RE: The devices-universal websites "myth" and the semantic web

It is true that technologically, the device-independent webpage is
getting
more and more realistic with mobile UAs getting more powerful and able
to handler buggier code.

But we should also consider that the discussion about equivalence or 
non-equivalence of "desktop" and "mobile" web content is not just
a technological issue: Consider a typical (e.g. newspaper) portal page
with lots of content; or an online shopping application: I think what
Nicolas also refers to (correct my if I'm wrong, Nicolas!) is the fact
that in these cases, you simply may not _want_ to publish the same
content
to a mobile device as you would to the desktop. You may want shortened
versions of the content; or you may even want to change the navigation 
structure of your site (e.g. your may want to leave out parts or pages 
that are simply not relevant in a mobile context; or you may want to
change
the navigation structure alltogether to something that you consider more

"usable" on a small device with a joystick and two softkeys - for
whatever
the term "usable" may mean to you). BUT you may still want to have
everything
available under the same URL.... And what you definitely don't want is
to 
transmit any "dummy" (X)HTML markup over the wireless link (markup that
is 
only valid for the desktop, but is then rendered invisible by CSS on the
mobile
device!)

I'm aware that there is a certain danger of fragmentation here. But
after
all, website development is not only about technologies. It's also about
developer choice and user experience. In my opinion there needs to be
room
for both:

- Sites that "scale" across all sorts of different devices (and I agree
with Nicolas that an optimum user experience on those sites on all
devices 
is a myth) - and this is probably rather discussed in the scope of the
DIWG.

- Sites that offer specialized versions for different device categories.
Mechanisms for managing this lurking "version-problem" effectively, as
well as ideas
on what's technologically missing to create an improved user experience
on mobile 
devices in general, is what I think should also be in the scope of this
list.

Greets,
Ray





> -----Original Message-----
> From: public-bpwg-request@w3.org 
> [mailto:public-bpwg-request@w3.org] On Behalf Of Kai Hendry
> Sent: Sunday, May 29, 2005 4:53 AM
> To: Nicolas Combelles
> Cc: public-bpwg@w3.org
> Subject: Re: The devices-universal websites "myth" and the 
> semantic web
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds like you made this pitch before. Getting money for two 
> websites instead of one. Sigh.
> 
> Your case for making a device dependent webpages is anecdotal. 
> 
> On Fri, May 27, 2005 at 12:47:38 +0200, Nicolas Combelles wrote:
> > The "devices-universal websites concept" is irrealistic and 
> except for 
> > very specifics cases (students, geeks, and web-guru 
> personal sites and 
> > blogs :oD
> > ....) is never suited to the webmaster nor the users needs or goals.
> 
> Oh pretty please.
> 
> 
> It is getting more and more "realistic" when mobile UAs get 
> better, better at handling your buggy code.
> 
> Remember folks, there is only one Web.
> 
>

Received on Tuesday, 31 May 2005 10:40:54 UTC