Jim Davis wrote: > >Jochems's right- they are very rare still. However they are getting online >more and more. Most models of cell phone do the web "out of the box" and >many of the new handhelds have built in 802.11b. > >(That being said most "web browsing" on handhelds isn't done live in any >case: it's done with cached pages using out-of-the-box tools like MS Mobile >Favorites, AvantGo and MobiPocket.)
I remember my first iMode experience when I worked in Japan 3 years ago. I was just browsing the real internet, even visiting some of my own websites (which looked horrible on such a small screen), but that was all live, no caching involved. I know that most PDAs here are also used 'live'. What is the rationale for all the caching? >802.11b is taking off here in the states. It's still small comparatively, >but most airports, Starbucks and even many McDonald's provide connections. >The trick is getting people to subscribe for service, but that gets easier >to more widespread it gets. Some NRENs in Europe are doing a very cool thing to advance this. They are allowing their users to roam on eachothers networks for free (based on the idea that NRENs have enough bandwidth anyway). So basically, by the end of the month (my university is slow) with my username and password from my university I will be able to use wired and wireless networks of an increasing number of educational institutions in the Netherlands, England, Portugal and Croatia. For free ... >As an aside, putting on my pundit hat: the "Holy Grail" of portables is the >foldable/rollable screen: right now portables a limited in size to somewhat >larger than their screen size: you just can't get smaller. > >However a screen which could "roll-up" might allow a handheld the size of >d-cell flashlight to have a 10" screen. However this technology will run >much later than WLAN and super cheap handhelds... perhaps 5-10 years at >least. I'm betting 3 to 5 years :-) >So for a while, if things keep going like they are, we'll have very cheap, >very capable devices (lots of memory, fast CPUs, etc) with tiny screens >coupled with (at least in the urban areas) near universal wireless 'Net >connectivity (where this is from 802.11x, cell phone networks or something >else I'm not sure). Probably all of them at the same time. I know that in the FreeBand project TERENA is aiming at having roaming between UMTS, GPRS and WLAN by the end of the year. >Yes - right now it's quite difficult to create a single layout that works >for all devices (unless you want to go the truly minimalist route) but by >leveraging style sheets you can swap out your large, long masthead with a >tiny, high contrast one, ensure that your text columns are truly liquid and >so forth. > >Right now most companies providing context are leveraging their existing >CMS system to provide the same content in small wrappers. That's a way to >go if you're targeting these folks, but to much work (I think) if you're >just trying to be courteous. If you are just trying to be courteous you can probably just redirect them to one of the accessible versions of your website designed for screen readers, braille displays or text browsers. Jochem ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=5 This list and all House of Fusion resources hosted by CFHosting.com. The place for dependable ColdFusion Hosting. http://www.cfhosting.com Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
