Comments on: Mobile META Tags http://learnthemobileweb.com/2009/07/mobile-meta-tags/ how to develop standards-compliant and usable mobile web applications Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:24:30 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8 hourly 1 By: Mobile Web Design » Wozu der viewport meta tag? http://learnthemobileweb.com/2009/07/mobile-meta-tags/comment-page-1/#comment-3233 Mobile Web Design » Wozu der viewport meta tag? Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:49:06 +0000 http://learnthemobileweb.com/?p=259#comment-3233 [...] Nachtrag: Der viewport meta tag funktioniert immerhin “… in many smartphone browsers, including Safari Mobile for the iPhone, Android browser, webOS browser in Palm Pre and Pixi devices, Opera Mini, Opera Mobile and BlackBerry browsers.” Quelle: http://learnthemobileweb.com/2009/07/mobile-meta-tags/ [...] [...] Nachtrag: Der viewport meta tag funktioniert immerhin “… in many smartphone browsers, including Safari Mobile for the iPhone, Android browser, webOS browser in Palm Pre and Pixi devices, Opera Mini, Opera Mobile and BlackBerry browsers.” Quelle: http://learnthemobileweb.com/2009/07/mobile-meta-tags/ [...]

]]> By: Gail Rahn Frederick http://learnthemobileweb.com/2009/07/mobile-meta-tags/comment-page-1/#comment-3087 Gail Rahn Frederick Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:32:01 +0000 http://learnthemobileweb.com/?p=259#comment-3087 Hi Manish, When the doctype is XHTML-MP or WML, then DOCTYPE is a valid criteria for determining whether markup is intended for mobile devices. When the doctype is HTML or XHTML, then it doesn't convey any information about optimizations. That's why these META tags are used - to mark a generic HTML document as intended for mobile browsers. Other means to identify whether HTML markup is mobile-optimized is by inspecting the document size (under 10k - probably renders OK on mobile), page weight (combination of document + dependent resources like JavaScript libraries, CSS, etc - look for # of dependent resources, total size and standards-adherence in each resource) and usage of HTML tags known not to play well in mobile browsers (i.e. iframe and frame elements). Hi Manish,
When the doctype is XHTML-MP or WML, then DOCTYPE is a valid criteria for determining whether markup is intended for mobile devices. When the doctype is HTML or XHTML, then it doesn’t convey any information about optimizations. That’s why these META tags are used – to mark a generic HTML document as intended for mobile browsers. Other means to identify whether HTML markup is mobile-optimized is by inspecting the document size (under 10k – probably renders OK on mobile), page weight (combination of document + dependent resources like JavaScript libraries, CSS, etc – look for # of dependent resources, total size and standards-adherence in each resource) and usage of HTML tags known not to play well in mobile browsers (i.e. iframe and frame elements).

]]> By: Manish Gurnaney http://learnthemobileweb.com/2009/07/mobile-meta-tags/comment-page-1/#comment-3075 Manish Gurnaney Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:13:14 +0000 http://learnthemobileweb.com/?p=259#comment-3075 Hi Gail, I have one query, lots of operator sites doesn't specify any of these tag and still want the page should be treated as a mobile page(as the contents are written for these smart phones only). So in this scenario we should treat such kind of pages as regular Desktop pages. Are there any means of identifying whether the pages are specified for Mobile or not? I believe we shouldn't decide on the basis of DOCTYPE. Regards, Manish Gurnaney Hi Gail,
I have one query, lots of operator sites doesn’t specify any of these tag and still want the page should be treated as a mobile page(as the contents are written for these smart phones only). So in this scenario we should treat such kind of pages as regular Desktop pages.
Are there any means of identifying whether the pages are specified for Mobile or not?
I believe we shouldn’t decide on the basis of DOCTYPE.

Regards,
Manish Gurnaney

]]> By: Gail Rahn Frederick http://learnthemobileweb.com/2009/07/mobile-meta-tags/comment-page-1/#comment-2913 Gail Rahn Frederick Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:27:54 +0000 http://learnthemobileweb.com/?p=259#comment-2913 Hi Alvin, for browsers that switch orientation (or for re-usable markup that works on any browser supporting the Viewport meta tag) use the special <strong>device-width</strong> and <strong>device-height</strong> variables, as in: <code><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width,user-scalable=no" /></code> The example above sets the viewport width to the device's screen width, whatever value it takes in the current orientation. Hi Alvin, for browsers that switch orientation (or for re-usable markup that works on any browser supporting the Viewport meta tag) use the special device-width and device-height variables, as in:

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width,user-scalable=no" />

The example above sets the viewport width to the device’s screen width, whatever value it takes in the current orientation.

]]> By: Gail Rahn Frederick http://learnthemobileweb.com/2009/07/mobile-meta-tags/comment-page-1/#comment-2912 Gail Rahn Frederick Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:23:59 +0000 http://learnthemobileweb.com/?p=259#comment-2912 Good question. Does the Windows Mobile SDK documentation specifically mention that htmlView.dll contains the exact same browse experience as IE Mobile? On some devices, I have noticed capability differences between a browser control and a browser application, with the former being a pared-down version of the latter. Sounds like you found another device where this is the case. There may be ways to programmatically set the scaling for the browser control. I suggest you scour the Windows Mobile SDK documentation to learn the browser control capabilities and find workarounds. Best of luck! Good question. Does the Windows Mobile SDK documentation specifically mention that htmlView.dll contains the exact same browse experience as IE Mobile? On some devices, I have noticed capability differences between a browser control and a browser application, with the former being a pared-down version of the latter. Sounds like you found another device where this is the case. There may be ways to programmatically set the scaling for the browser control. I suggest you scour the Windows Mobile SDK documentation to learn the browser control capabilities and find workarounds. Best of luck!

]]> By: Alvin Yue http://learnthemobileweb.com/2009/07/mobile-meta-tags/comment-page-1/#comment-2905 Alvin Yue Thu, 21 Jan 2010 05:55:58 +0000 http://learnthemobileweb.com/?p=259#comment-2905 I am concern about the use of viewport tag as some of the phones are capable of switching the orientation (e.g. iPhone, Moto Droid). When that happens, width=320 might limit the phone from using the landscape width of 480 (iPhone). I am concern about the use of viewport tag as some of the phones are capable of switching the orientation (e.g. iPhone, Moto Droid). When that happens, width=320 might limit the phone from using the landscape width of 480 (iPhone).

]]> By: aakanksha http://learnthemobileweb.com/2009/07/mobile-meta-tags/comment-page-1/#comment-2903 aakanksha Thu, 21 Jan 2010 04:44:18 +0000 http://learnthemobileweb.com/?p=259#comment-2903 Thanks for your reply. Yea my question is about using IE mobile as a control in a Windows Mobile Application vs running on the IE Mobile browser. After experimenting I found that the meta tags do not work when i use htmlView.dll for opening the html page (which i assume internally uses IE browser) . So i wanted to ask if you could suggest something that why it would be happening or is it something wrong that I am doing. If you require further clarification please let me know. Thanks for your reply. Yea my question is about using IE mobile as a control in a Windows Mobile Application vs running on the IE Mobile browser. After experimenting I found that the meta tags do not work when i use htmlView.dll for opening the html page (which i assume internally uses IE browser) . So i wanted to ask if you could suggest something that why it would be happening or is it something wrong that I am doing. If you require further clarification please let me know.

]]> By: Gail Rahn Frederick http://learnthemobileweb.com/2009/07/mobile-meta-tags/comment-page-1/#comment-2877 Gail Rahn Frederick Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:04:47 +0000 http://learnthemobileweb.com/?p=259#comment-2877 I don't quite understand your question. Would you provide more information, please? These META tags provide hints to the browser for rendering mobile-optimized Web content. How do you envision "making these tags work" without actually opening the browser window? If you are asking about using IE Mobile as a control in a Windows Mobile application vs. running the IE Mobile browser application, the two are likely to have the same support for META tags, but only on-device testing would definitively prove this to be true. I don’t quite understand your question. Would you provide more information, please? These META tags provide hints to the browser for rendering mobile-optimized Web content. How do you envision “making these tags work” without actually opening the browser window? If you are asking about using IE Mobile as a control in a Windows Mobile application vs. running the IE Mobile browser application, the two are likely to have the same support for META tags, but only on-device testing would definitively prove this to be true.

]]> By: aakanksha http://learnthemobileweb.com/2009/07/mobile-meta-tags/comment-page-1/#comment-2874 aakanksha Wed, 20 Jan 2010 12:54:57 +0000 http://learnthemobileweb.com/?p=259#comment-2874 Hi Gail, I understand the use and advantage of this meta tag, but i have a question here. Can i add these meta tags in my html pages and navigate to those html pages using the DTM_NAVIGATE message present in htmlView.dll. Will these tags still work to give a mobile optimized views? Or is there any other way to make these tags work without actually opening it in the IE Mobile . Hi Gail,
I understand the use and advantage of this meta tag, but i have a question here. Can i add these meta tags in my html pages and navigate to those html pages using the DTM_NAVIGATE message present in htmlView.dll. Will these tags still work to give a mobile optimized views? Or is there any other way to make these tags work without actually opening it in the IE Mobile .

]]> By: Gail Rahn Frederick http://learnthemobileweb.com/2009/07/mobile-meta-tags/comment-page-1/#comment-2345 Gail Rahn Frederick Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:21:32 +0000 http://learnthemobileweb.com/?p=259#comment-2345 My opinion is that if a company wants to reach a mobile audience, it must provide a mobile-optimized Web experience, even for smartphones. (In fact, that's the premise of the book I just published - see the sidebar for a link.) If you have ever tried to surf the desktop-optimized web on a mobile device, even a device as capable as the iPhone or an Android model, you'll notice that panning and zooming around a view of 5% of the Web page is a poor user experience. Not to mention the burden on the mobile network and mobiel browser of downloading and rendering the huge file sizes of desktop-optimized Web pages (1 MB+, considering linked images, videos, stylesheets, javascript libraries, etc). My opinion is that if a company wants to reach a mobile audience, it must provide a mobile-optimized Web experience, even for smartphones. (In fact, that’s the premise of the book I just published – see the sidebar for a link.) If you have ever tried to surf the desktop-optimized web on a mobile device, even a device as capable as the iPhone or an Android model, you’ll notice that panning and zooming around a view of 5% of the Web page is a poor user experience. Not to mention the burden on the mobile network and mobiel browser of downloading and rendering the huge file sizes of desktop-optimized Web pages (1 MB+, considering linked images, videos, stylesheets, javascript libraries, etc).

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