RE: Access and communication - URLs and more

> But then, you have to identify clearly the device to avoid displaying the PC interface to a mobile and vice versa.
 
No you don't. One URL is all you need for any device. Your site merely has to be aware of the device that is making the request. Whatever device you are using to access the Web, visit our home page ( www.mobileaware.com) and you will see. There is no need for /mobile, or mobile.*, or /pda or any other manipulation of URLs. In our case, the URL is to our home page, and we will give you a reasonable representation of a "home page" as is appropriate to your circumstances. (We're not a content provider, so we don't put a huge amount into our web site, but our customers do for their services.)
 
And we're not the only company that has this technology. Our "colleagues" in Volantis and Drutt, both participating in MWI, can demonstrate similar capabilities. And there are others. We are collectively providers of "adaptation technology", and it is generally accepted that some form of adaptation will be needed to support the Web diversity. This is why we have come together. We hope to avoid technology fragmentation. Agree a common approach. Encourage others to follow. Create the "One Web".
 
My company will work with others (partners and competitors alike) to achieve this. I accept that www.* has been used as a DNS "flag" to indicate a HTTP server. It is not a guarantee, but most people know. But www.* does not currently indicate a Web site that will adapt to your device. If people insist on using DNS to signal some property of the site, then the only thing that I would possibly support is something that indicates the site will adapt, as this should cover all devices. One day, I hope that www.* will also mean that the site will adapt, but until then we will continue to work towards this goal.
 
---Rotan. (Chair DDWG, Chief Innovations Architect for MobileAware)
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Nicolas Combelles [mailto:nicolas.combelles@apocope.com]
Sent: 05 August 2005 11:22
To: public-bpwg@w3.org
Subject: Access and communication - URLs and more


Ok, let's start a new topic, specifically about access to websites.
 
 
1. What are the different access methods to a website ?
 
-> Direct user input, bookmarking, link on another website or directory or search result page, link in a mail.
 
As an website editor, you have to put lots of effort on communicating your URL through these different means.
 
 
2. How easy is it for people to access website with these methods, especially on handset device ?
 
To remain simple, we can stick to the mecanisms. Either accessing requires a user click (link), or a URL input in the location bar. 
The second being a bit more complex, and require the user to know the URL.
This is getting more and more important on mobile, where keyboard input isn't easy. This is why mobile user mainly use the telcos mobile portals.
 
Now if they try .. they will try the URL they know, most often the one of your website.
 
When you need to communicate a URL to a mobile user, the best way remain to push it. Problem is compatibility with Wap push, email, and SMS with cliquable links, had again a lot of complexity to achieve it.
 
In France, we have a specific portal, or rather a kiosk, called "Gallery", made by the three national telcos, where editors can register their site to be accessed by all mobile users through a search engine. Such sites have a unique code like "servicename" that users can type in the search box or in a sms sent to the short number 30130 to get access. It is getting really popular as was it's ancestor, the old french "Minitel" (which inspired the i-mode creator "Takeshi Natsuno") where you had to type "3615 servicename" .
But well .. this is another topic.
 
 
3. Should I keep a single URL for the mobile ?
 
It depends. Most often, yes. 
 
- If you have one website, that follow best practices and renders ok on mobile -> Sure.
- If you build a specific interface, accessing the same contents than your ¨PC website -> It depends.
- If you build a specific website only for mobile users, sharing some content (or not) with your PC website -> It depends.
 
But note that a second URL MEANS a second site (like you could have your corporate site on www.company.com + your corporate blog on blog.company.com <http://www.company.com/> ).
 
It depends of your strategy :
 
a) How do you want user to consider your mobile application ? A mobile "version" or a mobile "site" ?
b) Which has the best marketing impact ? : 
   - "You can now find www.yahoo.com your mobile" 
   - " mobile.yahoo.com <http://www.yahoo.com> "
 
c) Can you afford the complexification of having two URLs (time, money, and user perception) ?
 
Again, most often you won't wish fragmenting your URL. 
But then, you have to identify clearly the device to avoid displaying the PC interface to a mobile and vice versa.
 
 
4. Which mobile-specific URL should I use ?
 
This is up to you. You can add a folder or change the alias :
 
www.site.com/mobile
mobile.site.com <http://www.mobile.site.com> 
 
 
You can use "mobile", but I also like "mmm" that stand for "Mobile MultiMedia". I do not recommand "wap" (first, the word "image" suffered from wap1 failure, and furthermore, wap isn't the only mobile web technology).
 
I'm glad google recently replaced their www.google.com/palm URL by www.google.com/pda which is much more generic to a device family (even if hard to define) than the Palm brand (that people tend to name as a device type).
 
I'm definitely not (as other already mentionned) for the new extension ".mobi".
 
But don't forget that even if you choose differents URLs, you can still use a redirect on both to make sure the device goes to the correct site (thought sometime you'd wish to view the mobile site on PC, and smartphone user may want to try your PC site on their mobile).
 
 
END.
 
I may have ommitted some aspects of the questions .. but that's a good start, and anyway, this mail is getting too long.
 
 
Regards,
Nicolas Combelles
Apocope