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Oldest known version of this page was edited on 2007-11-01 14:23:21 by DavidRooks []
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W3C Mobile Web Initiative


The W3C'sMobile Web Initiative addresses issues regarding interoperability and usability problems of mobile web access.

It defines a list of 60 best practices which will assist developers in creating mobile friendly web sites.

These best practices are...

Overall Behaviour


THEMATIC CONSISTENCY - Ensure that content provided by accessing a URI yields a thematically coherent experience when accessed from different devices.
CAPABILITIES - Exploit device capabilities to provide an enhanced user experience.
DEFICIENCIES - Take reasonable steps to work around deficient implementations.
TESTING - Carry out testing on actual devices as well as emulators.

Navigation and Links


URIS - Keep the URIs of site entry points short.
NAVIGATION - Provide consistent navigation mechanisms.
NAVIGATION - Provide consistent navigation mechanisms.
ACCESS KEYS Assign access keys to links in navigational menus and frequently accessed functionality.
LINK TARGET ID - Clearly identify the target of each link.
LINK TARGET FORMAT Note the target file's format unless you know the device supports it.
IMAGE MAPS - Do not use image maps unless you know the device supports them effectively.
POP UPS - Do not cause pop-ups or other windows to appear and do not change the current window without informing the user.
AUTO REFRESH - Do not create periodically auto-refreshing pages, unless you have informed the user and provided a means of stopping it.
REDIRECTION Do not use markup to redirect pages automatically. Instead, configure the server to perform redirects by means of HTTP 3xx codes.
EXTERNAL RESOURCES - Keep the number of externally linked resources to a minimum.

Page Layout and Content


SUITABLE - Ensure that content is suitable for use in a mobile context.
CLARITY - Use clear and simple language.
LIMITED - Limit content to what the user has requested.
PAGE SIZE USABLE - Divide pages into usable but limited size portions.
PAGE SIZE LIMIT - Ensure that the overall size of page is appropriate to the memory limitations of the device.
SCROLLING - Limit scrolling to one direction, unless secondary scrolling cannot be avoided.
CENTRAL MEANING - Ensure that material that is central to the meaning of the page precedes material that is not.
GRAPHICS FOR SPACING - Do not use graphics for spacing.
LARGE GRAPHICS - Do not use images that cannot be rendered by the device. Avoid large or high resolution images except where critical information would otherwise be lost.
USE OF COLOR - Ensure that information conveyed with color is also available without color.
COLOR CONTRAST - Ensure that foreground and background color combinations provide sufficient contrast.
BACKGROUND IMAGE READABILITY - When using background images make sure that content remains readable on the device.

Page Definition


PAGE TITLE - Provide a short but descriptive page title.
NO FRAMES - Do not use frames.
STRUCTURE - Use features of the markup language to indicate logical document structure.
TABLES SUPPORT - Do not use tables unless the device is known to support them.
TABLES NESTED - Do not use nested tables.
TABLES LAYOUT - Do not use tables for layout.
TABLES ALTERNATIVES - Where possible, use an alternative to tabular presentation.
NON-TEXT ALTERNATIVES - Provide a text equivalent for every non-text element.
OBJECTS OR SCRIPT - Do not rely on embedded objects or script.
IMAGES SPECIFY SIZE - Specify the size of images in markup, if they have an intrinsic size.
IMAGES RESIZING - Resize images at the server, if they have an intrinsic size.
VALID MARKUP - Create documents that validate to published formal grammars.
MEASURES - Do not use pixel measures and do not use absolute units in markup language attribute values and style sheet property values.
STYLE SHEETS USE - Use style sheets to control layout and presentation, unless the device is known not to support them.
STYLE SHEETS SUPPORT - Organize documents so that if necessary they may be read without style sheets.
STYLE SHEETS SIZE - Keep style sheets small.
MINIMIZE - Use terse, efficient markup.
CONTENT FORMAT SUPPORT - Send content in a format that is known to be supported by the device.
CONTENT FORMAT PREFERRED - Where possible, send content in a preferred format.
CHARACTER ENCODING SUPPORT - Ensure that content is encoded using a character encoding that is known to be supported by the device.
CHARACTER ENCODING USE - Indicate in the response the character encoding being used.
ERROR MESSAGES - Provide informative error messages and a means of navigating away from an error message back to useful information.
COOKIES - Do not rely on cookies being available.
CACHING - Provide caching information in HTTP responses.
FONTS - Do not rely on support of font related styling.

User Input


MINIMIZE KEYSTROKES - Keep the number of keystrokes to a minimum.
AVOID FREE TEXT - Avoid free text entry where possible.
PROVIDE DEFAULTS - Provide pre-selected default values where possible.
DEFAULT INPUT MODE - Specify a default text entry mode, language and/or input format, if the device is known to support it.
TAB ORDER - Create a logical order through links, form controls and objects.
CONTROL LABELLING - Label all form controls appropriately and explicitly associate labels with form controls.
CONTROL POSITION - Position labels so they lay out properly in relation to the form controls they refer to.

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