A LIST Apart: For People Who Make Websites

No. 269

Discuss: Put Your Content in my Pocket, Part II

by Craig Hockenberry

Pages

| 1 | 2 | 3 | next »

1 Small Code Correction

user-scalable is part of the content attribute, not its own attribute, so:

<meta name=”viewport” content=”width=320” user-scalable=”no” />

should be:

<meta name=”viewport” content=”width=320; user-scalable=no” />

posted at 08:11 am on September 11, 2007 by James Craig

2 Put Your Content in my Pocket

Craig I read the first one and the second one is also very good written! I think everyone can agree that size matters for me 480×320 pixels (landscape) is the best option so I will buy it next month and check how it really works! Regards

posted at 12:18 pm on September 11, 2007 by Tom Black

3 iPhone/iPodTouch Subdomains

I noticed how some websites rushed to create subdomains like iphone.somedomain.com when the iPhone first came out. But, now that mobile Safari is appearing in other places (like iPod Touch) that line of reasoning doesn’t make sense.

I realize (and agree) that the best practices is to have one web address where all of your users can go. But, since not everyone actually takes that approach I’m just curious as to what people would actually call their mobile Safari friendly site?

I think maybe it’s time to ditch those iPhone specific URLs since no one’s going to remember them.

posted at 02:39 pm on September 11, 2007 by James Pentyn

4 Code correction

James, thanks for spotting that! I’ve let the editors know so we should see an update later today.

-ch

posted at 03:21 pm on September 11, 2007 by Craig Hockenberry

5 URLs

I had a hunch that the multi-touch UI would make it into other devices offered by Apple. Using iphone.domain.com or domain.com/iphone seemed shortsighted to me.

In the long term, I think the most important thing about the iPhone/iPod is that they raise the bar for mobile devices. I think there will be a lot of manufacturers that follow Apple’s lead—making devices that use the real Web, not some dumbed down version. (Some manufacturers are already doing this, more will follow just to remain competitive.)

The best way to look at the problem is from an information architecture point-of-view (specifically in regard to usability.) From that vantage point, it seems that domains like mobile.domain.com and domain.com/mobile make the most sense. It lets the user get to a part of the site where layouts can be larger and less essential content can be filtered out.

-ch

posted at 03:32 pm on September 11, 2007 by Craig Hockenberry

6 Pixel font sizes?

Is there a reason to not use relative font sizes? And, by the way, what is the calculated default for font size in Mobile Safari?

posted at 03:42 pm on September 11, 2007 by John Lascurettes

7 Streaming video

One problem I ran into as a developer is that while Mobile Safari supports basic authentication, the media player doesn’t. What this means is that when Safari hands basic auth-protected video off to the media player, you get an error and it doesn’t stream.

I’ve filed a bug report with Apple for this, but no news yet!

posted at 03:42 pm on September 11, 2007 by Jarin Udom

8 iPhone URLs

How about ie.somedomain.com, firefox.somedomain.com, 800×600.somedomain.com, or maybe combined firefox.800×600.16bitcolors.somedomain.com…

posted at 03:58 pm on September 11, 2007 by Adam Kay

9 Wrong direction

Isn’t it the wrong direction to develop pages specific to some devices? I think you should rather try to make your sites flexible and accessible so you can view them from any browser. So now it’s not only the iPhone, but also iTouch and the Samsung F700 and so on…

posted at 05:29 pm on September 11, 2007 by Andreas Berg

10 This is not what the author said

That you should develop mobile pages for every single device. I think it’s more that you should be aware of mobile devices and that this article shows some examples of things to consider. Of course, as more mobile devices come up, you should have a more abstract approach to that.

posted at 05:34 pm on September 11, 2007 by Michael Balles

Pages

| 1 | 2 | 3 | next »

Got something to say?

Discuss this article. We reserve the right to delete flames, trolls, and wood nymphs.

Create a new account or sign in below if you’d like to leave a comment.

Remember me

Subscribe to this article's comments: RSS (what’s this?)