Scribblings

Handheld stylesheet

For a number of years now this site has been sending out a stylesheet for handheld devices which most users will not even have been aware of. The idea is that browsers on mobile phones and similar devices will use this sheet in preference to the main stylesheet which is really intended for desktops and laptops with larger screens. The trouble is that whether this stylesheet is used depends on the browser recognising that it’s there and then interpreting it properly. The only browsers I know of which recognise the presence of the stylesheet are Opera and the mobile version of Internet Explorer. Unfortunately the last time I checked the latter interpreted the handheld stylesheet wrongly.

I had hoped that the Safari browser in Apple’s iPhone and the iPod Touch would use the handheld stylesheet but I’m sad to say that it doesn’t. I think it should but then that’s Apple for you. The site works perfectly properly as it is on the iPhone and iPod Touch but just like many other sites you do spend rather an inordinate amount of time making sections of the page larger so that you can read the small text.

To that end I’ve now made a small change to the site. If you access the site as m.dawnsun.net instead of the usual www.dawnsun.net it will now send its pages with the handheld stylesheet as the main stylesheet. Try it; you may prefer it that way.

There may be pages on the site which send their own subsidiary stylesheets and, if these include special bits for handheld devices, they won’t currently work properly. I’ll have a hunt around and see if I can find any. In the meantime, if you do use the mobile version can you let me know what you think?

Posted 30 July 2009, 20:27
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