(keitai-l) Re: Mobile Web Development in Japan: A Tag Soup Tale

From: Nick May <nick_at_kyushu.com>
Date: 12/07/05
Message-Id: <1B05BE90-D0D0-4C93-9260-AA6522162886@kyushu.com>
Well...

I have a Voda702NK (a Nokia 6630)  It has a basic "keitai style"  
browser on it, and I have downloaded the Opera browser too (which has  
expired, but I played with it a bit...)

So - one handset, two browsers - with radically different capabilities.

The opera browser will let me look at desktop pages - but not very  
elegantly....

For example, look at a site like the Grauniad: (page at random)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1660570,00.html

It is a desktop page. A HUGE number of links down the left side.  
Useful when I browse on a desktop, but a pain using opera on my handset.

Now take a site like tabemo.com. Basic keitai style layout (clever  
code to work across 3 carriers - my point is it isn't taxing the  
keitai layout engine to render). But a logical extension to it might  
be ajax delivered mapping of restaurants using the  google maps api -  
with additional map marking in English of nearest stations, etc.

  Very, very do-able under opera - but not under most "keitai" "slap  
text on page" browsers.

So - I think  a third style of site will emerge - it will target  
"full browsers on handsets" Nokia/Apple webkit based, opera,  
whatever. It will be distinct because the navi-logic will be  
different to the other two styles of site. Rather fewer links than a  
standard desktop site, probably rather ajax heavy.

PDA's will be able to access them, but so will most Symbian handsets,  
or anything else with a small screen capable of running a browser  
that can handle Javascript, xml, possibly xslt, css etc.

Neither the desktop web nor the mostly text "keitai-web" will  
disappear - obviously.

But the fact is that despite Opera's best efforts browsing the  
desktop web from a handset is a royal pain - and users complain - and  
I have had people bleating to me that they want me to take links out  
of my DESKTOP web pages because it does not works so well when viewed  
on a tiny handset.

So basically - users will clamour for it in the end. And if they  
don't, developers will WANT to add it, and push for it as it is such  
good clean fun to play with ajax.

Nick












On 7 Dec 2005, at 15:13, Christopher Kobayashi wrote:

> I understand your point about navigation logic(information
> architecture) being different for keitai and desktop, but what's the
> difference between a mobile site vs keitai site? Well actually, what
> is a mobile site? Something aimed at PIMs
Received on Wed Dec 7 08:55:52 2005