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Practicality versus Purity - Alternation versus Adaptation

Andy Capp

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Not learning from history is a real shame.

Heraclitus over 2,500 years ago said the equivalent of “You can never jump into the same river twice.” In other words, things are always changing. Actions that might have been appropriate at one time may no longer be appropriate at a later time.

This somewhat philosophical thought came up when a web page came up on my radar screen entitled, The “.mobi” Proposal is Inconsistent with Device Independence Principles. Although the document itself bears no date and might appear to be timeless, the URL confirms that it dates from July 2004. The One Web principle is cited as a reason why the .mobi domain LTD should not be allowed. That was part of the ‘river’ of thinking that was flowing at that time. Just over a year later, Cameron Moll and Brian Fling wrote a three part series on Mobile Web Design and discussed the choices that must be made. In particular the third article on Tips & Techniques evaluated the issues around using CSS style sheets for handheld devices and the possibility of designing specifically for the Mobile Web (mobilizing versus miniaturizing). Even then the river was very turbulent and one might have wondered whether the One Web principle would continue to float.

Of course within the last 12 months, the .mobi domain has now come into existence and has been taken up with great enthusiasm. The river is even more turbulent for that One Web principle. Yet it still seems to be supported with the same degree of enthusiasm that was evident in mid-2004. Without going as far as Henry Ford with his ‘History is Bunk‘, history is still history. What may have seemed logical at one time may no longer have currency. Standards only have legitimacy when they are accepted by a significant proportion of those affected. The proportion accepting One Web seems to be dropping.

Related: Will That Be Adaptation Or Alternation?

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This entry was posted on Friday, April 13th, 2007 at 2:10 pm and is filed under Mobile, Standards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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    Barry--After reading your post, I purchased two .mobi domains.

    I tried Yahoo first, but they don’t support the mobi extension, so I went with Go Daddy. Their sign up process is awful; screen after screen of clutter trying to sell add-ons. Annoying, disgusting, abusive marketing! Gave some serious thought to ditching before making the purchase, but the names were too good to walk away from. Wish I could have gone with Yahoo.

    I’m convinced that the mobile market is different and deserves sites built specifically for it. I followed the link you provided to the article by Dr. Rotan Hanrahan, but decided that my teenager and her friends are better indicators of the future. Miniaturizing my current .com sites, even with perfect W3C code, wouldn’t work because they’re picture sites.

    Now, my goal is to come up with a whole new vision designed for my same visitors, but something that meets their needs when they’re on the go. I wish more people would do this…create material specifically for the mobile market.

    I really want more reading material for my SideKick.
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    Thank you for your comments, Christina. I think the majority of people will decide that what you're doing makes a lot of sense. The Mobile Web will be defined by its users.
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