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Jenna from Sunny Florida -

What do you all think about the new wave of .mobi names? We've been through WAP before and it was sadly a failure, but .mobi could truly revolutionize the way the mobile web works. I can certainly see going to glrsales.com for my webstuff and some sort of mobile version at glrsales.mobi

Do you think it's just a passing phase or do you think .mobi names will be around for a while?

Comment #1 George from glrsales -

I think we'd do better to check the browser type and render pages suitable for the mobile device based on that. Of course, it is only worth doing that if we have some great interest by mobile users.

For example, if you have a Nokia 770 these pages are probably usable as is. If you have a mobile device with a 320, 240 or smaller screen good luck. Can we make a version of our pages that work on those probably. Is it worth it at the time, probably not.

We should detect the Nokia 770 and drop the right hand column for those users and then this site would be excellent on the 770.

We're not in any rush to grab a .mobi because it is the page rendering not the domain that is the issue/challenge.

Comment #2 Jenna from Sunny Florida -

Interesting viewpoint George. Thanks for sharing. I am not sure I agree though because there are many sites that are simply too complex to render differently based on the device. One has to actually create a custom version of the site that is suitable for mobile devices. Also if you were to develop a solution that had to take into account all the different types of devices then the code would be messy and difficult to maintain.

I actually like the premise of the dotmobis. I think that if it's a really simple standard that can handle most devices then there will be no need for all those additional device checks. I also think that the wireless community is growing rapidly so there is a strong demand for this and it will increase over time.

Comment #3 George from glrsales -

For example:

xxx.com renders page formatted for IE

xxx.mobi renders same page formatted for mobile

I say it is just as easy (on the server) for

xxx.com (all browsers except mobile list) render for IE

xxx.com (browers from mobile list) render for mobile

The hard part in either case is having the 2 sets of rendering styles.

Comment #4 jnights from Las Vegas -

Right. Good point and a clear example. I wonder though if there is an argument for the dotmobis in the case of very complex sites. For example, you're not going to display myspace or CNN on a handheld device no matter how crafy your styles are. You really want to have a completely different site altogether. The mobile version displays a very simplified interface that may not even be anything remotely similar to the .com version. That's where I feel there is tremendous value to this. You could launch myspace.mobi and have it be a completely different site altogether (same company of course) and so on. If the .mobi name becomes a standard for mobile devices then I automatically go to (or my device automatically interprets it as) cnn.mobi

Just a thought. I certainly see your viewpoint.

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