While I'm getting any real work done today having unleashed my dormant mobile computing thinking, Mark Pilgrim writes about his weblog's mobile edition concluding:
As I said, XHTML Basic has no basis in reality. Ignore it.
Certainly his points are understandable though less so outside of the US. I don't think you'll be able to ignore it very long though.
XHTML Basic is the underlying markup language of WAP 2.0 that replaces the wrong-headed Wireless Markup Language (WML) of version 1.0. Despite all of its foibles and my own harsh criticism, WAP still has the support of all the major telcos and handset manufacturers of the world for browser based applications. Most notable is Japan's NTT DoCoMo who operates i-Mode, the most successful (by a landslide) mobile Internet service in the world. Replacing WML with a standardized XHTML subset was the key concession to getting NTT to endorse WAP and migrate away from its own HTML subset called cHTML. A good, but somewhat dated summary by Wired can be found here.
Are an extensive amount of devices with WAP 2.0 out there? Not really, but look for that to change in the next year or so. So enjoy ignoring it while you can.
<p>While I'm getting any <em>real work</em> done today having <a href="http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/2917">unleashed my dormant mobile computing thinking</a>, Mark Pilgrim <a href="http://diveintomark.org/archives/2003/03/15/about_the_mobile_edition.html">writes</a> about his weblog's mobile edition concluding: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>As I said, XHTML Basic has no basis in reality. Ignore it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Certainly his points are understandable though less so outside of the US. I don't think you'll be able to ignore it very long though. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml-basic/">XHTML Basic</a> is the underlying markup language of WAP 2.0 that <a href="http://www.xmlhack.com/read.php?item=1331">replaces the wrong-headed Wireless Markup Language (WML)</a> of version 1.0. Despite all of its foibles and <a href="http://www.mbusinessdaily.com/magazine/story/archive/march-2001/04_wap2">my own harsh criticism</a>, WAP still has the support of all the major telcos and handset manufacturers of the world for browser based applications. Most notable is Japan's NTT DoCoMo who operates <a href="http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2000/09/20/wireless/imode.html">i-Mode</a>, the most successful (by a landslide) mobile Internet service in the world. Replacing WML with a standardized XHTML subset was the key concession to getting <a href="http://www.infosync.no/news/2002/n/2002.html">NTT to endorse WAP and migrate away from its own HTML subset</a> called cHTML. A good, but somewhat dated summary by Wired can be found <a href="http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,38333,00.html">here</a>. </p>
<p>Are an extensive amount of devices with WAP 2.0 out there? Not really, but look for that to change in the next year or so. So enjoy ignoring it while you can.</p>
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