Simplifying Device Support

Supporting devices and browsers is a major concern for many developers from the Web community accustomed to dealing with differences in multiple Web browsers.

While supporting multiple mobile devices and browsers gets complex, the situation is not as bad as many believe. This belief comes from looking at the mobile browser landscape in the same way as desktop Web browser landscape.

Consider the following points:

• Only Mobile Web sites that are part of a mobile service provider portal must support all provisioned devices and browsers. Mobile Web sites outside of mobile service provider portals can support whatever devices and browsers the publisher wishes.
• Working to the capabilities of the W3C Default Delivery Context should ensure that a site will work with most existing browsers but remember that a better experience can be provided by recognizing the device and using its capabilities.
• Depending on your target audience and locale, older or poorly designed devices may not need to be supported. Drawing a line with device and browser support is relatively easy because those with older or poor quality devices typically don’t use the Mobile Web. You can verify this by reviewing common user agents recorded in your Web server’s access logs.

One way to approach this problem is to focus on five classes of devices that span a range of capabilities. Of the hundreds of devices available, supporting five mainstream devices makes a great place to start. Obviously supporting more devices ensures greater compatibility with more devices and developers should always endeavor to do this, but supporting five devices disparate devices can do the job.

Here is an example:

• A Nokia Series 40
• A Motorola V series, (v3 aka RAZR, v600, v500, etc.)
• A modern Samsung and/or LG device
• A Smart Phone, like Nokia s60 (or Series 60)
• A PDA, like a Treo or Windows Mobile device