News Release: W3C Highlights Mobile Web Developments at 3GSM World Congress

As the mobile industry plans to converge on Barcelona at the 3GSM 
Congress, mobile industry leaders at W3C are closing in on Best 
Practices to enable powerful and convenient Web participation from 
mobile devices. For more information on this announcement, please 
contact Janet Daly <janet@w3.org> at +1 617 253 5884. To meet with W3C 
Technical Leaders at 3GSM in Barcelona, please contact Marie-Claire 
Forgue <mcf@w3.org> at +33.492.38.75.94 or +33.6.76.86.33.41.


Mobile Industry Leaders Agree on Best Practices for Mobile Web Content
W3C Invites Review of Guidelines for Improved Mobile Browsing at 3GSM 2006

Web Resources:

W3C's Mobile Web Initiative
     http://www.w3.org/Mobile/

W3C at 3GSM 2006
     http://www.3gsmworldcongress.com/page.cfm/action=Exhib/ExhibID=00336

Mobile Web Initiative Best Practices Document
     http://www.w3.org/TR/2006/WD-mobile-bp-20060113/

This press release
     In English: http://www.w3.org/2006/01/mbp-pressrelease.html.en
     In French: http://www.w3.org/2006/01/mbp-pressrelease.html.fr
     In Japanese:  http://www.w3.org/2006/01/mbp-pressrelease.html.ja
     In other languages: http://www.w3.org/Press/

http://www.w3.org/ -- 31 January 2006 -- Key players in the mobile 
industry have reached a preliminary agreement on best practices for 
mobile Web content, an important step in W3C's project to make Web 
access from a mobile device as simple, easy, and convenient as Web 
access from a desktop device. Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0 provides 
guidelines for creating a consistent and positive user experience across 
the rapidly growing number of Web-enabled mobile devices. The Mobile Web 
Best Practices Working Group invites review from the broader community 
of this Last Call Working Draft; see the draft for details about sending 
review comments before 17 February 2006.

W3C urges all attendees of the upcoming 3GSM World Congress (in 
Barcelona, 13-16 February 2006) to visit the W3C booth at 3GSM06, 
located in Hall 2, stand G78, to learn more about the latest mobile Web 
advances from W3C.

Mobile Web Design Guidelines Capture Experience, Common Sense

"Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0" condenses the experience of many mobile 
Web stakeholders into practical advice on creating content that will 
work well on mobile devices. Authors and other content producers will 
value the shared experience of how to create content that makes browsing 
convenient on mobile devices and to avoid known pitfalls on those 
devices (such as pop-ups and page-scrolling).

Broad Industry Support

"Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0" was developed by a Working Group that 
included representatives from 30 organizations: Afilias Limited, America 
Online, Inc. (AOL), ANEC European Association for the Co-ordination of 
Consumer Representation in Standardisation, Argo Interactive Ltd, AT&T, 
Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), 
elmundo.es, ERICSSON, France Telecom, Fundación CTIC (Centro Tecnológico 
para el Desarrollo en Asturias de las Tecnologías de la Información y la 
Comunicación), Fundación ONCE, Go Daddy.com, Google, Inc., Indus Net 
Technologies, International Webmasters Association / HTML Writers Guild 
(IWA-HWG), Internet Content Rating Association, mTLD Top Level Domain 
Limited, Nokia, NTT DoCoMo, Openwave Systems Inc., Opera Software, 
Segala, Sevenval AG, T-Online International AG, The Boeing Company, TIM 
Italia SpA, University of Helsinki, Vodafone and Volantis Systems Ltd.

This work is part of the W3C Mobile Web Initiative, which is supported 
by nineteen MWI sponsors, including key players in the mobile production 
chain: Afilias, Argogroup, Bango.net, Drutt Corporation, Ericsson, 
France Telecom, HP, Jataayu Software, mTLD, MobileAware, Nokia, NTT 
DoCoMo, Opera Software, TIM Italia, RuleSpace, Segala M Test, Sevenval, 
Vodafone, and Volantis.

MWI Sponsors enjoy unique benefits, including a seat on the MWI Steering 
Committee, the group that sets the direction of the MWI. For example, 
the MWI Steering Committee is considering such opportunities as test 
suite development and training programs. W3C invites new MWI Sponsors to 
help shape current and future W3C activities in the mobile area.

Contact Americas and Australia --
     Janet Daly, <janet@w3.org>, +1.617.253.5884
Contact Europe, Africa and Middle East --
     Marie-Claire Forgue, <mcf@w3.org>, +33.492.38.75.94 or 
+33.6.76.86.33.41
Contact Asia --
     Yasuyuki Hirakawa, <chibao@w3.org>, +81.466.49.1170

About W3C's Mobile Web Initiative (W3C-MWI)

The mission of W3C’s Mobile Web Initiative (W3C MWI) is to make Web 
access from a mobile device as simple, easy, and convenient as Web 
access from a desktop device. Through the MWI Sponsorship Program, key 
players in the mobile production chain, including authoring tool 
vendors, content providers, adaptation providers, handset manufacturers, 
browser vendors and mobile operators lead the Initiative. MWI 
participants develop authoring guidelines, checklists and best 
practices, as well as a database of descriptions that can be used by 
content authors to adapt their content to a particular device. For more 
information see http://www.w3.org/Mobile/

About the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where 
Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to 
develop Web standards. W3C primarily pursues its mission through the 
creation of Web standards and guidelines designed to ensure long-term 
growth for the Web. Over 400 organizations are Members of the 
Consortium. W3C is jointly run by the MIT Computer Science and 
Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the USA, the European 
Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) 
headquartered in France, Keio University in Japan, and has additional 
Offices worldwide. For more information see http://www.w3.org/

Received on Tuesday, 31 January 2006 08:04:32 UTC