THE BASICS

• Who to Design For
  • Types of Devices
  • Types of Browsers
  • Mark-Up
• Actions
• Specs

TYPES OF BROWSERS

The inconsistency between devices is a significant challenge for mobile web design. "While estimates vary considerably, it's safe to assume there are more than a few hundred web-ready mobile devices on the market and a few dozen types of user agents installed on those devices." ¹ Testing and forethought in design become critical when setting out to build a mobile site.

While each device has some version of a browser, applications like mini-Safari and Opera Mini are setting new standards in mobile browsers. Opera Mini is a free download at http://www.operamini.com and can replace a device's original browsers.

Unfortunately, this application must be installed by the device owner and unless they are educated about the existing technology, chances are they won't install it. "However, T-Mobile has been shipping hundreds of thousands of its handsets with Opera Mini pre-installed, [and] Mozilla is considering a mobile version of Firefox" ² so browser advancements are definitely on the horizon.

^{1, 2} Moll, Cameron, "Mobile Web Design," http://www.mobilewebbook.com.