keitai-l@appelsiini.net writes:
>What about simulators?
Currently, the need for simulators for imode is SERIOUSLY overrated. (I
live in Japan and have a couple of keitai to test with, but I use them
less and less.) Learn the chtml tags well and understand the capabilities
of the phones you are writing (read the specs, check the archives) would
be my advice. There is only one thing I feel the need to simulate, see the
end of this message for details at **. Most people in Japan have access to
only a few keitai anyway - out of dozens of models available. So for the
subtle stuff we are in not THAT much of a different situation than people
outside Japan.
Break the problem down into its component parts - what exactly do you NEED
to simulate? If you (dear reader) are muttering "everything" to yourself,
then you are way out in fantasy land. You don't and a simulator won't.
A standard web browser gives you the basics. For the subtle "gotcha" stuff
I doubt a simulator would give you that anyway (e.g. the P501i will not
allow more than about 30 items in a menu select)
If I were writing hdml I would want an emulator to show me the basics, but
chtml displays sufficiently well in the browser for that not to be an
issue.
I use icab mainly (just a standard web-browser) with the window shrunk.
That does not show the little docomo icons of course, but if you are
really keen on showing those you can turn them into gifs for your mockups
(if you are publishing from a database using php or something, it is
trivial to write a little routine that will display them as gifs when you
display them in a standard browser, and with the docomo codes in a
keitai.... I have not bothered, not because I have keitai, but because I
do not feel the need.) There are a load of icons at the Mobile Japan news
site (sorry - can't remember the name - Andreas site) that you could start
with....
To see the size of the page, just dump it to a file and measure the size
of that using "get info", adding whatever images you are using. Or again,
write a little routine to see how big it is. I have not bothered as I do
not feel the need.
On the END I give it the once over in a real keitai or 20. If you talk
sweetly to someone in Japan on the keitai list they might give your page
the once over in their keitai as a FINAL test, just so you are sure it
looks OK. But currently chtml is so SIMPLE that you can just read the
source to see how it will display. Remember that you would still have to
give the pages the once over in the target browser (on a keitai) whether
you use a simulator or not. A simulator is just an intermediate stage
**There is one feature I DO use a "simulator" for - but the simulator is
still just iCab
This little browser (4meg ram requirement) allows you to modify the header
that is sent by the browser. So if you are using a scripting language like
php to send different output to different keitai, you can set the target
keitai header data in icab. Then when you browser sniff, icab will declare
itself as whatever keitai you have told it to and you will get the
appropriate output (colour pictures, wider pages, more content whatever) .
Mike Tuupola wrote a great little php sniffing class - look in the
archives if you are using php The headers are in the source I think.
iCab is at http://www.icab.de. I am not sure what Linux/win browser will
do this.
I am not saying a simulator might not be of use as a tool- but it is not
necessary. Currently a standard browser simulates enough.
By the way, I was teasing of course when I said "simpletext". I tend to
use the "notepad" in conjunction with "tex-edit". Mainly 'cos of the
better search capabilities of tex-edit.
This message is not intended to be one of those condescending "real
developers do it in machine code" posts, - I hate "work" (all work) and
will cheerfully use any tool that is available. But I rarely use my keitai
for testing now and I do not feel the need to use, nor trust, the
simulators that ARE available - other than the icab trick above.
Nick
PS - what is the hex r e n is trying to put on us?
[ Did you check the archives? http://www.appelsiini.net/keitai-l/ ]
Received on Wed Dec 20 05:28:17 2000