Page 54 - DCAP512_WAP_AND_WML

WAP & WML

Notes

Task Analyze the difference between WML and HTML.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:

8. WAP-enabled devices will display a ………………… card at a time.
9. WML documents from the content server have to be compiled into smaller …………………
file.

10. WML card is similar to an HTML page, but there is no way in HTML for bundling a
collection of ………………… together.
11. The paragraph element has ………………… attribute, whose value may be center, right or
left.
12. The <a> element’s title attribute is used to provide a brief description of the …………………
13. The ………………… is the simplest way in WML of creating an anchor that links one
document to another.

4.3 Understanding WML Uses

Short for Wireless Markup Language, an XML language used to specify content and user interface
for WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) devices; the WAP forum provides a DTD (Short for
document type definition. A DTD states what tags and attributes are used to describe content in
an SGML document, where each tag is allowed, and which tags can appear within other tags. For
example, in a DTD one could say that LIST tags can for WML.
WML is supported by almost every mobile phone browser around the world.

WML pages are requested and served in the same way as HDML (Handheld Device Markup
Language is used to format content for Web-enabled mobile phones. HDML is Openwave’s
(formerly known as phone.com) proprietary language, which can only be viewed on mobile
phones that use Openwave browsers.
For Web servers to serve WML pages, they must contain the text/vnd.wap.wml mime type
MIME (Short for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, a specification for formatting non-
ASCII messages so that they can be sent over the Internet. Many e-mail clients now support
MIME, which enables them to send and receive graphics, audio, and video files via the Internet
mail system. In addition, MIME supports messages in character sets other than ASCII).

Like HTML, WML is easy to use. However, compared to HTML, WML has the following advantages
in the context of wireless:
 WML is part of the WAP standard and its use is required.

 Transmission of WML (WMLC) documents requires less bandwidth compared to HTML
documents because WML documents are simpler and WML is compressed before it is sent
to the WAP device.
 Compared to HTML documents, displaying WML documents requires less processing
power and memory. Consequently, a WAP device can work with a less powerful (cheaper)
CPU and the use of less power means that the battery can operate longer without recharging.
 WML provides support for limited graphics with a limited gray scale.

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