TalkPHP - View Single Post - Which DocType for the most accessbile / mobile / cross browser site?

maZtah · 01-17-2009, 10:02 AM

Because you can't properly design a website for a desktop and mobile device in one - because of the huge difference in screen size f.e. - this is what I am always doing:

First I design the desktop website, mostly with a XHTML 1.0 Strict DOCTYPE <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">, but there is nothing wrong with using your HTML 4.01 Strict DOCTYPE either.

Then, after I have finished the desktop website, I design a mobile website and put it for example on a subdomain or dotMobi domain (m.domain.com or domain.mobi). For this mobile website I use the following DOCTYPE: <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML Basic 1.1//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml-basic/xhtml-basic11.dtd">

Then you can forward any mobile device to the mobile version or you can put a link to the mobile version on the desktop version. Although I haven't tested this script, it seems like this one will do: http://detectmobilebrowsers.mobi/.

Good luck!

01-17-2009, 10:02 AM	#5 (permalink)
maZtah The Acquainted Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 170 Thanks: 18	Because you can't properly design a website for a desktop and mobile device in one - because of the huge difference in screen size f.e. - this is what I am always doing: First I design the desktop website, mostly with a XHTML 1.0 Strict DOCTYPE `<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">`, but there is nothing wrong with using your HTML 4.01 Strict DOCTYPE either. Then, after I have finished the desktop website, I design a mobile website and put it for example on a subdomain or dotMobi domain (m.domain.com or domain.mobi). For this mobile website I use the following DOCTYPE: `<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML Basic 1.1//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml-basic/xhtml-basic11.dtd">` Then you can forward any mobile device to the mobile version or you can put a link to the mobile version on the desktop version. Although I haven't tested this script, it seems like this one will do: http://detectmobilebrowsers.mobi/. Good luck!