A reader from Minnesota recently emailed me to ask which markup language is best used for a Mobile Web site targeting smartphones:

My company is building an academic iPhone application (showing completed classes, current classes, grades, etc.). We also want to build a Mobile Web site that surfaces this information. If we only want to support smartphone Web browsers, should we use HTML or XHTML-MP?

My preference is to always use XHTML-MP (XHTML Mobile Profile). HTML is too unstructured for mobile devices. XHTML is a better choice, but can be considered "desktop markup" by some services in the mobile ecosystem, potentially subjecting the site to transcoding and exclusion from indexes of Mobile Web sites.

Web browsers in iPhone, Palm webOS, Android and other smartphones will render HTML and XHTML without problems, but if you stick with XHTML-MP, you also achieve built-in compatibility with a greater variety of Internet-capable mobile devices. Using XHTML-MP also allows crawlers for mobile search engines to easily recognize your content as mobile-optimized. In my experience, the Web development goal of "only supporting smartphones" almost always broadens to "supporting all Web-savvy mobile browsers", which are installed on a rapidly increasing percentage of low-end and free featurephones. You set your Mobile Web site up for broader compatibility if you stick with XHTML-MP.

If you must use XHTML or HTML for a Mobile Web site targeting smartphones, then be sure to embed mobile META tags into the markup. The Viewport, HandheldFriendly and MobileOptimized META tags identify Web documents authored in desktop-optimized markup languages as optimized and intended for mobile devices.

Starting in Fall 2009, I will teach Advanced Mobile Web Development at Portland Community College in Portland, OR. It’s a new class that teaches advanced techniques for creating rich and interactive mobile web sites for smart mobile browsers that support full HTML and Javascript interactivity.

Students will learn to build advanced mobile web sites for iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and other smartphones. Topics include interoperability, optimizing markup for advanced microbrowsers, embracing WebKit extensions, JavaScript and AJAX on mobile devices and effective use of device databases. Class project is to build an interactive, device-adapted mobile web site targeting smartphones.

See the Advanced lessons of the Mobile Web Development curriculum for details.

If you have ideas about Advanced Mobile Web Development lessons or any other feedback for this course, leave it in the comments or contact me directly.

I’ll post the CRN and other PCC registration details when they become available.