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[[!meta title="Mobile domain names" ]] [[!meta date="2005-03-06 05:20:22" ]] [[!tag Mobile]]

While watching footie on the TV I noticed domains like http://www.samsungmobile.com/ and http://www.arsenalmobile.com advertised.

What the hell are those assholes thinking?

This is just as bad as a TLD devoted to mobile devices.

These assholes threaten to divide information space aka the Web into two!

  1. For mobiles only
  2. For desktops only

NO! This would have terrible consequences.

  • It would fragment the Web.
  • It would make websites much harder to maintain decreasing their quality.
  • It would make websites inconsistent.
  • It would prevent true multi-modal access.
  • Information wouldn’t be pervasive at all, it would be sadly device dependent.

Please use a device independent approach:

  • Use no/less images
  • Minimize the size of the page
  • Write good HTML4 strict code (no hunky tables)
  • Have a good search at the top of the page like AAT
  • Presentational elements of course should be in CSS, but bear in mind that mobile UAs generally have very poor CSS support, e.g. series 40
  • No proprietary bullshit like Flash of course!

I know this would make many websites “boring”. They will get more exciting when UAs on mobiles get better. However although limited, information can be discerned through a simple form interface from a mobile device. Just look at AAT on yout mobile. Just think this interface could be used to query client records. Customer orders. Football scores. It’s just about enough to actually have an information application on zillions of mobiles out there with below-par UAs. So do it!

For more, read my Msc.