WAP for Webmasters
What is WAP?
The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is a standard technology
that enables Cellular Phones to connect to the Internet and view
stripped down Web Pages and Services.
WAP uses similar concepts to the desktop Internet we are all
familiar with. The Cellular Phone has embedded WAP Micro-Browser
software capable of displaying WML (Wireless Markup Language).
The user enters the URL of a WAPSite into the Micro-Browser and
this request is forwarded to a WAP Gateway. The WAP Gateway
resides within the Cellular Carriers network providing an
interface between the Phone and the Internet. The WAP Gateway
retrieves WML content from conventional web servers on the
Internet and returns it to the Phone to be displayed by the
Micro-Browser.
Why do we need WAP?
Is another markup language really needed? In a word - Yes! The
constraints of mobile devices and networks such as low
bandwidth, high latency, low memory, and small display
capabilities mean conventional Internet protocols (HTTP/TCP/IP)
are unsuitable for use in the wireless environment. It is not
feasible to automatically translate HTML designed for a
high-resolution monitor onto a three or four line Cellular Phone
display. WAP is a standardised way to provide efficient and
reliable access to Internet based information and services via
Cellular Phones.
How to WAP enable your existing website
If you already know HTML you will find learning WML very easy.
There are less tags and most follow the conventions of HTML. The
main differences between developing for the Web and Wap are the
small screen size, monochrome images only, and slow connection
considerations. Well-designed WAP applications provide a
simplified web-like experience.
WAP is about providing access to relevant information from any
location - news, email, sports results and banking have all been
successfully translated to WAP. End-to-end security is provided
by WAP so applications such as Banking and Mobile Commerce are
as safe as conventional E-Commerce sites. Intelligence can be
added to your WAP applications by using WMLScript, which is
similar to JavaScript.
Anyone can write WML content and upload it to a web server in
the same way as publishing HTML pages. Server side scripting
such as Perl, PHP, ASP, and Java Servlets can all be used to
output dynamically created WML content. In many cases the hard
work of creating the backend of the website has already been
done and the WAP conversion is a relatively quick and painless
process.
The constraints of the WAP environment and tight syntax of WML
are actually a blessing in disguise. Developers have much less
scope to format the layout of content compared to HTML design
and thus deployment time is dramatically reduced.
Why choose WAP?
By choosing WAP you are building applications and services that
are accessible across all WAP enabled Phones and Cellular
networks (GSM, CDMA, TDMA and 3G in the future). You will reach
a much wider audience as the number of Cellular phone users now
exceeds that of Desktop PC users. WAP is an evolving technology
that is capable of maturing as the wireless data industry
evolves and is an extremely powerful tool to extend your
website's reach beyond the conventional Desktop PC.