Re: Suggested BP for BP2

In this spirit, let me also name a resource from Apple that I think is
in the spirit of what we're trying to produce, and should probably be
referenced:

http://developer.apple.com/iphone/devcenter/designingcontent.html

Some general principles that this suggests that seem more broadly
applicable to whatever-it-is-we're-writing-about include:


Designing for a pointer. The browser may have a pointer of some kind
which loosens some restrictions on designing inputs for mobile
devices, which historically haven't had this.


Designing for touch. ... and that pointer may be someone's finger.
Clickable elements need to be large enough to tap with a finger tip
without hitting other elements. Buttons should be large or have a dead
zone around them that makes it difficult to accidentally miss an input
and click something else.


Stick to standards. We probably want to reiterate that correctly
following standards is always good. Validate your markup, etc.
Further, we recommend sticking to.. XHTML 1.x, CSS 2? while on this
topic can we recommend sticking to not only GIF and JPG, but PNG too?


If applicable, use media selectors to target advanced mobile devices.
I'm thinking of noting that this can be used to target a small-ish
screen, as Apple suggests:
<link media="only screen and (max-device-width: 480px)"
href="small-device.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" />


Set a viewport size. Again cribbing from Apple, this is probably one
of the biggest BPs in my mind for writing for advanced mobile devices:
<meta name="viewport" content="width = 320" />
<meta name="viewport" content="initial-scale=2.3, user-scalable=no" />


Embed video properly (??). I am not sure if there is a BP here but
Apple is noting a recommended way to embed video:
<embed src="poster.jpg" href="movie.m4v" type="video/x-m4v"
target="myself" scale="1" ...>


Before I write up more for thought -- does anyone think this is on, or
off, the right track?



On Wed, Feb 20, 2008 at 7:04 AM, Jo Rabin <jrabin@mtld.mobi> wrote:
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> Use tel: scheme to take advantage of the telephony capability of the device.
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> Given that the device is often also a telephone, use of such schemes help
> the user to use non Web capabilities in a range of applications such as
> listings, contact and so on. Other schemes that may be considered include
> sms:, wtai: …
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> Jo
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Received on Thursday, 21 February 2008 15:24:32 UTC