Is .mobi a good thing?
Monday, 3. April 2006, 13:43:00
Russel Beattie just wrote:
I agree that this is a step forward for the mobile Web because it focuses on the very concept of browsing the Internet from mobile devices. That said, I fear it may complicate things: There is one Web, and that one Web should be accessible regardless of the device you are using. That's why making mobile stylesheets makes a lot of sense for Web developers. People shouldn't have to remember a different URL just because they are on a different device than their PC. With Opera Mobile and Opera Mini, we use Small-Screen Rendering to display desktop-sized Web pages on small screens. Sites that use mobile stylesheets are left untouched. The URL is the same.
Opera is one of the sponsors of the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Mobile Web Initiative (MWI). If you're not familiar with the group's work, it's worth taking a look at their Activity Statement, the last part of which reads as follows:
Or, as I say every night before going to bed:
I believe in Tim Berners-Lee, the Father Almighty,
the Creator of the Internet,
and in the World Wide Web, His only Son, our Lord:
Who was conceived at CERN,
born of the Open Standards,
suffered under proprietary tyranny,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into Redmond.
The third day He arose again from the dead.
He ascended into the W3C
and sits at the right hand of Tim the Father Almighty,
whence He shall come to judge the advocates of two different Internets.
I believe in one Internet, the holy World Wide Web,
the same for all devices
the redundancy of .mobi
the resurrection of the standards
and one unified Web everlasting.
Amen.
I'll admit I've gone back and forth on my opinions of the new .mobi TLD. But I've finally made the firm decision that it's definitely a step forward for the mobile web.
I agree that this is a step forward for the mobile Web because it focuses on the very concept of browsing the Internet from mobile devices. That said, I fear it may complicate things: There is one Web, and that one Web should be accessible regardless of the device you are using. That's why making mobile stylesheets makes a lot of sense for Web developers. People shouldn't have to remember a different URL just because they are on a different device than their PC. With Opera Mobile and Opera Mini, we use Small-Screen Rendering to display desktop-sized Web pages on small screens. Sites that use mobile stylesheets are left untouched. The URL is the same.
Opera is one of the sponsors of the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Mobile Web Initiative (MWI). If you're not familiar with the group's work, it's worth taking a look at their Activity Statement, the last part of which reads as follows:
... Mobile Web access today still suffers from interoperability and usability problems. W3C’s Mobile Web Initiative (W3C MWI) proposes to address these issues through a concerted effort of key players in the mobile production chain, including authoring tool vendors, content providers, handset manufacturers, browser vendors and mobile operators.
Or, as I say every night before going to bed:
I believe in Tim Berners-Lee, the Father Almighty,
the Creator of the Internet,
and in the World Wide Web, His only Son, our Lord:
Who was conceived at CERN,
born of the Open Standards,
suffered under proprietary tyranny,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into Redmond.
The third day He arose again from the dead.
He ascended into the W3C
and sits at the right hand of Tim the Father Almighty,
whence He shall come to judge the advocates of two different Internets.
I believe in one Internet, the holy World Wide Web,
the same for all devices
the redundancy of .mobi
the resurrection of the standards
and one unified Web everlasting.
Amen.
WIDGETIZE
jax # 3. April 2006, 16:16
Yes, sites that provide multiple versions have multiple and inconsistent names for that. In Europe subdomains like "www." for the real site and "wap." for the limited version was popular. In Japan a subdirectory, e.g. "/i/", has been more common. Yes, the discoverability of these "limited editions" of web sites can be a problem, but solutions based on "there are too many ways of doing this today, so let's add another one" tend to fail miserably.
More fundamentally there is a problem of closure. So there is a wap.yahoo.com and a wap.bbc.com (or yahoo.mobi and bbc.mobi), but these sites don't link to each other. Either you will have to be happy to live encapsulated in a Yahoo (or BBC) world, or you will have to venture outside the wap./.mobi world to get to the next island.
The MobileOK approach would have a greater chance of survival. The odds are stacked against it, but at least it gives indications what a phone friendly site should entail.
eskils # 3. April 2006, 18:54
However, I can appreciate the spirit of initiative because it recognizes the importance of making Web sites mobile friendly. It may, of course, be naïve of me to hope that any increased focus on a mobile friendly Web, such as the .mobi initiative, will lead to a more widespread appreciation of its importance.
We are only at the extremely early stages of creating a mobile friendly Web, and having a visible sign of "mobile friendliness," such as a .mobi domain or a MobileOK icon on the site, may be desirable by many Web developers to show that they are ahead of the game. So I don't think one should underestimate the marketing value of either.
But there are many challenges of device and application interoperability and standards compliance that need to be faced before we have a Web that is accessible across all platforms and devices. In that respect I belive the .mobi initiative is starting in the wrong end.
It is my hope that the W3C's Mobile Web Initiative will be successful in their approach which is focused on identifying and advocating best practices for mobile Web based on open standards rather than proprietary technologies.
Think # 4. April 2006, 20:12
eskils # 5. April 2006, 09:29
terolehto # 8. April 2006, 18:21
About the .mobi domain: I don't know why it's .mobi and not .mob, but for me .mob associates with mob like mafia.
ciudatelu # 14. April 2006, 14:49
yomi adegboye # 4. May 2006, 14:51
gloseby # 2. June 2006, 13:02
qicaispace # 16. July 2006, 17:27