brothercake
04-19-2005, 01:02 AM
I've just bought a PDA, so now that I have a test device I'm getting more interested in making my sites look good in small-screen devices. There've been a few good articles on the subject - particularly Taking Your Website to the Small Screen (http://www.alistapart.com/articles/pocket/) at ALA (and Joe Clark's article Big, Stark & Chunky (http://www.alistapart.com/articles/lowvision/) is also very relevant).
I already offer a "linearised" layout via a stylesheet switcher (though for other reasons - it's just luck that it turns out useful for this as well ;)), so the problem of a suitable page layout is largely solved - it's just getting them to use that layout.
And this is the problem that seems to remain unaddressed - not all PDA browsers tell the truth about what media they are.
What most sites seem to be doing is special "small-screen" versions or access points - which I won't even entertain. A better idea is to put a link at the top of the page to auto-select that layout, but then everyone will be able to see it. So the best way is to use CSS media, for the very purpose it was intended.
Now ... Opera for small-screen devices is great - it supports handheld and not screen - just as it should. But Pocket IE for Windows Mobile 2003 supports screen *and* handheld media! I don't know why I'm suprised :rolleyes:
So anyway .. I'm going to attempt to construct a framework for PDA styling that bypasses IE's stupidness, and any other problems in other specific PDA browsers that I can find out about. There are two test stages required for this - a test for media support, and then a test for various CSS hacks.
So, the first stage is the media test - if anyone has a PDA that can browse the internet, please go to http://www.brothercake.com/Ref/cssmedia/ - it's a simple test, with a form that you can complete and send to me with the results.
Cheers :thumbsup:
I already offer a "linearised" layout via a stylesheet switcher (though for other reasons - it's just luck that it turns out useful for this as well ;)), so the problem of a suitable page layout is largely solved - it's just getting them to use that layout.
And this is the problem that seems to remain unaddressed - not all PDA browsers tell the truth about what media they are.
What most sites seem to be doing is special "small-screen" versions or access points - which I won't even entertain. A better idea is to put a link at the top of the page to auto-select that layout, but then everyone will be able to see it. So the best way is to use CSS media, for the very purpose it was intended.
Now ... Opera for small-screen devices is great - it supports handheld and not screen - just as it should. But Pocket IE for Windows Mobile 2003 supports screen *and* handheld media! I don't know why I'm suprised :rolleyes:
So anyway .. I'm going to attempt to construct a framework for PDA styling that bypasses IE's stupidness, and any other problems in other specific PDA browsers that I can find out about. There are two test stages required for this - a test for media support, and then a test for various CSS hacks.
So, the first stage is the media test - if anyone has a PDA that can browse the internet, please go to http://www.brothercake.com/Ref/cssmedia/ - it's a simple test, with a form that you can complete and send to me with the results.
Cheers :thumbsup: