Wap site and php site

[apwade]

Is it possible to have two main pages i.e index page one for wap and the other html(php driven) or do i have to determine the type of user and rewrite my index page appropriately.

My main site is unsuitable for mobile phones and would have to significantly different.

Cheers

Andrew

[wige]

Depending on how you have the site set up, you may be able to serve a different stylesheet based on the type of browser - the same way you have one stylesheet for browsers and another for printing, you can create a mobile version.

Beyond that, yes, you probably would have to create a second site and dynamically generate a link from one to the other if you detect the user is on a different platform.

[bj]

Two different ways to handle it. Either use a mobile css file or browser sniff and send mobiles to a subdomain designed especially for them. Either way it's a nightmare, since browsers for mobile devices are even more contrary and standards-ignoring than IE.

One thing you can do is to have your main layout be a css layout that will, if the stylesheet is removed, render the information in a way that makes sense. Then create an EMPTY stylesheet for mobile devices.

[weslinda]

Definately try and go the way of CSS. A well structured page can be used across all types of mediums with some simple CSS mods for those mediums.

That is the main driving force of CSS. The ability to create unique visual representations of your site depending on the medium.

Stay away from unique pages if you can, it makes your life easier in the long run.

Learn CSS it can be your friend.

[martink]

I'm no expert on this, so you may want to go the route suggested by everyone else, but I heard from an AMA workshop on mobile marketing that it is standard to put an "m" in front of your URL for the mobile version of your site.

So, instead of www.widgets.com it would be www.mwidgets.com.

Not sure though, as I don't usually access sites from my phone.

[DaveSawers]

Originally Posted by weslinda

Definately try and go the way of CSS.

Definitely try and go the way of having separate pages for mobile users.

Since their screens are small and their usage costs high you should optimize your graphics into small files for the mobile user and also reduce your content down to the absolute minimum. Yes you can do that (or at least some of it) with CSS but life's too short.

[DaveSawers]

Originally Posted by martink

I'm no expert on this, so you may want to go the route suggested by everyone else, but I heard from an AMA workshop on mobile marketing that it is standard to put an "m" in front of your URL for the mobile version of your site.

So, instead of www.widgets.com it would be www.mwidgets.com.

Not sure though, as I don't usually access sites from my phone.

I've never heard of that before and quite frankly it sounds daft. Who is going to mess up their carefully crafted company or domain name with a spurious m? Mapple? Myahoo? Mmicrosoft? I don't think so.

[bj]

it is standard to put an "m" in front of your URL for the mobile version of your site.

I'm sorry, martink, but I'm with DaveSawers on this. It sounds whacko. There is a .mobi TLD which would make a lot more sense, though with mobile stylesheets there is really no need for a separate domain nor subdomain.

[weslinda]

Dave, CSS can allow you to change the formatting of the page drastically, and even hide certain unneeded images from the visitor based upon their device.

This allows you to take a well structured document and even load it as a text only document, imageless, structured visually only by CSS. The main limitation to this is the fact that most people are trying to fit a currently poorly designed site into the mobile environment.

This only leads to continued bad practices down the road that really should be avoided at all costs. Do the work now to convert a site properly, and life for years to come will be much simpler.

Should we also develop unique pages for users facing accessibility issues such as blindness? That's the next question in a topic such as this.

[DrTandem1]

I wouldn't bother. Wireless phones will soon be able to view standard web pages. The iPhone is a good example and others are followiing. Also, people without such browser friendly devices don't bother to surf the internet, anyway.

In short, I don't think it is worth the effort or to risk redirects with browser detection schemes. If you just have to do it, then style sheets are the way to go.

[Veikoh]

I do not understand how you will be able to get your site optimised for mobile phones only using CSS?
Mobile phonew screen size, graphics, colors, etc are so different so currently every mobile application developer is using WURFL library to detect the device capabilities.
Vodaphone have worked now over a year with their gateway which should convert web sites to mobile screen but they still have lot of problems ahead.
Any graphic object in your site should be different not mentioning the usage of tables, frames, etc.
You can program the WAP (XHTML) site using php, that's not a problem.

[Tim_Myth]

I'm with DrTandem (and not just because he's a fellow phone guy). Cell phones are increasingly supporting full fledged viewing. Certainly optomize you page and style sheet, but don't spend to o much time supporting the current kludge. Municiple Wi-Fi is becoming more prevalent and wireless carriers are doing their best to implement WiMax or a similar standard faster than the other guy. I forsee a very short future for WML.*

On the other hand, if your target market is the 15-25 crowd, and you are trying to do something very current and edgy that requires the immediacy of a cell phone regardless of its woefully inadequate interface, then concentrate on a great site for mobile phones and treat the actual web page like the red-headed step child it is. If you must create a page for cell phones, do it right and check the user-agent before serving up the page. This will allow you to create pages that are specific for nokia phones, motarola's, the openwave browser, IE 7, IE 6, Firefox, etc. It'll be a helluva lotta work, but then you'll know your page works the way its supposed to work. CSS is great and will work to make sure your site degrades gracefully, but it will lack the modularity a decent UA sniffing script can provide.

edit: That is WML in its current state. If the standard changes/updates with the advent of new technology, all bets are off.

[Webnauts]

Originally Posted by apwade

Is it possible to have two main pages i.e index page one for wap and the other html(php driven) or do i have to determine the type of user and rewrite my index page appropriately.

My main site is unsuitable for mobile phones and would have to significantly different.

Cheers

Andrew

Our site is mobile compatible, and we use Handheld Media CSS. And the best we are ranking in Google's Mobile Search better than anywhere else.

WAP is outdated. Don't spend a minute for that.

[weslinda]

In reviewing my stats for one of my sites, I'm looking at the browsers types visiting our site. Out of roughly 140k pageviews, I have more for Web TV, 58, than for mobile WAP, 41. That's out of 140k pageviews.

Not sure if "reprogramming" your site for such visitors is worth financial investment of completely unique content for them.

Spend your money where your market is. Use CSS to make your life easy and let the future come to you.

[sanver]

Originally Posted by DaveSawers

I've never heard of that before and quite frankly it sounds daft. Who is going to mess up their carefully crafted company or domain name with a spurious m? Mapple? Myahoo? Mmicrosoft? I don't think so.

Right said.

.MOBI domain names has been created especially for mobile devices. Normally all domain registrarers providing .MOBI domain registration also provide .MOBI site builder, where you can preview your website in simulated screens of different leading handsets like Nokia N72 etc.

I am no expert of CSS. But if you can create CSS that can "sniff" mobile browsers, maybe you can redirect them to spacially created .MOBI websites.

===============
Sanjay Verma

[Webnauts]

Originally Posted by sanver

Right said.

I am no expert of CSS. But if you can create CSS that can "sniff" mobile browsers, maybe you can redirect them to spacially created .MOBI websites.

You do not need to have a second site if you use Handheld Media CSS.

[apwade]

Thank you for all your comments and suggestions. I need to rethink the way forward and if its worth creating pages for mobiles and cost effective.

Cheers,

Andrew

[likeorganic]

Is there any standard for cell phones like the W3C for browsers on pcs. What I asking is there any way to preview the work your doing with out a phone next to your desk.

[Tim_Myth]

There is the WML standard (Wireless Markup Language), but being WML compliant does not mean your site will display properly in all models of cell phones. Most manufacturers will have an emulator for their cell phones...I have used a nokia emulator in the past, and I saw an OpenWave emulator a while back too. Its a major pain to ensure that your site works well with every model of phone.

Examine your site's need carefully if you really need to pursue that niche. Can you get by with a text only version, or must it be WML? Can you use CSS to do some simple styling, or should you go for the full on UA sniffing script? I personally won't bother with a mobile version of my sites. Nothing I do requires the immediacy of a cell phone. If I had sites devoted news (really really current news) or cell phone pictures and video clips, then I'd think about it, but otherwise don't bother.

[bj]

There is a w3 standard, but, as usual, there isn't much compliance by device manufacturers except where the Opera Mobile Browser is used. And it seems every device manufacturer breaks the code in a different way. There's also a pretty broad difference in screen sizes and resolutions.

There are web simulators out there, but the ones I have listed on the article I wrote last year are already out of date since there are all new phones.

That's why I suggested feeding mobiles an unstyled page with no background images. At least then the information will come through in a usable form no matter what, and load fairly quickly, which is the other issue. There are real bandwidth constraints on the cellular network.

[wige]

Just a note, I see Dreamweaver CS3 comes with "Device Central CS3" which contains cell phone emulators for about a hundred different cell phones. However, I am not sure if they all use the same rendering engine, or if they appropriately mimic the variations in the different browsers. Anyone know?

[kgun]

Originally Posted by likeorganic

Is there any standard for cell phones like the W3C for browsers on pcs. What I asking is there any way to preview the work your doing with out a phone next to your desk.

Yes, as bj says, there are simulators. You can test drive Opera Mini™ 4 beta

"Coming soon"

Opera 9 Mobile.

- Opera Widgets.
- Overview mode with intelligent zoom.
- Advanced functionality with Ajax and Web 2.0.

What version should I select?

Ideally you should not need different style sheets. The next generation browser mobile or not, should take care of the styling like the ordinary Opera browser. Download it and try

View + Style

and you will understand what I mean.

Related WPW link.