Hi Are there any people here designing sites for mobile/PDA browsers ? If so, how do you test them without using a PDA/mobile device ? Thanks, Brew
Brew, there are emulators for this that display exactly as your site would look on a PDA. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=pda+emulator&btnG=Google+Search - this may be of some help, I am not sure. But basically, everything should be coded in XHTML.
Some Hand-held mobile devices such as the Blackberry (8800, Curve, Pearl) and the Palm Treo 650 employ Web Page Small Screen Rendering which can be emulated in Firefox via the top drop-down menu: Tools> Web Developer> Miscellaneous> Small Screen Rendering (or via Miscellaneous> Small Screen Rendering from the drop-down menu in Chris Pederick's Web Developer add-on) and in Opera via View> Small screen (toggle) from the top drop-down menu. I spent some time at one of our local Shopping Malls this past weekend checking my Home page in Blackberry and Palm devices at various dealer Kiosks, also on some of my family and friends Blackberry's. It rendered pretty much as it did in the above Firefox and Opera emulators. I use validated HTML 4.01 Strict Markup and CSS for my pages.
Thanks jamesicus I have been playing with Opera and Firefox, and they have some very useful tools. I love the idea about going to the local mall and testing on the pdas in the shops Brew
I wrote an extensive post about designing for mobile devices at SitePoint last year (it's on the forums). I have the post bookmarked, but I'm not at home right now. I'll look for it when I return though (after signing an NDA for a prospective client, that is). And here it is. http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3139174#post3139174 Oh, by the way, Cameron Moll also has a book out on mobile Web design. I can't vouch for it since I haven't read it, but if you want to give it a try, feel free.