The fact that people can walk down the street these days and jump around on the web in the palm of their hand is great for companies like KnockMedia. Going into 2012, there is a tremendous push for businesses to be WAP compatible. WAP stands for Wireless Application Protocol, and simply put this is the technology that allows a website to be accessible on your handheld devices, aka smartphones. A WAP-enabled internet browser can provide all of the services that a desktop or laptop-based computer browser can provide, but it’s simplified or “stripped down” to accommodate the restrictions that mobile devices have such as smaller screen and bandwidth.
It’s no wonder that with the introduction of the iPhone, businesses want to have their websites viewable on smartphones. KnockMedia launched it’s WAP design service several years ago, before the iPhone hit the market, due to the large number of other handheld devices that were available. It wasn’t until the iPhone and Droid came out though that we started seeing such a large increase in interest to get a WAP website designed.
The fact of the matter is that in order to create a buzz around your products, services or solutions, you need to be ahead of the game… or at least working your way in that direct. Smartphones are not going anywhere… they are only going to get faster, slicker, more convenient, and less expensive. As time goes on, we believe that if you are a serious about your online presence, you will need to have a WAP website.
A WAP website is a website written in WML. WML stands for Wireless Markup Language, and is the standard language accessed by a handheld device using a WAP browser. Custom WAP design takes some skill, you need to take into consideration the medium these websites will be displayed on. It’s certainly not the same as designing a website for maximum usability on a desktop computer. The major restriction that one must consider with WAP website design is clearly the screen size that your site will be viewed on. But it doesn’t stop there, WML is not HTML, there are some big differences and so it is suggested that if you are looking to develop a WAP website, call in the professionals.