Introduction

In today s wireless Web, you can seldom specify only one device for accessing your Web content. As the Internet becomes increasingly central to business and recreation, the variety of ways to access the Internet is increasing. In Japan, more people already access the Net from mobile devices than from fixed or landline computers. As the number of mobile devices grows, people are demanding that they be able to access all Web content from their wireless PDAs.

Building pages for the Palm OS is quite different from building pages for the desktop. A lot of the experience you may have in creating standard Web pages applies here, but there are several tricks that can enhance the user experience on a handheld device, and there are also many pitfalls. The first and most obvious difference is the limited screen size, but just as critical is the very limited download speeds of current wireless devices. The Palm VII has a nominal speed of 9.6Kbps, while the Palm V or Handspring with an OmniSky modem tops out at 19.2Kbps. The screen has a viewing width of 153 pixels. In comparison, most modern Web sites are designed for a minimum speed of 56Kbps and expect a screen resolution of at least 800x600 pixels in full color.

However, with some careful planning, you can create pages that are universally accessible. Among the optimization possibilities are special Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) tags that allow you to make pages useable from a standard Web browser and from...