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Best Practice:Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0
Source: http://www.w3.org/TR/mobile-bp/#d0e630
Type - Best Practice.png
A Best Practice
Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0
Context

audiences: Job:Web designer
activities: Industry:Web development
locations: Web:Mobile Internet
sizes: times:


Catalog Information

source: Web document
tags: Standard
status: Reviewed, Recommended
notes:

identifiers: [1]
version: 29 July 2008
author:
contributors:
editor: Jo Rabin, mTLD Mobile Top Level Domain (dotMobi), Charles McCathieNevile, Opera Software [Early Drafts]
publisher: http://www.w3.org
rights: Copyright © 2008 W3C® (MIT, ERCIM, Keio), All Rights Reserved. W3C liability, trademark and document use rules apply.

This document specifies Best Practices for delivering Web content to mobile devices. The principal objective is to improve the user experience of the Web when accessed from such devices. The recommendations refer to delivered content and not to the processes by which it is created, nor to the devices or user agents to which it is delivered. It is primarily directed at creators, maintainers and operators of Web sites. Readers of this document are expected to be familiar with the creation of Web sites, and to have a general familiarity with the technologies involved, such as Web servers and HTTP. Readers are not expected to have a background in mobile-specific technologies.in bundle: Mobile Web Initiativenarrower than: LOC:Web Applicationsbroader than: Nokia Operating System Applications

"Rules of Thumb" Advice

  • [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.
  • [URIS] Keep the URIs of site entry points short.
  • [NAVBAR] Provide only minimal navigation at the top of the page.
  • [BALANCE] Take into account the trade-off between having too many links on a page and asking the user to follow too many links to reach what they are looking for.
  • [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.
  • [SUITABLE] Ensure that content is suitable for use in a mobile context.
  • more...

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See also

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