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Did you know that less than 10% of 55 million French subscribers to mobile operator surf the Web via their mobile phones [source: Daily News - France: the mobile Internet (21/11/2008)]?

Before packages "Mobile Web" unlimited only do their appearances (Origami in Orange, Illimythics in SFR, 3G + / EDGE at Bouygues Telecom), the first explanation given for this was the cost of consultation. This case clearly did not push the website owners (and their providers ...) to make a detailed analysis of expectations and usage of mobile Internet. The consequences are Web sites to date include:

1. Web sites are rarely tested on mobile phones
2. the website owners who want mobile access also fund the creation (and hence maintenance) of a second website called "suitable" for mobile phones.

2 sites today, tomorrow what with the proliferation of media consulting Web (computers, phones, digital television, interactive terminal ...) and the expected increase in mobile Internet because of the unlimited plans?

Making a searchable website of all media consulting

This does not of course deny the specifics of the mobile web and say that simply applying the international recommendations of W3C for a website available in all media: yes, the website reads will be "technically available" on all media but it will not necessarily suitable for all media and specificities of uses.

Therefore, to respond to this non-dogmatic question of what the Web site for mobile (and thus build a methodology for analyzing objects adaptable to other existing consultation and future), we must simply begin by observing access and navigating a Web site through a mobile phone (the analysis becomes more relevant if different mobile phones are used because of their differences).

Here below are some comments about using Web Phone iPhone 3G society Apple:

• search: slow input letters of the search because of the small size of the keyboard. Being well referenced and be listed in the first results becomes more important than ever because the user will get tired to search too long (to refine for example) as it does on a computer.
• access time: using Wifi or 3G, the download speed of the site is acceptable but becomes problematic when standard GSM access the Web page is too heavy (weight file). The consequence is the disruption of access to the site by the user.
• Accessed on the iPhone, the display page is adjusted to not exceed the width of the screen, which results in significant reduction of the size information and the need to navigate vertically in the web page. A zoom is then automatically required to view some of the page. So there is loss of the overview and time by reading the user information is actually increased.
• Navigation: no mouse creates a real lack for users accustomed to the computer mouse. The touch screen of the iPhone's motion sensitive finger does not fully compensate for the absence.
• , Word , pdf …) ne sont pas systématiquement lisibles sur tous les téléphones portables (par exemple, l'iPhone n'accepte pas à ce jour le plugin Flash sur son navigateur Safari). technological compatibility: the information into proprietary technologies (Flash, Silverlight, Word, pdf ...) are not always readable on all mobile phones (eg, the iPhone does not to this day the Flash plugin on Safari browser ).
• reading outdoors: the brightness of a sunny day for example, can significantly interfere with the reading of a webpage with low color contrasts.
• consultation time: the memory of information processing and battery life is weaker on mobile phones than on computers, this has an impact on the time of consultation information. The user needs a targeted information without fireworks display (which consumes the computing time on his cell phone).

These observations use the mobile web call the implementation of solutions from the design of the website. Here are some suggestions:

• : titre de paragraphe, puis de sous-paragraphe permettant de générer automatiquement une table des matières). search: be well referenced with particularly explicit titles of your pages (and different on every page) and the structuring of your information by heading level (as in structuring the titles of your electronic document type Word or Open Office: paragraph title, then sub-paragraph to automatically generate a table of contents).
• access time: reduce the size of your web pages (file size) by putting your information in formatting style sheets, by optimizing the choice of images (presence necessary? Avoid such texts in images sometimes present in the navigation menus, size decreases?), in imposing the automatic triggering of multimedia objects (eg a video).
• Accessed avoid blocking the view of your data to allow its adaptation to the screen of your mobile phone (preferred style sheets tables formatting, do not block the text size); identify technically and editorially your areas of information (by div and titles for examples).
• Navigation: give quick links to essential elements of your web page as the menu navigation, the search engine, information content and footer put a link back to the top.
• technological compatibility: choose the format (x) html on your web pages with proprietary formats, give an alternative to proprietary formats when they are used as a verbatim transcript for a video.
• reading outdoors: optimize color contrasts, particularly on information and Web links essential to allow consultation web external environment (brightness greater than inside).
• consultation time: it takes a targeted information quickly and treatable by the mobile device, which calls for streamlining the effects of requiring unnecessary extra computing time (eg a multimedia navigation created for the fun but useless for the Internet by compared to a conventional navigation).

Apply the previous proposals returned to design your website in compliance with international recommendations following the W3C:

• recommendations on accessibility for Web content: WCAG 2.0
• recommendations for the portability of Web sites to mobile: Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0

From the moment your website meets these recommendations 2 (large number of identical rules: read the Relationship between MWBP and WCAG), your website is "technically accessible" on the supports fixed and mobile web consultation (it is interoperable ). This is a first step which now seems essential for all Web sites saw the expected increase consultation Web via mobile phones.

Improving the relevance of consulting a website based media consulting

It remains to ask the question of relevance for the user to access all information from your Web site through such a smaller screen, no mouse and in a context of mobility.

The answer depends primarily on the nature of the content of your website. However, even in cases where in fact some content is not relevant to a mobile phone, it must avoid giving an answer technical development of a second website. The phone with its iPhone applications offers a solution to the need to display only part of the contents of a website and is showing it is possible to select areas of information from the same website. Also, if your website is displayed using style sheets, you can even change its display to suit your mobile phone.

By doing this if your choice is to offer mobile Internet access specifically to your website, you do not develop a second site: you are adapting to support consultation with further development limited. You sure as there is a unique source of information and preparing your website to Web advisory developments that will multiply in the future. But remember: develop your website in compliance with international recommendations of the W3C.

Note: if you want to simulate the behavior of your website on a mobile phone, you can use the online application dotMobi: dotMobi Emulator.

Example Consultation Mobile Web: blind people and the voice

As to browse a website from a computer, blind people use a software called "screen reader" on their mobile phone. This software vocalise the navigation of the phone and the content displayed and allows the blind person to control his consultation with various features.

To date, there are 2 screen readers to vocalize some mobile phones available on the market:

• ( liste des téléphones portables compatibles ). Mobile Speak of the company Code Factory (list of compatible phones).
• Talks of the company Nuance.

( Smartphones , Pocket PC ) et BlackBerry (nom du lecteur d'écran : Orator ). Note: the screen reader Mobile Speak is usable on most operating systems equip mobile phones: Symbian, Windows Mobile (Smartphone, Pocket PC) and BlackBerry (name screen reader: Orator). et que vous pouvez tester en ligne à Acapela Text-to-Speech Interactive Demo . He enjoys the voice synthesis text-to-speech created by Acapela Group and you can test online Acapela Text-to-Speech Interactive Demo.

The demonstration of using a screen reader on a Web site clearly demonstrates the importance of developing your website in compliance with international recommendations of the W3C. If you needed another reason to do so ...

Innovation: browse differently on the Web with your mobile

If screen readers can render voice to a website via a mobile phone, other voice recognition applications allow you to control your web browsing.

Here below a video in English on the Google Mobile for the iPhone. When you are told it is time to get interested in the evolution of mobile Web ...