Mobile browsers only use a small sliver of information

Colin Dunstan · 11-17-2004, 05:20 PM

Russel Baettie wrote some interesting bits on "The Mobile Web", in which he argues to push web standards forward to better support mobile web browsers.

Look at the little graphic I made above. I've tried to show how the web is this vast repository of information, and how the mobile phone right now only has access to a small sliver of that information. The big orange blob is the public stuff, the black behind is the private web. The ways to interact with that information on your phone is limited: You can reformat it with Small Screen Rendering, view only the pages meant for mobiles, view the XML in various ways, or somehow see all the information out there in some magic, yet to be determined manner. Or hell, you can just ignore the web as it is now all together and find some alternative way of getting information to the mobile devices (which isn't pictured).

Bob Russell · 11-17-2004, 05:43 PM

I'm hoping that the control of formatting remains somewhat in the hands of the viewer, rather than in the hands of the content creator. For example, we are now able to manage the html and manipulate it. What if everything turns into flash components and we can't manage what it looks like or how much bandwidth and cpu it takes? Or if they want to make us watch intrusive advertising before we can see any text? Even if that ad is in mobie rendering format, I'm not going to like it.

Again, it's the battle between control of content and the ways it gets used (so they can suck money and attention out of the viewer), versus the public which is the content users. I think laws should support the overall good, not overprotect a few select content producers and distributers. I'm not convinced that no one will create artistic or useful content if they can't make big bucks off of it. And if content availability falls off slightly, but I get all the rest of it cheaper or free, who cares!

I really am opinionated this week, aren't I? Must be stress working its way out!

Alexander Turcic · 11-17-2004, 05:47 PM

This is a wonderful article. As an amateur webmaster myself, I know how hard it is to make sure that one's site works on as many platforms as possible.

There is another article which came out today that fits in nicely. It discusses how the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is considering to make mobile web access more widely available.

11-17-2004, 05:20 PM	#1
Colin Dunstan Is papyrophobic! Posts: 1,926 Karma: 1009999 Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: USA Device: Dell Axim	Mobile browsers only use a small sliver of information Russel Baettie wrote some interesting bits on "The Mobile Web", in which he argues to push web standards forward to better support mobile web browsers. Look at the little graphic I made above. I've tried to show how the web is this vast repository of information, and how the mobile phone right now only has access to a small sliver of that information. The big orange blob is the public stuff, the black behind is the private web. The ways to interact with that information on your phone is limited: You can reformat it with Small Screen Rendering, view only the pages meant for mobiles, view the XML in various ways, or somehow see all the information out there in some magic, yet to be determined manner. Or hell, you can just ignore the web as it is now all together and find some alternative way of getting information to the mobile devices (which isn't pictured).

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11-17-2004, 05:43 PM	#2
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	I'm hoping that the control of formatting remains somewhat in the hands of the viewer, rather than in the hands of the content creator. For example, we are now able to manage the html and manipulate it. What if everything turns into flash components and we can't manage what it looks like or how much bandwidth and cpu it takes? Or if they want to make us watch intrusive advertising before we can see any text? Even if that ad is in mobie rendering format, I'm not going to like it. Again, it's the battle between control of content and the ways it gets used (so they can suck money and attention out of the viewer), versus the public which is the content users. I think laws should support the overall good, not overprotect a few select content producers and distributers. I'm not convinced that no one will create artistic or useful content if they can't make big bucks off of it. And if content availability falls off slightly, but I get all the rest of it cheaper or free, who cares! I really am opinionated this week, aren't I? Must be stress working its way out!

11-17-2004, 05:47 PM	#3
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 18,163 Karma: 14021202 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Too many to count here.	This is a wonderful article. As an amateur webmaster myself, I know how hard it is to make sure that one's site works on as many platforms as possible. There is another article which came out today that fits in nicely. It discusses how the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is considering to make mobile web access more widely available.

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