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Thread: wap vs xhtml

  1. #1
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    wap vs xhtml

    I am trying to make a site for mobile users, except I ran into the problem of wap vs xhtml. I own a Cingular 8125, which is a Pocket PC with WM5 and IE. So xhtml worked wonders, but my concern was how many phones have xhtml support? So i redid the code using wap, but on my phone(8125) the wap does not appear that great. My question is, is there a good percentage of newer phones that use xhtml cap. browser? is there a way to take care of both?

    When they goto my site, they are suppose to log onto their username and password, but in wap or wap emulator i have used, the login is broke. So i think wap would be best to start pushing away from my site unless someone can help me out here.

  2. #2
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    I think you should imagine the type of user you're going to get to this site. Unless its a site with bus/train/cinema times then your visitors are going to be quite geeky, and will likely have a high-end flashy phone.

    I personally haven't owned a phone that couldn't handle (x)html for around 4 years now but the EU phone market is (a little) more competitive than the US.

    I develop my mobile targeted sites with simple clean xhtml, I haven't had ny one complain, but I don't know if any one would...

  3. #3
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    NO phone can handle native xhtml. Especially if it's using IE because IE itself can't handle native xhtml when it's served as html. That is something you should look into, how it's served.
    IE7 is nine years behind the standards or wrong.
    But it works in IE!
    "IE is a cancer on the web" -- Paul Thurott
    "Avoid hacker-bait apps like Internet Explorer" -- Kevin Mitnick

  4. #4
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    My aim is toward all users who play on video game consoles. So the age limit varies as well as to possible "geek" level. I was hoping to aim this to just about any phone, I know i also have a backup Motorola Rokr, which an load my login page, but couldn't process the login with the old xhtml style, i'd get could not open page. After the login screen I have to process a few php files that gathers data from their accounts then outputs the resulting data. Would it be wise to just stick to xhtml and offer another service , say though sms for non xhtml phones?

  5. #5
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    Well, it seems I'm behind the times on this. I see a lot of articles about xhtml-mp and xhtml on cell phones but I'm very wary of whether it's true xhtml or not. Many people write xhtml web pages which are not served as such but they talk as if they do.

    Like I said, IE doesn't do true xhtml so I'm confused.
    IE7 is nine years behind the standards or wrong.
    But it works in IE!
    "IE is a cancer on the web" -- Paul Thurott
    "Avoid hacker-bait apps like Internet Explorer" -- Kevin Mitnick

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by drhowarddrfine
    NO phone can handle native xhtml.
    drhowarddrfine, what phones have you been testing with? In the past six years I have used, in order; Nokia 6210, Ericsson t65, SE t68, SE T610, SE Z200, Samsun D500, SE S700, SE K750i and I just got the K800i in August.

    From the T610 on my phones have rendered xhtml as I would expect, inlcuding things like float and clear in CSS. If they didn't I wouldn't have bought them. As for my current phone (the brilliant Sonyericsson K800i) I can assuer you it does support xhtml and renders it well. See its UAprof: http://wap.sonyericsson.com/UAprof/K800iR101.xml

    The browsers box model on my phone is actually better than IE7s so I do agree with you on the short comings of IE.

  7. #7
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    So is it a safe bet that most phones are xhtml capable?

  8. #8
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    Most new phones are, and at least in the UK I see no one but very tech savvy people on the 'net via their cell phone.

    What is your site about though, is it some resource for console gamers? Like cheat codes or walk troughs? Any one that uses them tends to print them out and read them off of paper, I duno if they'd want to read them from a cell phone screen all the time because its slow to load and the screen goes dark unless you keep pressing something.

    I'd do some research of your target audience, possibly just survey your friends. If it is that type of gaming site I thought then you'll know lost of people in that demographic.

  9. #9
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    That link is XML not Xhtml. IE7 does NOT support Xhtml served as application/xml+xhtml. All versions of IE never have.
    IE7 is nine years behind the standards or wrong.
    But it works in IE!
    "IE is a cancer on the web" -- Paul Thurott
    "Avoid hacker-bait apps like Internet Explorer" -- Kevin Mitnick

  10. #10
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    I am developing an mobile service for users of Xbox Live. Where they can logon, check their xbox live info, friends, achievements etc. So I guess i'll just hit up xhtml.

  11. #11
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    drhowarddrfine, atleast read my post. Thats a UAprof (they're XML). A UAprof describes what features a phone supports. That's the UAprof of my phone, it says it supports xhtml.

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