News Release:: W3C mobileOK Helps People Create, Check and Find Mobile Friendly Content

Today, W3C announces both test cases and the first fully automated  
mobile Web content checker, intended to make it easier for Web content  
producers to ensure mobile compatibility. More of the work will be  
presented at Mobile Internet World, held in Boston from 13-15  
November, and will be featured in both a keynote from W3C Director Tim  
Berners-Lee and a special media and analyst briefing on Wednesday 14  
November. For more information, please contact Janet Daly, W3C Global  
Communications Officer, at +1 617 253 5884, or contact the W3C  
Communications Team representative in your region.


W3C mobileOK Helps People Create and Find Mobile Friendly Content

W3C Tool Allows Automatic Verification of mobileOK Content

Web Resources:
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This press release
in English: http://www.w3.org/2007/11/mok-pressrelease.html.en
in French: http://www.w3.org/2007/11/mok-pressrelease.html.fr
in Japanese: http://www.w3.org/2007/11/mok-pressrelease.html.ja

W3C mobileOK Basic Tests 1.0
    http://www.w3.org/TR/mobileOK-basic10-tests/

W3C mobileOK checker (alpha version)
    http://validator.w3.org/mobile/alpha

W3C @ Mobile Internet World, 13-15 November
    http://www.w3.org/2007/11/mwi-boston.html

Testimonials from Deutsche Telekom, Family Online Safety Institute,  
Fundación CTIC, MobileAware, and Vodafone
    http://www.w3.org/2007/11/mok-testimonial.html


http://www.w3.org/ -- 13 November 2007 -- Today, W3C provides new  
means for people to create and find mobile friendly content. W3C  
invites Web authors to run the alpha release of the W3C mobileOK  
checker and make their content work on a broad range of mobile devices.

"Making a Web site work on a mobile device is easier once you have the  
right tool," explained Dominique Hazaël-Massieux, W3C's Mobile Web  
Initiative Activity Lead. "Now is the time to reach more people by  
making your site W3C mobileOK."

Tim Berners-Lee will discuss how mobileOK fits into the W3C Mobile Web  
vision in his Mobile Internet World keynote "Escaping the Walled  
Garden: Growing the Mobile Web with Open Standards" (14 November in  
Boston, Massachusetts, USA).

Tool Helps Authors Follow Mobile Web Best Practices

The W3C mobileOK checker runs the tests defined in the W3C mobileOK  
Basic Tests 1.0 Candidate Recommendation. The tests themselves are  
based upon W3C's Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0, published as part of  
W3C's Mobile Web Initiative. The Best Practices describes how to  
reduce the cost of authoring and to improve the mobile browsing  
experience. Any tool that implements the Basic Tests can verify  
automatically whether content is mobile friendly.

The W3C mobileOK checker is the latest addition to W3C's popular and  
successful suite of validation services. As an integral part of the  
W3C standardization process, W3C invites mobile Web experts and the  
community at large to review the checker and the mobileOK Basic Tests.

W3C mobileOK Content Easier to Find in Search Engines

With Web sites which conform to the W3C mobileOK content guidelines,  
search engines can better tailor results for a mobile environment,  
benefiting authors and their audience alike. Sean Owen of Google will  
be talking about how he and other Working Group members developed the  
checker with search engines in mind at the Mobile Web Standards  
Seminar, on 13 November at Mobile Internet World.

Industry Leaders Already Implementing, Seek Feedback

The following W3C Member organizations and MWI Sponsors participating  
in the Mobile Best Practices Working Group developed W3C mobileOK  
Basic Tests 1.0 and the W3C mobileOK checker: Afilias; Akmin; ANEC  
(European Association for the Co-ordination of Consumer Representation  
in Standardisation); AOL; AT&T; Bytemobile; Centre for Development of  
Advanced Computing (CDAC); Citigroup; Deutsche Telekom AG; Electronics  
and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI); elmundo.es;  
ERICSSON; Family Online Safety Institute; France Telecom; FSTC  
(Financial Services Technology Consortium); Fundación CTIC; Fundación  
ONCE; Go Daddy.com; Google; HiSoftware; HP; Indus Net Technologies;  
Infraware; Institute of Informatics & Telecommunications (IIT), NCSR;  
International Webmasters Association / HTML Writers Guild (IWA-HWG);  
Microsoft Corporation; mTLD Top Level Domain; NeoMtel; Nokia; Novarra;  
NTT DoCoMo; Openwave Systems; Opera Software; Reuters; Samsung  
Electronics Co.; Segala; Sevenval AG; SK Telecom; Telecom Italia SpA;  
Telefónica; University of Helsinki; Vishwak Solutions Pvt.; Vodafone;  
and Volantis Systems.


Testimonials of support from Deutsche Telekom | Family Online Safety  
Institute | Fundación CTIC | MobileAware | Vodafone:
---------------------------------------------------

   Deutsche Telekom AG, Products & Innovation is delighted to see  
mobileOK Basic Tests 1.0 achieve Candidate Recommendation status  
within the W3C. Through this singularly important event mobileOK Basic  
Tests 1.0 in combination with the W3C checker will give the content  
author and the content provider community a quick and easy means to  
ensure the structural quality of content intended for mobile devices.  
Deutsche Telekom AG will continue to support the efforts of the W3C  
and the specifications produced by the Mobile Web Initiative's Best  
Practices Working Group.
   -- Kai-Dietrich Scheppe, Manager Portal Services, Deutsche Telekom  
AG, Products & Innovation

   The Family Online Safety Institute is delighted to see the  
advancement of mobileOK. We believe it will make a significant  
contribution to the goal of making it easy for end users to find the  
content that is most appropriate for them, whether that's defined in  
terms of their device characteristics, interests, age or tastes.
   -- Phil Archer, Chief Technical Officer, Family Online Safety  
Institute

   Fundación CTIC thanks the Mobile Web Best Practices working group  
for the release of the mobileOK Basic Tests 1.0 document as a means to  
develop the One Web on mobile devices. TAW, our free tool to validate  
web resources against different criteria, uses the mobileOK Basic  
Tests 1.0 to check whether resources can be enjoyed with a functional  
experience in the majority of mobile web-enabled devices. Our  
compromise is to keep on participating in the group in an active way,  
helping users accessing the One Web with any web device. This  
Candidate Recommendation is a clear example of how to help achieving  
that goal.
   -- Carlos de la Fuente, Technology Manager and W3C AC  
Representative - Fundación CTIC

   The mobileOK Basic Tests are a welcome addition to the growing  
collection of resources to support the mobile Web. These tests will  
provide valuable feedback to authors and developers that we expect  
will improve the quality of mobile content and services. We intend to  
reference the mobileOK Basic Tests in future tools and technologies,  
to draw attention to the new benchmark for the evaluation of mobile  
Web sites. We are happy to have the opportunity to support the W3C MWI  
in its important mission.
   -- Dr Rotan Hanrahan, Chief Innovations Architect, MobileAware

   Vodafone congratulates the W3C on the publication of mobileOK Basic  
Tests 1.0 as a Candidate Recommendation. This important milestone was  
reached through the considerable effort of industry partners coming  
together to support the concept that Web content made for mobile is of  
signifigant value. Together with the mobileOK machine-readable quality  
mark, this work will help to raise the overall quality and quantity of  
mobile-friendly content on the Web.
   -- Reinhard Kreft, Head of Standardisation & Industry Engagement,  
Vodafone Group Technology / R&D


Contact Americas, Australia --
   Janet Daly, <janet@w3.org>, +1.617.253.5884 or +1.617.253.2613
Contact Europe, Africa and the Middle East --
   Marie-Claire Forgue, <mcf@w3.org>, +33.492.38.75.94
Contact Asia --
   Yasuyuki Hirakawa <chibao@w3.org>, +81.466.49.1170


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 and Keio University in Japan, and has  
additional Offices worldwide. For more information see http://www.w3.org/

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Received on Tuesday, 13 November 2007 14:48:53 UTC