Page History: Mobile META Tags
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Page Revision: 2010/06/24 21:17
Mobile META tags can be used in XHTML-MP and HTML markup to tag the document as optimized for mobile devices. Mobile search engines, mobile browsers and even desktop web browsers look for mobile META tags to identify and render mobile-optimized markup.
Mainstream mobile web content is identified using the markup document’s DOCTYPE or document type declaration. If the DOCTYPE declares the document as XHTML-MP or WML, then by definition, the content is mobile-optimized.
Today’s advanced mobile devices and smartphones are capable of rendering HTML 4 and 5 markup (some with JavaScript and AJAX, too). Still, many mobile web developers prefer to deliver a mobile-optimized web experience to these devices. A lightweight and responsive full-HTML mobile web experience provides the best user experience across a mobile network and on the smartphone browser. Since a smartphone-optimized mobile web document uses the full tag set of HTML, its DOCTYPE is no longer the right criteria to use to decide whether the document is indeed optimized for mobile devices.
Mobile META tags can be incorporated into mobile-optimized HTML documents to identify the document as “made for mobile”. Here are several common mobile META tags and their interpretations by mobile browsers, mobile search engine spiders and robots.
The MobileOptimized META Tag
Microsoft invented the MobileOptimized META tag to control the layout width for mobile markup rendered in Internet Explorer Mobile (i.e. Pocket IE). The content of the meta tag is an integer width in pixels. In IE Mobile, the presence of this META tag forces a single-column layout at the specified width, preventing the browser from modifying the layout to “fit” the mobile screen. See this META tag reference at Microsoft for the tag’s interpretation in Windows Mobile 5.
<meta name="MobileOptimized" content="width" />
Some non-MS mobile browsers may also use the tag to force single-column layouts. Mobile browsers and mobile search engine spiders also use this META tag to identify mobile-optimized HTML.