How do you make a website viewable on wireless phone browsers?

[WoundedWallet]

Just got a Sprint Wireless web service and I love being able to access c|net and cnn(no forums yet :|) .

But how do "I" make a page that is viewable in the phone browser?

Anybody know what the trick is?

Thanks.

 

[SUOrangeman]

WAP?

-SUO

 

[WoundedWallet]

Thanks SUO,
since nobody answered I didn't bother saying that I found the answer.

I'm kinda confused with the term WAP. At Sprint they called Wireless Application Programming as WAP. But on Linksys website WAP standed for Wireless Access Point. So if you meant the first, yeah that's it

Anyway, in case anyone is interested Sprint has a "wireless web developer's program" here. I got a developers guide and a style guide in pdf.

But I tell you. it seems to be too much work for what I wanted. Which is basically to be able to access my website through my phone browser. But if I find myself without bathroom literature I might try to learn the dang thing.

Are you working in the wireless field?

 

[the FooL]

I'm about to start a new job with a startup on the wireless front.

Being new, I asked a lot of questions during the interview, and it seems that web pages for the wireless niche is a separate markup language.

I'm not sure how phones are done, since this company is concentrating on the handhelds, but I figure it'll be similar, in which you have a different 'code type' altogether and the 'browser' has to support it.

I'd prefer handhelds, since you can always change the browser software.

 

[WoundedWallet]

Well I wasn't really looking for this capability when I bought the phone. But once I used it I loved it.

Today while dinning at a restaurant, a word came up that nobody but me knew the meaning. So I quickly picked up my phone and searched britannica.com and had a higher authority to back me up. Instant gratification!

But you're right about PDA's. And from what I heard Nokia will have a phone with either a Palm OS in it or accepting Palm applications. I'll look for that next Christmas.

I also found a place that builds hdml pages for you. The address is http://www.easyriver.com/wapeditor.htm. Now I can probably put some stuff that I wanted to be viewed on the phone

PS. Since it is a javascript page builder. I copied the page and now I have my own builder, hehe.

 

[WoundedWallet]

hehe hehe hehe hehe hehe hehe hehe hehe hehe hehe hehe hehe hehe hehe hehehehe hehe hehe hehehehehehe guess what?

That horrible thing that I was going to, maybe someday, do it? It's done. Thanks to the javascript page builder. Now I'm the proud owner of a page that can be seen on a phone. I even got my logo there!!

Now I gotta work on posting info that makes some sense. Can someone help me make sense?

Sorry guys, two days ago this world didn't exist to me. Now I'm tripping on it. :|:|:disgust::frown:

 

[loup garou]

That's cool man. I think I'll try out the builder now to impress my geeky friends! Congrats!

EDIT: Any specific size for the bitmap? Do you have to convert it to greyscale or anything? Thanks

 

[WoundedWallet]

the bitmap is tricky.

it has to be B&W. I used MSpaint to make it that way by changing the attributes to B&W

The odd thing is that by changing a colored image I got an all black .bmp. So I went in PSP made it greyscale, penciled in the grey so all I had at the end was black or white. And made the image a negative. Then I used MS paint to make it B&W. Don't ask me why, but MSpaint made the original all black as well. But it turns out that the image looks better as a negative.

The size depends on what you gonna see. One site suggested 96pix wide by 24 high, because of some smaller phones. I set my bmp to 60x30 in order not to lose the proportions. But I think my screen takes at least 100x32.

Now I feel like a REAL nerd!


PS. In case you don't know, you need to map your server to accept mime type text/x-hdml for .hdml files to work.

 

[loup garou]

Thanks! I didn't know about the server mapping. I tried it out and couldn't access the page. I'll have to talk to my professors to ask them to map it to accept HDML files. I'm sure they'll be thrilled (it's a websitedev course server, anything we do outside of class thrills them). Thanks again for the tips! I wish the WAP browsers would do JavaScript...I'd love to write a page with a script to crash phones. That would be hilarious!

 

[Moogle]

WAP : Proverbial fart in a bathtub.

What a shining example of technology for the sake of technology. I have yet to see a more useless solution.

Let me put this in perspective...

Mobile Phones : Evolution = Voice, Voice Messaging, Text Messaging, Internet.

PC : Evolution = Internet. Text Messaging. Voice Messaging. Voice.

And what with PC's being scaled down, and down, and DOWN .. what do you think is more likely going to be in your pocket as your one-size-fits-all solution in a decade?

A mobile phone dressed up to act like a PC?
Or a PC miniaturised, capable of doing the job of a (video) phone with ease?

Place your bets...

(Sorry about the mildly off-thread rant .. It's just WAP really annoys me as being totally, essentially, useless.)

 

[WoundedWallet]

Moogle, I'm sure what you said will be true someday. But for right now the reverse is what is closest to the truth.

BTW, I just found that my phone has a fixed IP. I don't know what good that is, but it is very interesting....