WML or HTML for mobile web browser

[Jimmy]

Is it possible to build web site using HTML (with Javascript) which
can be viewed/rendered properly on both handheld devices and desktop
browsers? Really don't want to maintain 2 different pages (in both
WML and HTML) with the same content.
Also, this question may be a bit broad ... can anyone give me pointers/
concepts on how to process credit card info over a mobile connection?
What sort of security and/or open source libraries can be used?

Thanks,
Jimmy

 

[Tom Anderson]

Is it possible to build web site using HTML (with Javascript) which
can be viewed/rendered properly on both handheld devices and desktop
browsers?

Firstly, cljp is not the right place to ask about this. Try a technical
phone group, or possibly a web forum - i think there are some associated
with various mobile technology standards groups etc.

Anyway, i think phones today deal with standard HTML pretty well.
Smartphones, the ones with big screens, have proper web browsers. Even
not-so-smart phones make a good effort - my Sony-Ericsson Z610i handles
pretty much anything i can find, although few websites are much use with
such a tiny screen.

I notice, on reading up on this, that there are a couple of profiles of
XHTML that may be of interest: XHTML Basic, a stripped-down version that
should be better-supported on small devices, and XHTML Mobile, which is
Basic with some extra bells and whistles. There's also a javascript mobile
profile (well, ECMAscript - you know how it is).

Really don't want to maintain 2 different pages (in both WML and HTML)
with the same content.

You could probably do something clever with XSLT that would let you write
once, then translate into WML or XHTML on the fly. Or even without XSLT -
define a sort of SAXish or DOMish interface for specifying pages, and
write implementations that make WML or XHTML. Write your app on top of the
interface, not the language.

Also, this question may be a bit broad ... can anyone give me pointers/
concepts on how to process credit card info over a mobile connection?
What sort of security and/or open source libraries can be used?

Not a clue! Don't know if this is any use:

https://www.paypal.com/IntegrationCenter/ic_mobile-checkout.html

tom

 

[Tom Anderson]

I notice, on reading up on this, that there are a couple of profiles of XHTML
that may be of interest: XHTML Basic, a stripped-down version that should be
better-supported on small devices, and XHTML Mobile, which is Basic with some
extra bells and whistles. There's also a javascript mobile profile (well,
ECMAscript - you know how it is).

Here's a nice article:

http://www.littlespringsdesign.com/resources/articles/xhtmlinfo/

tom

 

[Arved Sandstrom]

On Thu, 3 Jul 2008, Jimmy wrote:
[ SNIP ]

Really don't want to maintain 2 different pages (in both WML and HTML)
with the same content.

You could probably do something clever with XSLT that would let you write
once, then translate into WML or XHTML on the fly. Or even without XSLT -
define a sort of SAXish or DOMish interface for specifying pages, and
write implementations that make WML or XHTML. Write your app on top of the
interface, not the language.

[ SNIP ]

From a technical standpoint, using XSLT to transform base XML into HTML or
WML is easy enough (one place I worked at we did exactly this, plus HDML).
What the actual sticking point is, is display footprint. How much you show
on any given cellphone screen is different than what you show on a PDA
screen is different than what you show on a laptop or desktop display. So
when one considers different navigation, plus you're also possibly using
WMLScript in one situation or JavaScript in others, and CSS in some cases
but not in others, my personal opinion is that it is better (read easier) to
maintain separate XHTML and WML.

What _can_ be common is the textual content, leastways most of it: messages,
labels etc. That can be external entities in one place.

I consider the above approach to be more maintainable.

AHS