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Responsible Reformatting

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Posted by jonarne 4 years 8 weeks ago
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We have recently seen that several mobile network operators have implemented what's become known as "content transcoders" or "transcoding proxies". Vodafone and TeliaSonera are among them. The idea is to make the desktop web available on mobile devices. One of the side effects we have seen is that, put simply, already mobile optimized portals are also reformatted, destroying a carefully designed mobile user experience. Luca Passani has taken the initiative to clarify the impact of transcoders and suggest some basic rules for transcoding proxies to follow in this developer manifesto.

The issue has been discussed several times on dev.mobi as well:


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    Posted by jonarne 4 years 8 weeks ago

    jonarne's picture

    John Arne has seen the mobile world both from the inside of a Telco and outside as a content provider. Currently he works as Head of Product Development in Mobiletech AS which he also co founded.

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    Posted by ruadhan 4 years ago

    And of course, let's not forget the W3C initiative, the Content Transformation Task Force, with a similar goal

    Ruadhan O'Donoghue
    dotMobi

    Posted by atrasatti 4 years ago

    Jon,
    I see that you are among the developers that signed the manifesto, but really, what are the differences compared to the W3C initiative? If we do not consider the threat of being considered "hostile" by the developers, how is this effort different from the W3C one? It seems to me like most if not all the guidelines are the same.

    The difference is that the W3C effort is supported by Vodafone, AT&T, Drutt, Novarra and a few more companies. It seems to me like it would be wiser to join forces.
    I just created a forum thread, Content Transformation Guidelines or Rules for Responsible Reformatting?.

    Andrea Trasatti
    DeviceAtlas, mobile device intelligence

    Posted by passani 4 years ago

    Andrea, the number one difference between the Manifesto and CTGRRR is that the Manifesto spells out very clearly "keep your dirty hands off my User-Agent header".
    But there is more. It is not clear to me why, if network operators break HTTP, it must be up to developers to try and fix the mess (that's assuming there is a way to fix the mess, because right now there isn't).
    I am surprised you are surprised people prefer the clear message in the Manifesto over the foggy message in CTGRRR.

    Anyway, go ahead and impress us. Show us that you can get Vodafone, Novarra, ATT amd Drutt to respect the User-Agent header...

    Luca

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