W3C Tool Allows Automatic Verification of mobileOK Content

http://www.w3.org/-Today, W3C provides new means for people to create and find mobile friendly content. W3C invites Web authors to run the alpha release of the W3C mobileOK checker and make their content work on a broad range of mobile devices.

"Making a Web site work on a mobile device is easier once you have the right tool," explained Dominique Hazaël-Massieux, W3C's Mobile Web Initiative Activity Lead. "Now is the time to reach more people by making your site W3C mobileOK."

Tim Berners-Lee will discuss how mobileOK fits into the W3C Mobile Web vision in his Mobile Internet World keynote "Escaping the Walled Garden: Growing the Mobile Web with Open Standards" (14 November in Boston, Massachusetts, USA).

Tool Helps Authors Follow Mobile Web Best Practices

The W3C mobileOK checker runs the tests defined in the W3C mobileOK Basic Tests 1.0 Candidate Recommendation. The tests themselves are based upon W3C's Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0, published as part of W3C's Mobile Web Initiative. The Best Practices describes how to reduce the cost of authoring and to improve the mobile browsing experience. Any tool that implements the Basic Tests can verify automatically whether content is mobile friendly.

The W3C mobileOK checker is the latest addition to W3C's popular and successful suite of validation services. As an integral part of the W3C standardization process, W3C invites mobile Web experts and the community at large to review the checker and the mobileOK Basic Tests.

W3C mobileOK Content Easier to Find in Search Engines

With Web sites which conform to the W3C mobileOK content guidelines, search engines can better tailor results for a mobile environment, benefitting authors and their audience alike. Sean Owen of Google will be talking about how he and other Working Group members developed the checker with search engines in mind at the Mobile Web Standards Seminar, on 13 November at Mobile Internet World.

Industry Leaders Already Implementing, Seek Feedback

The following W3C Member organizations and MWI Sponsors participating in the Mobile Best Practices Working Group developed W3C mobileOK Basic Tests 1.0 and the W3C mobileOK checker: Afilias; Akmin; ANEC (European Association for the Co-ordination of Consumer Representation in Standardisation); AOL; AT&T Bytemobile; Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC); Citigroup; Deutsche Telekom AG; Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI); elmundo.es; ERICSSON; Family Online Safety Institute; France Telecom; FSTC (Financial Services Technology Consortium); Fundación CTIC; Fundación ONCE; Go Daddy.com; Google; HiSoftware; HP; Indus Net Technologies; Infraware; Institute of Informatics & Telecommunications (IIT), NCSR; International Webmasters Association / HTML Writers Guild (IWA-HWG); Microsoft Corporation; mTLD Top Level Domain; NeoMtel; Nokia; Novarra; NTT DoCoMo; Openwave Systems; Opera Software; Reuters; Samsung Electronics Co.; Segala; Sevenval AG; SK Telecom; Telecom Italia SpA; Telefónica; University of Helsinki; Vishwak Solutions Pvt.; Vodafone; and Volantis Systems.

About the World Wide Web Consortium [W3C]

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards. W3C primarily pursues its mission through the creation of Web standards and guidelines designed to ensure long-term growth for the Web. Over 400 organizations are Members of the Consortium. W3C is jointly run by the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the USA, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France and Keio University in Japan, and has additional Offices worldwide. For more information see http://www.w3.org/