Consistency in the HTML specification helped webmasters build sites that anyone with a browser could visit. When Microsoft began playing around with non-standard ways of handling HTML in its Internet Explorer browser, the Internet suffered a bit as developers were forced to build sites to display themselves one way for IE, and a different way for every other browser.

Microsoft cleaned up its act over the years, with IE 8 being as close to hewing to universal specifications on handling HTML and CSS. But the annoyances of several years of creating workarounds to cater to Microsoft likely played a role in the building of a mobile web specification by the W3C.

“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,” said the opening of this latest best practices document. “It is primarily directed at creators, maintainers and operators of Web sites.”

As more webmasters seek out mobile web users, especially in the competitive market for local business customers, they will want to embrace such consistency. No one wants to put a barrier in front of a potential customer.

To keep the mobile web open and inviting, W3C suggested minimal navigation for the top of pages, and consistent navigation methods throughout mobile sites. Since many webmasters practice SEO and redirection of links, W3C said using 3xx HTTP codes instead of markup to redirect pages should be the method here.

Skip the frames and the tables for organizing mobile content too. And when there is a non-text element on a page, a text equivalent should be provided too.

Reaching the growing number of web-capable mobile devices promises a long-term payoff. There is room for first-movers to seize a place on the mobile web with their content, where a similar opportunity may not exist on the conventional PC. Develop to reach as many mobile users as possible, for a chance at achieving this.

Since the end of January, Google received reports about its Android SDK possessing a number of security flaws. As Google released the SDK to the open source community, bug detection would be an expected part of the development process.

Security vendor Core Security provided a lengthy advisory about the Android SDK, which to us indicates the open source process worked. The prototype Android phones seen already won’t be a reality until the software bugs receive the attention they need.

Google made this statement, listed in the advisory, about Core’s findings:

“The current version of the Android SDK is an early look release to the open source community, provided so that developers can begin working with the platform to inform and shape our development of Android toward production readiness. The Open Handset Alliance welcomes input from the security community throughout this process. There will be many changes and updates to the platform before Android is ready for end users, including a full security review.”

The trio of vulnerabilities detected by Core all concerned the processing of images by Android’s web browser. Core said the flaws in processing GIF, BMP, and PNG images could have enabled a malicious website to attack the platform and ultimately execute arbitrary code.

A little sloppiness, not on Google’s part, could be to blame for the problems Core found. They noted the use of an outdated libpng reference library for handling PNG images in a library used by Android. Google has since updated Android with a current version of libpng that should eliminate that particular problem.

Fixes for the GIF and BMP issues arrived with newer SDK releases. However, followup research by Core found the root account arriving without a password by default. “Unprivileged users with shell access can simply use the su program to gain privileges,” said Core.

Well, there just happens to be a piece of the Internet that I bet you haven’t made the leap to yet and it is going to be BIG. This new space is mobile search and mobile Internet surfing.

I know, I know, mobile Internet use has been around for a while, but even now it is very much in the infancy phase of development. After all, it was only over the past year that a W3C working draft appeared that allows web designers to create mobile sites compatible with the many mobile phone browsers. I have tried to use the search and navigation abilities on mobile phones and I have not been impressed; clunky is a nice way to put it. That said, there is no question in my mind this is a market that will explode over the next couple of years. To back up my lofty claim here are just a few of the notable headlines on the build-up to mobile search and advertising published over the last 30 days:

Vodafone and Yahoo to Launch Advertising on Mobile Devices (Yahoo)

Mobile technology is way ahead in Europe and Vodafone is currently “the largest mobile telecommunications network company in the world by turnover and has a market value of about 86 billion (November 2006)” ( according to Wikipedia ) . Yahoo has signed a deal which will provide Vodafone users with carefully targeted advertising in exchange for cheaper phone options.

Google Testing Mobile Ads in Eight More Countries (MarketWatch)

“The ads apparently will appear whenever someone in those countries use a cell phone’s Internet capability to access a site or to search via Google’s engine.” The article also states that Google is ” also going after the $11 billion that advertisers are expected to spend on mobile marketing by 2011, according to a recent report by the telecom division of Informa Group.”

Google and Microsoft in Mobile Search Race (Financial Times)

This article notes that ” Google announced a deal to put its search function on 3mobile’s handsets”, and “Sprint Nextel, the US carrier, said it would place Microsoft’s search engine on its mobile phones.”

So we know from the articles above that the mobile web is poised to really take off. However, did you know that it already has to some degree? For example:

Google Mobile has an option that will only provide results from sites that were created mobile-friendly. ( link )

On November 28, 2006 the Webby’s, which are labeled the “Oscars of the Internet” by the New York Times, added a new category specifically for the mobile web: ” Webby Awards Join With dotmobi To Launch Webby Mobile Awards. ”

In short, there is a huge amount of positive growth in the mobile marketplace and I recommend taking a slice of it before your competition does. So what do you need to do? Get a dotmobi domain, build a mobile version of your website and promote it by adding it to various mobile directories and sites.

1. Get a .Mobi Mobile Domain

Just this year a consortium of major players including Google, Microsoft, Vodafone, Samsung, Ericsson and Nokia sponsored a new domain meant specifically for a new mobile web: .mobi . Opened for general registration as of September 26, 2006, the .mobi top level domain “is the first and only top level domain dedicated to delivering the Internet to mobile devices” says the official ” What is dotmobi? ” page).

The idea of the .mobi domain is to create a mobile version of your website so that users can simply type in your .mobi address and be assured of a streamlined viewing of your company website on their mobile device. It really is quite brilliant in my opinion and it has a good chance of becoming a popular address with such monsters as Google and Microsoft on the list of supporters.

If you wish to register your dotmobi domain here is a list of registrars provided by the dotmobi website. From what I can tell, however, GoDaddy is providing the best annual .mobi registration price of $15 per domain (min. 2 yrs).

2. Build Your Mobile Web Site

Designing for mobiles is not exactly new but as it is still new to me I cannot provide a great deal of first hand knowledge. That said, StepForth will be creating our own mobile site in-house so I know my Senior Designer and I have a learning curve ahead. Fortunately, to this end, a little research and patience led me to some great resources that I recommend. The following sites will take you in the right direction:

- MobiSiteGalore.com : if you are looking for a simple cookie cutter approach to creating your mobile website you can develop it for free using this website’s mobile compliant website builder. I watched the demo movie on how a website is created and I must say I am very impressed with its functionality.

- Official .mobi Development Standards : If you would like to custom design your mobile website so that it stands out from the rest then this is the site for you. Develop a mobile website to meet .mobi guidelines at the .mobi development website . The .mobi development site appears to be designed to make the move to mobile as easy as possible – thankfully! The development site even offers a free course to put your designer through so that he/she can understand the needs of a properly designed mobile website. In short, I am very impressed with this website and I expect it to provide all that StepForth needs to get our own mobile website online (it will be stepforth.mobi when it is complete).

Additional Mobile Resources

Here are some sites that provide some great additional information but they would likely be a bit too technical for the average site owner. These are, however, great for your designer to check out:

- Mobile FAQ: a mixture of general and specific questions for understanding the mobile phenomenon and designing a mobile site.

- W3C Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group: this is not light reading but your designer may find it interesting.

Check Your Final Product

Once your mobile website is complete you need to verify that it is completely mobile compliant. The .mobi development site provides a ” MobiReady Report ” which will check your site for compliance. This is a great way to be sure that your designer has done a good job and that your website will be as compliant as possible across the wide range of mobile products available.

3. Optimize Your Mobile Site

Optimizing a mobile site is only slightly different than the average website. The basics of optimization remain true; be sure to create great Title Tags, Description Tags, headings, navigation, and focus your content to match page targets. The only difference is you will have less screen real estate to work with so try to keep your optimized content concise – no one wants to read useless information on his or her mobiles. After all, you can be reasonably sure that the time a visitor is willing to spend on a mobile site to find information will be significantly less than their standard visit from their home computer; thus the word ‘mobile’. In short, you will have very little time to convince a visitor to stay at your website.

Google Optimization Note: create a Google Mobile Sitemap so Google can ensure your mobile content is properly noted and categorized as mobile friendly. Will this help traffic? I would think so, here is Google’s message verbatim, ‘ by using Mobile Sitemaps to inform and direct our crawlers, we hope to expand our coverage of the mobile web and speed up the discovery and addition of pages to our mobile index.’ ( link )

4. Promote Your Mobile Web Site

The mobile Internet is composed of a growing exclusive group at the moment so it is important that your new website get as much visibility as possible. Here are some great tips and resources to help you do that:

- Submit your mobile site to Yahoo! Mobile for free

- Use PRWeb.com to send out a press release about your new .mobi website. Show the world that your company is cutting edge and strives to provide multiple solutions for accessing your products/services.

- Publish your mobile address on your website, business cards, and any other promotional materials. If you don’t tell your target market that you have a mobile site they won’t know to use it.

- Tell dotmobi about your site and it might just get some free publicity by being featured or becoming a case study.

In Summary

I think the .mobi domain is a fantastic way to provide a unique presence specifically designed for the mobile world. The fact that mobile phones are ubiquitous simply reinforces the need for the informed website owner to get their own mobile site setup ASAP. At the very least I would recommend picking up a .mobi domain of your own so that it is not snatched up when the inevitable rush to the mobile web becomes a reality.

Other Excellent Mobile Content

The following are some sites that I came across throughout the creation of this article. I found them very interesting and well worth noting:

WAPReview.com “It’s all about the mobile web”: this site is well written and includes some great tips and stories that you may find revealing – I know I did. Here is a particularly good posting that attracted my attention: ” Mobile Web (un)Usability ”

Open Gardens : a blog that discusses the latest innovations in wireless mobility.

Comments

Tag:

Bookmark WebProNews:

Ross Dunn is the CEO and founder of StepForth Search Engine Placement Inc., an SEO firm that has been providing expert services since 1997. Rosss considerable experience in the world of search has made him a respected writer for countless publications and an SEO consultant for small business and Fortune 500 web properties.

Thirty industry-leading companies have endorsed the new guidelines for delivering web content to mobile devices, the W3C recently announced. Implementation of these guidelines should foster improvement of the user experience when viewing the Web on mobile devices.

In the “Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0″ document, advice from those endorsing companies on creating content for mobiles that is easy to browse describes how to avoid “known pitfalls, such as pop-ups and page-scrolling,” W3C said.

They have launched a best practices checker online for site publishers to use. The checker allows a site URL to be entered and assessed for its conformity with the Mobile Web Best Practices.

That checker is still in alpha mode, and does not cover all of the best practices yet. It may not work properly on all websites, and will slow down on sites with a lot of links. The checker expects well-formed site code with valid XHTML in place to generate the best results.

The process for crafting the document into its final form will benefit from feedback from web developers everywhere. W3C established a wiki to collect that feedback about mobile web best practices.

Opera Software, a developer of desktop and mobile browsers, joined several other endorsing companies in applauding the advancement of the Best Practices document.

“While the best mobile browsers can provide a great internet experience for any content, it is more efficient and more effective when content has been designed to take account of basic design requirements, and these guidelines will help authors to ensure that their content works as well as possible on the entire Internet,” said Charles McCathie Nevile, Opera’s chief standards officer.

—

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Yahoo! My Web | Furl

Bookmark WebProNews:

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

The agreement will allow Forum Nokia PRO: Flash Zone members that develop Flash-based content for Nokia mobile devices access to direct tech support and training from Adobe. The plan will include discounts on Adobe software, free copies of Flash Lite Players for testing on supported handsets. There’s also a dedicated tech support email list, online seminars tech content, early access upcoming product info and beta program access.

“The launch of the Forum Nokia PRO: Flash Zone continues and expands the relationship between Nokia and Adobe that has resulted in the deployment of Macromedia Flash technology on Nokia devices and collaboration on the Flash 8 development tool,” said Lee Epting, vice president, Forum Nokia. “The new Zone underscores the strength of Nokia’s commitment to supporting its PRO developer community and to developers already working with Flash technology, providing technical, training and business development resources that will help to extend the boundaries of mobile applications.”

Flash Lite is Adobe’s Flash profile for mobile phones, adding several key features related to connectivity, device-specific capabilities and standards support, and supporting a mobile profile of Adobe’s own SWF format.

“There are over one million Flash developers around the world and this highly innovative and creative ecosystem is poised to deliver some great applications and content to Nokia customers,” said Gary Kovacs, vice president of Mobile and Device Solutions at Adobe. “Forum Nokia’s new PRO: Flash Zone gives mobile developers a hub to support them in creating the content and applications that will engage customers worldwide who choose Nokia’s exciting new Flash enabled Series 40 and S60 devices.”

Nokia’s new Flash-enabled devices will enable consumers to download Flash entertainment, gaming, business and productivity applications over the air and to play Flash content stored in either onboard or removable memory. Flash applications can be dynamically updated with streaming data to the device from a remote server over an HTTP connection, pushing far beyond the boundaries of static screensavers, wallpapers and other non-Flash applications.

Add to | DiggThis| Yahoo My Web

John Stith is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

With that being said this tutorial will give you a brief introduction in developing games using J2ME (Java MicroEdition), visit Sun MicroSystems for further details at http://wireless.java.sun.com.

What this Tutorial Is

• Programming Approach
• Hurdles/limitations in mobile development
• Some solutions to improve performance
• What Development Tools to Use
• How to Market Your Game
• Useful Links – News, Multiplayer, Bluetooth

Programming Approach

As everyone knows Java is an object-orientated language; thus, coders program with an OO approach and for the more advanced coders design patterns are put to use. A simple a hello program can easily bloom in to a dozen or so classes, of course in doing this it provides maintainability and extensibility. This is normally a good thing.

In the mobile world where memory is expensive it is best to avoid using several objects unless truly necessary. More about memory constraints will be explained later. This may sound easy, but trust me for those of you who are use to separating tasks into several objects and heavily rely on patterns will find reverting back to a more procedure way of development a challenging thing to do. However, you do not want to write one big giant super class that does everything, rather write your game in the simplest manner that is comfortable to you. After you should merge classes that do not provide much gain in functionality.

Memory Limitations

In general, there are three types of memory you need to concern yourself with, working memory, storage memory and application memory. Working memory is the memory where the game is executed during runtime. This is an obvisous concern because if the game is too big an out of memory error will occur.

When programming games you will need to store such things as high scores, user options, and other game state data. This is called the storage memory.

The game itself takes up memory storage as well. This is usually the same as storage memory, it is sometimes referred to as the application memory. Application memory takes into account the memory storage needed to hold all the games and applications.

Now knowing what memory constraints there are you need to code your game accordingly. You should consult the manufacturers specification for the mobile handsets you are planning to deploy your game to. Check for the maximum size a game can be during runtime and memory storage available.

Screen Limitation

One of the biggest problems are the displays themselves. Displays on J2ME enabled mobile handsets vary not only from manufacturer to manufacturer; but also from model to model produced by the same manufacturer. Things to consider when adjusting your game to the display are screen size, frame rate and color. You will have to make a decision which handsets you want to support. It is ideal to write the game generically then make alternate versions for certain handsets. Once again you should consult the manufacturers specification so you can make the appropriate adjustments.

Some Solutions to Improve Performance

As mentioned several times before you first need to decide which phones you want to support. This is very important because you if decide not to support the lower model phones you may not have to concern yourself with very limited memory constrained handsets with limited color and screen size. However, the reality is most cellular phones on the market purchased by regular consumers will be the lower model handsets. As well don’t forget most promotions that offer discounts or even free handset give a ways usually involve only the lower model handsets.

Now that you’ve decided which models to support, what can you do within the code to optimize your game? First of all, use the least amount of classes, stick to shorter variable, method and class names. In general, keep it simple for example avoid using unnecessary protocols such as SOAP, granted its better to use a standard protocol it will increase your overhead because of all the extra layer of processing and the libraries themselves will take extra memory. Try to reuse objects rather then instantiating new objects over and over again. If the game is a network game then reduce calls to the server, this is especially so when obtaining resources such as graphics, maps and levels. Try to obtain all your resources in one request at the begining rather then several requests to reduce the chance of latency problems to occur. Optimize the graphics and merge the graphics into one sheet instead of spreading them out into several seperate graphics. Once you have completed your final version you should run an obfuscator against your code not only to reduce the chances of someone re-engineering you hard work but it will significantly reduce the size of the final jar file.

What Development Tools to Use

First get the J2ME Wireless Development Kit from Sun Microsystems, http://wireless.java.sun.com. If you are looking for an IDE, there are some free ones available:
Sun One Studio ME – http://wwws.sun.com/software/sundev/jde/index.html
JBuilder with the Mobile Set – http://www.borland.com
White Board SDK – http://www.zucotto.com

As well you should visit the individual manufacturers for their customize SDKs for their own mobile handsets.:
Motorola – http://kb.motorola.metrowerks.com/motorola/pcsHome.do
Nokia – http://forum.nokia.com
Siemens – http://www.siemens-mobile.com
SonyEricsson – http://www.sonyericsson.com
RIM – http://www.blackberry.net/developers/index.shtml

How to Market Your Game

Here is an excellent article at the Sun website about making money in the mobile world, http://wireless.java.sun.com/deploy/revenue.html. Now that you’ve read the article where do you go to get help to market your games. You have 4 choices, to approach the carriers themselves, established gaming companies that provide partnerships to market your game, a wireless agency or aggregator, list below are a few of them you can start with. However, if you are a single independant developer it is best if you approach an aggregator or agency. Most carriers and manufacturers prefer to deal with established gaming companies, aggregators and agencies rather then deal with thousands and thousands of independant developers.

More Useful Links Mobile News

Jason is a wireless and open source developer enthusiast who enjoys creating synergy and sharing knowledge in the software development world. To learn more about him visit his personal site at http://www.jasonlam604.com/