In this edition of Web Enlightenment we'll be talking about how iPhone has killed WAP (Wireless Access Protocol) and what you need to know about it.

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iPhone Killed WAP

So here is the hard truth - I hate smart phones.

I had a bad experience many years ago and just never recovered.
As fans of the movie "The Italian Job" know, 'I had a bad experience' is really all one should have to say.

Even today when I send and receive text messages - I am a geek after all - I triple tap my way there using a regular old numeric phone keypad. So don't be surprised when I say, 'I will c u l8r'.

Recently a number of people have been asking me about the "mobile web" and what they need to do about "mobile websites" and I have an answer that I really enjoy:

What mobile web is it that you are talking about? There is no more mobile web.

Now this doesn't mean I fail to understand the confusion and I suspect lots of folks may, in fact, be quite reasonably befuddled about how to deal with the mobile universe when it comes to their websites.

Long ago and far away - also known as 1997 - we had this lovely little thing called WAP. It stood for wireless application protocol and it was a different way of coding web sites so they would appear on mobile phones. You may remember this from when CNN presented itself to you as a menu of about a half dozen choices. I built sites in WAP but the fact is - WAP sucked. Sucked rotten eggs, it was just awful and nobody liked it.

And so the small number of people who had the mobile web phones went about their mobile web business and got their mobile weather and stock prices and the occasional news item and they spent lots of time grumbling about how WAP sucked. WAP basically died about 2003 and no one cried.

Apparently many people trying to sell phones noticed this grumbling.
They began talking about the "real" web.

And at long last - about two years ago now - the real web was happily delivered to smart phones everywhere. The people rejoiced and as part of the celebration they trampled each other in front of an Apple store.

Today smart phones use real systems and real web browsers - like Safari and Windows Mobile and BlackBerry OS - and pretty much mobile people see the same internet that you and I do. They do surely view it on a little screen and some of them (looking at you apple folks) can rotate their phone and it "knows" and flips the screen to make the web a bit wider but overall lots of these people scroll from left to right to see whole web pages. There are a few gee-whiz gizmos that fail to work (and yes they are working on that) but pretty much the mobile web is now just the plain old web.

So what do you need to do about your own website?

The first thing that I recommend doing is to see how your website appears on mobile phones now - this is actually something you should be doing for your website generally in terms of different browsers and platforms. There are a wide variety of sites that can do this task for you but one of my long time favorites has been Browser Cam. You can sign up for a free trial and use it for a day to see what your site looks like in all sorts of situations. They charge $20 for an unlimited day and they have plans that run up to $90 a month for the super deluxe wash.

The second thing you should do is check out your web site statistics and see how many visitors you have that are actually on mobile phones. Early adopters tend to be noisy in general so most site owners overestimate the numbers - "I was on my iPhone and at your site the other day" can have a big emotional impact but folks that own iPhone's tend to begin lots of email messages that way. Take the couple of minutes and actually look up the numbers.

If you find that your site has display problems because of the small screen size and you have enough mobile visitors that it would be worth your while to do something about it - create a second CSS sheet.

CSS - or Cascading Style Sheets - is the way that fonts, colors, and a bunch of other stuff are controlled on the web. You can create another "version" of your site that anticipates the very narrow screen without actually making another web page.

For the web professional geeks in the room - and non geeks should be sure to skip this part, here is one simple way of doing this:

<!--#if expr="(${HTTP_USER_AGENT} = /iPhone/)"-->
<style type="text/css">
<!--
here's where you'd include special styles for the iPhone
-->
</style>
<!--#else -->
<style type="text/css">
<!--
regular web browser style and CSS information goes here
-->
</style>
<!--#endif -->

A wee bit of google will lead you to all the other snippets you may require, feel free to drop me a line if you feel stuck.

So here is the bottom line for mobile compatibility: check to see how your site looks, check to see if you in fact have a significant number of mobile users, and then maybe create another style sheet or two for those users.

One other frequent question people have is about how to create "Apps" , or applications specifically for mobile users. I am actually working with a client right now , soon to be two, on a strategy for mobile application development. I will be referring them to the gobs of developers I know in this space once they really know what they need, so if you have a question feel free to email me. In the future I will put another edition of Web Enlightenment together that talks about app development, whihc may mean that at long last - kicking and screaming - I will own a smart phone.

County Fair 2009
6 Blue Ribbons, One Third Place, One No Place

I am pleased as punch to brag about the garden that I watch grow out my window that my wife Amy tends. (She may dispute this account a bit but not loudly). As always I remain good at eating things and we all need to respect our own talents.

This year there were 8 entries in the "has been held every year since 1840" Franklin County Fair, they were:

• Hubbard Squash
• Cauliflower
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Maple Syrup
• Carrots (with tops)
• Butternut Squash
• Cucumbers

It is with great pleasure that I report the first 6 items on the list there all scored First Premium Blue Ribbons including the ultra competitive Maple Syrup Category. Butternuts brought in a respectable third place and Cucumbers were sadly absent from the ribbon table but I suspect that is because Japanese Cukes (you know, the weird ones that curl on top) were entered in a regular cucumber category.

Congratulations to Amy, to all of the many garden helpers, and to Spruce Nubble Farm. As I'm sure I will get glared at if I fail to provide credit I would also like to extend heartfelt congratulations to all of our horses as it is their poop that is the power behind all of these wonderful creations.