The document outlines standards and best practices for mobile web development, covering topics like markup languages (XHTML), presentation (CSS), scripting, and standardization bodies. It provides an introduction to mobile web standards and discusses XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, MIME types, and groups that govern standards.

1. Strathmore Mobile Boot Camp
November 2010
Mobile Website Development
Mobile Internet Standards
Facilitated by:
Michael Wakahe
Shujaa Solutions Ltd

2. Table of Contents
 Introduction to Mobile Web Standards
 Structure
 Presentation
 Client Side Scripting
 MIME Types
 Standardization Bodies
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3. Introduction to Mobile
Web Standards
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4. Mobile Web Standards
 Fundamentally, there is one Web.
 Its content is standardized
markup, styles, scripts, and multimedia viewable
using web browsers.
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5. Mobile Web Standards
 A standards-based approach to Mobile Web
development ensures compliance and usability
across mobile browsers & platforms.
 Knowing all the rules & knowing when to ignore the
rules is necessary for success on the Mobile Web.
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6. Mobile Web Standards
 Various standards involved in:
 Structure
 Presentation
 Client Side Scripting
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7. Structure
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8. Mobile Web Standards
 XML-formatted markup defines the document
structure
 Handsets may support WML, XHTML, HTML4, HTML5
in varying degrees
 These XML standards have various versions &
derivations
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9. Mobile Web Standards
 Previously WML was dominant, now best
results with XHTML MP
 Specifically XHTML MP 1.0
 Most modern phones support WAP 2.0, which
uses XHTML MP as the primary markup
language while WAP 1.0 used WML.
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10. Mobile Web Standards
 XHTML-MP (Extensible Hypertext Markup
Language - Mobile Profile) is a specialization
XHTML designed to incorporate features
useful to mobile devices.
 XHTML-MP 1.0 was defined by the OMA and is
an extension of the original W3C-inspired
XHTML Basic 1.0.
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11. Mobile Web Standards
 Over time, OMA has developed XHTML-MP
and now has a proposed 1.2 version of its
specification.
 XHTML-MP comes with a mobile-friendly
means of using CSS to separate presentation
from the markup, just like on the desktop.
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12. Mobile Web Standards
 XHTML-MP 1.0 sets the base tags for mobile
markup.
 XHTML-MP 1.1 adds the <script> tag and
support for mobile JavaScript.
 XHTML-MP 1.2 adds more form tags and text
input modes.
 Currently many mobile browsers do not
support XHTML-MP 1.2.
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13. Mobile Web Standards
 Mobile Web sites targeting only smartphones
can use the full feature set of HTML 4 & in the
near future, HTML 5.
 Using desktop markup also invites
transcoders - network appliances designed to
optimize the Desktop Web for mobile devices
by reformatting markup
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14. Mobile Web Standards
 HTML 5 is the next major release of the foundational
language of the Web.
 It is currently a draft recommendation undergoing
active revision at the W3C
(http://www.w3.org/TR/html5/)
 HTML 5 will be the next standard for markup and
APIs supported in Web browsers.
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15. Presentation
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16. Mobile Web Standards
 Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) control the
presentation.
 Most XHTML-MP mobile browsers support Wireless
CSS, CSS Mobile Profile, and/or CSS 2.
 CSS 3 is new, coming along with HTML5
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17. Mobile Web Standards
 The OMA-managed Wireless CSS standard is a
subset of CSS and is also part of the WAP 2.0
specification.
 Note that Wireless CSS is not backwards
compatible with WML.
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18. Mobile Web Standards
 Wireless CSS and CSS Mobile Profile are tightly
related, but independent mobile subsets of
CSS2 used to style XHTML-MP documents.
 Wireless CSS is a CSS2 subset standardized by
the Open Mobile Alliance.
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19. Mobile Web Standards
 CSS Mobile Profile is a CSS2 subset—with
some features borrowed from CSS3—that is
standardized by the W3C.
 The W3C’s goal is to align CSS Mobile Profile
with Wireless CSS as much as possible.
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20. Mobile Web Standards
 Overall, Wireless CSS is a more restricted subset and
an older standard targeted at Web browsers on
resource-limited mobile devices.
 CSS Mobile Profile adds in much more of the CSS2
standard to enable richer web documents but risks
full support on mass market mobile browsers.
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21. Mobile Web Standards
 You can add Wireless CSS to your document the same way as
you would for a normal HTML document.
 Link to an external global stylesheet using the following line:
 <link href="external.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
 Insert styles at the document head the following example
shows:
 <style>
 p{
 font-size: small;
 }
 </style>
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22. Mobile Web Standards
 Wireless CSS supports a lot CSS attributes, but
not all of them.
 More advanced styling techniques won’t likely
work across multiple mobile browsers.
 The best advice is to keep your CSS as simple
as possible.
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23. Client Side Scripting
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24. Mobile Web Standards
 Client-side scripting mainly through Javascript
 ECMAScript-MP or mobile JavaScript targets mobile
phones
 WMLScript is a scripting language which
complements WML.
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25. Mobile Web Standards
 Client-side scripting in mobile browsers used to be
the exclusive domain of smartphones, but this is
rapidly changing.
 Many mass-market mobile devices beginning to
support mobile JavaScript.
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26. Mobile Web Standards
 As with any client-side mobile technology, testing
JavaScript on actual mobile devices is critical for
effective development
 Testing on emulators and in Firefox might not
uncover syntax problems and performance issues
that can occur on the target mobile device.
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27. Mobile Web Standards
 Mobile and desktop JavaScript have virtually
identical syntax.
 The mobile version is stringent about ending
lines with semicolons.
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28. Mobile Web Standards
 Mobile JavaScript reduces the supported
character sets and excludes computationally
intensive language elements.
 It differs from its desktop counterpart in the
extent of its DOM and event support in the
mobile browser.
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29. Mobile Web Standards
 DOM and event support can vary from one
browser vendor and version to another.
 On-device testing is critical for success with
mobile JavaScript.
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30. Mobile Web Standards
 You can use device awareness and content
adaptation techniques that enable conditional
inclusion of scripting to target only mobile
browsers with support for JavaScript.
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31. MIME Types
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32. Mobile Web Standards
 Mobile MIME types (or content types) identify
the format of Mobile Web content.
 Formats are differentiated by web servers and
browser clients in an HTTP transaction using
MIME types
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33. Mobile Web Standards
 Text documents containing mobile markup
 Binary files include viewable or playable
content like ringtones, wallpaper and
videos, and binary executable mobile
applications
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34. Standardization Bodies
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35. Mobile Web Standards
 Mobile Industry Groups and Standards Bodies
adherence to Mobile Web industry standards and
best practices is important for flexible and cross-
platform development.
 Several Internet and mobile industry bodies govern
Mobile Web standards and recommended best
practices
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36. Mobile Web Standards
 W3C: This body standardizes mobile markup
languages and publishes best practices documents
for Mobile Web development and testing.
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37. Mobile Web Standards
 Open Mobile Alliance (formerly WAP Forum): This
body standardizes mobile markup and style
languages and other mobile technologies designed
to be interoperable across devices, geographies, and
mobile networks.
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38. Mobile Web Standards
 dotMobi (http://mtld.mobi): This body controls the
.mobi top-level domain, the content of which must
be device-adaptive and compatible with mobile
devices.
 This body also publishes best practices for Mobile
Web development and nurtures mobile
developers, marketers, and operators with online
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communities. Rights Reserved.

39. Mobile Web Standards
 Mobile Marketing Association: This body
centralizes technology recommendations and
best practices for marketing and advertising
on mobile devices.
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40. Mobile Web Standards
 Open Mobile Terminal Platform (OMTP)
(www.omtp.org/): This operator-sponsored
mobile industry group standardizing mobile
device access from Web applications.
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