Acronyms make the computer world go round. Things likeHTML, DHTML, XHTML; it's enough to make a grown man cry.Well, look out! There's a new player in alphabet-town:"WAP." So what is it and whyshould you care? WAP stands for "Wireless Application Protocol"and it allows people to access the Net using wireless devices like mobile phones and other gadgets.
It's estimated that by the year 2002 there will be over800 million wireless users around the world. Eventuallyall wireless tools will come equipped with WAP asstandard issue. That's a lot of possible viewers for your website. The problem is that wireless net-surferswill not be able to access your HTML-driven site. Theirdevices can only read sites built in (get ready for anotheracronym!) WML.
WML stands for "Wireless Markup Language."(Are you taking notes here?) So if you presently havea website built in HTML and you want mobile usersto be able to view it, you'll need to make another versionof it in WML. The good news is that WML is not hard to learn and can be pickedup easily. Plus, there are plenty of sites online that will teach you everything you'll ever want to know aboutthis new technology. Some of the better ones are:
http://www.wapdrive.netLearn what WAP is (and isn't), how to write WAP "cards" (not "pages"), and best ofall, you'll find some free software you can downloadto make your own WAP site. Free.
http://www.wapuseek.com Contains Wap articles, links, tools and more.Make sure you stop in the developers area for all kinds of webmaster tools for creating your own WAP pages.
http://www.gelon.net/dev/A ton of helpful information here: leaning WML, books,where you can host your new WAP sites and more.
http://www.anywhereyougo.com100% wireless application development: archives, news,books, and more. Sign up for their helpful newsletterto keep abreast of what's going on in this new field.
As far as building your WAP site you can download freesoftware or use an online editor available at somewebsites.
http://www.wapmine.comWAPPage 1.0 is an extensive and powerful design tool for WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) Sites.
http://mobphone.comWAP publishing tool for cellular mobile WAP phones.
Nokia has jumped into the arena by offering "The NokiaWML Studio". A free download that adds on to Dreamweaverto create WML content from within Dreamweaver's interface.Get it athttp://dynamic.macromedia.com/bin/exchange/dreamweaver/main.jsp
For hosting your new wireless-enabled site, check out:
http://www.hoiley.com/ Offering a variety of free services
http://www.tagtag.com/ Build and host your site free
http://wappy.to The first online WAPsite builder completewith hosting.
Keep in mind that the viewing area on a mobile deviceis a whole lot smaller than that of a computer monitor. So you need to be short and concise. Plan on about 10 textlines per WAP "card" (instead of "page.") Due to slow transmission speedstypically 14.4 to 19.6 Kbps you need to keep text andgraphics down to bare minimum.
Wireless phones use "microbrowsers" to surf the webso you need to make sure the web cards in WML look good ona wireless device. But what if you don't have that kind of luxury? No problem, hop over to http://www.wapdrive.net and you'll find somethingcalled "The Wapalizer" that will allow you to look at any WAP site using your regular browser. Just typein the URL and a new window opens up that imitatesa mobile phones interface. You can browse throughthe entire site to make sure everything will beviewed correctly by your mobile guests.
So there you have it. WAP and WML, two goodthings that just naturally go together. If you presentlyhave an HTML site you might want to consider makinga version of it in WML as a sidekick, thus openingyourself up to a whole new audience; a mobile one.
After all, we're a society on the move... and you'd betterkeep up!
About the Author
Merle's Cyber Promotionshttp://www.mcpromotions.com/"Creating Visibility Online for Small Businesses"Subscribe to MC Promotions Press by sending mailto:subscribe@mcpromotions.com New Service just added "Get Ready to Market Package"For details go to http://www.mcpromotions.com/getreadytomarket.htmTo find out more about the products and services offeredby MC Promotions send mailto:mcservices-ar@automagical.net | |
