WAP for Webmasters

What is WAP?

The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is a standard technology that enables Cellular Phones to connect to the Internet and view stripped down Web Pages and Services.

WAP uses similar concepts to the desktop Internet we are all familiar with. The Cellular Phone has embedded WAP Micro-Browser software capable of displaying WML (Wireless Markup Language). The user enters the URL of a WAPSite into the Micro-Browser and this request is forwarded to a WAP Gateway. The WAP Gateway resides within the Cellular Carriers network providing an interface between the Phone and the Internet. The WAP Gateway retrieves WML content from conventional web servers on the Internet and returns it to the Phone to be displayed by the Micro-Browser.

Why do we need WAP?

Is another markup language really needed? In a word - Yes! The constraints of mobile devices and networks such as low bandwidth, high latency, low memory, and small display capabilities mean conventional Internet protocols (HTTP/TCP/IP) are unsuitable for use in the wireless environment. It is not feasible to automatically translate HTML designed for a high-resolution monitor onto a three or four line Cellular Phone display. WAP is a standardised way to provide efficient and reliable access to Internet based information and services via Cellular Phones.

How to WAP enable your existing website

If you already know HTML you will find learning WML very easy. There are less tags and most follow the conventions of HTML. The main differences between developing for the Web and Wap are the small screen size, monochrome images only, and slow connection considerations. Well-designed WAP applications provide a simplified web-like experience.

WAP is about providing access to relevant information from any location - news, email, sports results and banking have all been successfully translated to WAP. End-to-end security is provided by WAP so applications such as Banking and Mobile Commerce are as safe as conventional E-Commerce sites. Intelligence can be added to your WAP applications by using WMLScript, which is similar to JavaScript.

Anyone can write WML content and upload it to a web server in the same way as publishing HTML pages. Server side scripting such as Perl, PHP, ASP, and Java Servlets can all be used to output dynamically created WML content. In many cases the hard work of creating the backend of the website has already been done and the WAP conversion is a relatively quick and painless process.

The constraints of the WAP environment and tight syntax of WML are actually a blessing in disguise. Developers have much less scope to format the layout of content compared to HTML design and thus deployment time is dramatically reduced.

Why choose WAP?

By choosing WAP you are building applications and services that are accessible across all WAP enabled Phones and Cellular networks (GSM, CDMA, TDMA and 3G in the future). You will reach a much wider audience as the number of Cellular phone users now exceeds that of Desktop PC users.
WAP is an evolving technology that is capable of maturing as the wireless data industry evolves and is an extremely powerful tool to extend your website's reach beyond the conventional Desktop PC.

About the Author

James Scott
Editor of WAP-Resources.net - The WAP Developers Resource
www.wap-resources.net