.mobi dotMobi Launches Updates to DeviceAtlas Database

I'm still a little confused.
What is this DeviceAtlas for and why is it needed for development?
I mean... information that we need is already on the web, and it's still the same internet we are browsing using a mobile device.
Plus, Google's new mobile search engine formats the sites listed under search result into a mobile device friendly form.

we dont need dotmobi, we dont need anything.

personally, i think we should all boycott everything on the internet we dont need.

we can go back to 1992 with no new ideas and all use DOS.... it will be awesome.. WHOS WITH ME?

It's a database of screen dimensions, browser specs, hardware capabilities, etc, for a pile of different mobile devices. You can visually browse the database, but if you want to have your server sense the device and then parse your website into something perfect for the exact visiting device, the database comes in handy. Of course, the database is just as helpful beyond the .mobi tld.

mrdomainman said:

I'm still a little confused.
What is this DeviceAtlas for and why is it needed for development?
I mean... information that we need is already on the web, and it's still the same internet we are browsing using a mobile device.
Plus, Google's new mobile search engine formats the sites listed under search result into a mobile device friendly form.

Click to expand...

jagusa said:

It's a database of screen dimensions, browser specs, hardware capabilities, etc, for a pile of different mobile devices. You can visually browse the database, but if you want to have your server sense the device and then parse your website into something perfect for the exact visiting device, the database comes in handy. Of course, the database is just as helpful beyond the .mobi tld.

Click to expand...

Ohh
Thanks for the explanation jagusa

mjnels said:

we dont need dotmobi, we dont need anything.

personally, i think we should all boycott everything on the internet we dont need.

we can go back to 1992 with no new ideas and all use DOS.... it will be awesome.. WHOS WITH ME?

Click to expand...

I agree that we're moving forward with the ever improving/advancing technology.

Yes, but isn't this "advancing technology" what is making the "normal web" accessible to from a mobile, rather than some contrived bespoke web that could only be accessed through dot mobi? Doesn't mean that dot Mobi is trying to use technology that was developed to obviate a need for it at all, as a new justification for its existence?

On the DOS thing Windows thing, well we all probably need Vista like a hole in the head but of course we need an intuitive interface to the operating system. I guess dot Mobi is going to promise to do that as well now, is it?

You are correct. If all websites used such mobile-sensing technology and reformatted the page accordingly, then .mobi would have no need to exist.

Rubber Duck said:

Doesn't mean that dot Mobi is trying to use technology that was developed to obviate a need for it at all, as a new justification for its existence?

Click to expand...

First Google Mobile's automatic mobilizer

Now this from dot mobi itself?

Device Atlas is another example of the work going on at DotMobi

The Device Atlas is just an OPTION available for developers who want to build websites that will deliver mobile friendly content tailored to specific handheld devices. It is a tool devised to provide the most content/layout targetted user experience.

A ".mobi" website means that IT WILL HAVE mobile accessible content. Dot mobi websites are specifically designed for mobile use from Day 1.

Dot mobi sites can ALSO contain full sized screen pages which can be offered and accessed via the autodetection methods (of which mTLD's Device Atlas is one option) or by using subdirectories and links with a courtesy note explaining that some content will be full sized pages and providing a way for the user to get back to mobile sized content. As an option, one could offer manuallly selectable pages based on general scren sizes - small. medium, and full sized. Or they could just design a .mobi site at a specific screen size in mind, say 165 pixels wide.

But that is still missing the BIG point:

Over the last decade+, almost ALL the websites out there on the internet were designed to fit full sized screens ONLY on PCs and laptops - period. Many existing websites include bloated pages using tables and frames and large graphics and pdf files which do not load quickly or play nicely with many mobile phones. Hence those sites will likely provide a bad user experience.

Even if some software programs like Google's mobilizer can strip out and reorganize the old pages to shoehorn them onto a mobile screen, that does not provide a best case scenario for the mobile user. Only a site designed for mobile use can do that best with the user experience in mind.
.
This is another example of the kind of tools and services provided by the DotMobi registry to further the buildout of the mobile web and to help .mobi to become synonymous with the mobile web.
Just like: http://dev.mobi/ and http://ready.mobi/
.
Now what other domain extension is as purposeful, engaged, and dedicated to providing a good user experience?
.

acc said:

The Device Atlas is just an OPTION available for developers who want to build websites that will deliver mobile friendly content tailored to specific handheld devices. It is a tool devised to provide the most content/layout targetted user experience.

A ".mobi" website means that IT WILL HAVE mobile accessible content. Dot mobi websites are specifically designed for mobile use from Day 1.

Dot mobi sites can ALSO contain full sized screen pages which can be offered and accessed via the autodetection methods (of which mTLD's Device Atlas is one option) or by using subdirectories and links with a courtesy note explaining that some content will be full sized pages and providing a way for the user to get back to mobile sized content. As an option, one could offer manuallly selectable pages based on general scren sizes - small. medium, and full sized. Or they could just design a .mobi site at a specific screen size in mind, say 165 pixels wide.

But that is still missing the BIG point:

Over the last decade+, almost ALL the websites out there on the internet were designed to fit full sized screens ONLY on PCs and laptops - period. Many existing websites include bloated pages using tables and frames and large graphics and pdf files which do not load quickly or play nicely with many mobile phones. Hence those sites will likely provide a bad user experience.

Even if some software programs like Google's mobilizer can strip out and reorganize the old pages to shoehorn them onto a mobile screen, that does not provide a best case scenario for the mobile user. Only a site designed for mobile use can do that best with the user experience in mind.
.
This is another example of the kind of tools and services provided by the DotMobi registry to further the buildout of the mobile web and to help .mobi to become synonymous with the mobile web.
Just like: http://dev.mobi/ and http://ready.mobi/
.
Now what other domain extension is as purposeful, engaged, and dedicated to providing a good user experience?
.

Click to expand...

Yes, you've made some very good points.
However, what really defines good user experience?

When Google releases android platform on its phone and other phones (with full web browsing capability), will the users have bad experience surfing the full web with it?
Google, Microsoft and Iphone are developing the mobile browsers into ways that will provide good user experience and make the user feel not restricted.
With technology moving forward, we can only assume that mobile devices with the current browsers with limited capabilities will be a thing of the past.

I just hope that mtld has accounted for all of these possibilities before releasing this extension.

Although, I have to say that they've been able to market the extension somewhat well in order to bring in some of the big companies to use it and give exposure to net users.

In all cases so far --- iPhone, Android, and the current .mobi XHTML --- the mobile experience is lame. Creating a satisfying user experience with a small screen simply has not happened yet. The current zoom in/zoom out thing / microsizing the screen (iPhone/Android) and stripping down to basics (.mobi) are both poor excuses for the mobile internet. I look forward to better things down the road -- and I do think it will be an innovation that will likely occur through Android and specialized hardware -- after that, the others will follow.

mrdomainman said:

When Google releases android platform on its phone and other phones (with full web browsing capability), will the users have bad experience surfing the full web with it?

Click to expand...

It still seems to me that the most critical factor here is the Web Site owner's wish and desire to accommodate the mobile browser. It seems that once he has made that decision most developers will be equipped to facilitate his desires/intentions. What I am not seeing is why that then requires him to employ dysfunctional branding to accommodate it. It can all simply happen at the existing IP address which has bugger all to do with domain names anyway. If the existing website owners are not motivated to do this, how does the creation of the dot Mobi extension help?