. Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0, published as a W3C Recommendation, condenses the experience of many mobile Web stakeholders into practical advice on creating mobile-friendly content.
"Mobile Web content developers now have stable guidelines and maturing tools to help them create a better mobile Web experience," said Dominique Hazaël-Massieux, W3C Mobile Web Activity Lead. "In support of the W3C mission of building One Web, we want to support the developer community by providing tools to enable a great mobile Web user experience."
Mobile Web Design Guidelines Address Challenges on the Go
People who want to use the Web while "on the go" face several challenges, including hardware and software diversity, device constraints, and bandwidth limitations. Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0 helps content authors face those challenges and develop content that works on a wide array of mobile devices. Authors and other content producers will find practical advice for managing user experience challenges such as data input and page scrolling.
Until today, content developers faced an additional challenge: a variety of mobile markup languages to choose from. With the publication of the XHTML Basic 1.1 Recommendation today, the preferred format specification of the Best Practices, there is now a full convergence in mobile markup languages, including those developed by the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA).
The W3C mobileOK checker (beta), when used with the familiar W3C validator, helps developers test mobile-friendly Web content.
Next Steps: Mobile Web Application Guidelines
According to Juniper Research, "the global market for Mobile Web 2.0 will be worth $22.4 billion in 2013, up from $5.5 billion currently." Keeping pace with this trend, the Mobile Web Best Practices (MWBP) Working Group published today the first draft of the next generation of guidelines, Mobile Web Application Best Practices, aimed at mobile Web applications. While the "original" best practices document focused on traditional Web browsing, the new guidelines will focus on the use of Web applications and widgets for user interaction opportunities on mobile devices. For example, mobile content providers might use Web applications together with geolocation information to provide users with richer location-based services and interfaces.
W3C is also developing resources to help authors understand how to create content that is both mobile-friendly and accessible to people with disabilities. A draft of Relationship between Mobile Web Best Practices (MWBP) and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is jointly published by the The Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group and WAI's Education & Outreach Working Group (EOWG).
The MWBP Working Group participants, including key leaders from the mobile industry and representatives of the Mobile Web Initiative (MWI) sponsors, are declaring their support for today's set of published mobile Web technologies.
About the World Wide Web Consortium [W3C]
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards. W3C primarily pursues its mission through the creation of Web standards and guidelines designed to ensure long-term growth for the Web. Over 400 organizations are Members of the Consortium. W3C is jointly run by the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the USA, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France and Keio University in Japan, and has additional Offices worldwide. For more information see http://www.w3.org
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Testimonials for "W3C Standards Make Mobile Web Experience More Inviting" Press Release
Deutsche Telekom AG | dotMobi | Fundación CTIC | Openwave | Vodafone
Deutsche Telekom AG
Deutsche Telekom AG is delighted to see Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0 advance to full W3C specification. As a content provider and mobile network operator we welcome the introduction of these guidelines for the creation of mobile friendly content. We believe that MWBP 1.0 will help content authors everywhere to bring the Web to its full mobile potential. MWBP 1.0 provides guidelines that require a minimum level of sophistication to offer a satisfying online experience, while simultaneously inspiring content authors in creating the best content possible for a given mobile device. We expect to see an increase in overall quality of content rendered in a mobile context and a greater focus on mobile friendly content creation throughout the Web community.
-- Kai-Dietrich Scheppe, Manager Portal Services, Product Development Portal & Communication Services, Products & Innovation, Deutsche Telekom AGdotMobi
Having been actively involved with the W3C's Mobile Web Best Practices since its earliest days, dotMobi is excited to see this work become a formal recommendation of the W3C. dotMobi and its 14 investor companies represent the intersection of mobility and the Web, and this recommendation is an important foundation which dotMobi has already built on to promote the evolution and growth of the mobile Web.
-- Trey Harvin, CEO, dotMobiFundación CTIC
Fundación CTIC thanks the W3C MWI for their activity related to the development of recommendations and informative material around the so far heterogeneous universe of mobile web access. CTIC supports this work not only by participating in the MWBP and DDWG working groups, but also by creating tools to include mobile devices within the One Web. For instance, Merkur is a software engine that seamlessly transforms web content designed for desktop browsers into content served accordingly to the MWBP 1.0 Basic Guidelines, so web resources can be enjoyed with a functional experience in the majority of mobile web-enabled devices and other web agents with restricted capabilities. Besides, TAW is our free tool to validate web resources against different criteria, including the mobileOK Basic Tests 1.0. Our compromise is to keep on participating in the MWI in an active way, by participating -for example- in the design and implementation of the W3C mobileOK Checker v1.0, in the development of the Mobile Web Applications Best Practices or the creation of the Addendum to the MWBP 1.0 about mobileOK Tests, with the aim of helping users to access the One Web with any web agent.
-- Carlos de la Fuente García, CTO, Fundación CTICOpenwave
Openwave is pleased that Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0 has been published as a Recommendation from W3C. As a strong supporter of mobileOK, we are confident this Recommendation will improve access for users that presently have great limitations placed on them when they attempt to fully access the Web from mobile devices. mobileOK is the missing link to spark production of effective content for mobile users, tools to develop and detect content, and create a demand, ultimately delivering an overall effective user experience on mobile devices.
Openwave's leading open internet browsing platform, OpenWeb, will be mobileOK compliant.
-- Edward Moore, OpenWeb Product Manager for Openwave SystemsVodafone
Vodafone strongly supports the work of W3C in the mobile arena and applauds the release of Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0 as a full W3C Recommendation (along with the progression of MobileOK and the MobileOK checker). This recommendation will help to strengthen efforts across the industry to build made-for-mobile Web content. We also are pleased to see XHTML Basic 1.1 released as a W3C Recommendation, in line with the unification of XHTML formats between the W3C's XHTML Basic and the Open Mobile Alliance's XHTML Mobile Profile. In addition, we strongly support the Mobile Web Application Best Practices document which paves the way for the future of interoperable rich mobile Web applications.
-- Reinhard Kreft, head of Standardisation & Industry Engagement, Vodafone Group Services Limited
