Some of the world's top wireless and Internet companies, including Nokia, Vodafone Group Plc and Google Inc., have agreed on a set of Web site development guidelines aimed at making it easier to surf the Internet on cell phones.

Photo: Industry Leaders Agree on Rules for Mobile Web Sites Photo 1

Today, the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C), a group backed by 30 industry players, created 60 guidelines for developers to design sites that are easy to use on cell phones, which have much smaller screens and tiny keypads.

"Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0" condenses the experience of many mobile Web stakeholders into practical advice on creating content that will work well on mobile devices. The guidelines advise developers against using big graphics or pop-up ads that could clutter phone screens. They also suggest designing sites in such a way that the content appears right at the top of a cell phone screen, allowing users to avoid scrolling past multiple navigation links.

Authors and other content producers can find instructions on how to create content that makes browsing convenient on mobile devices and avoids known pitfalls, such as pop-ups and page-scrolling.

This work is part of the W3C Mobile Web Initiative, which is supported by nineteen MWI Sponsors, including key players in the mobile production chain: Afilias, Argogroup, Bango.net, dotMobi, Drutt Corporation, Ericsson, France Telecom, HP, Jataayu Software, MobileAware, Nokia, NTT DoCoMo, Opera Software, TIM Italia, RuleSpace, Segala, Sevenval, Vodafone, and Volantis.