The Future of Wireless (Java and XSLT)

10.4. The Future of Wireless

Looking toward the future, two things are inevitable. First, device capabilities will improve. Color displays, increased screen resolution, increased memory, and faster processors can be expected. Second, bandwidth will improve. Migration to Third Generation (3G) wireless networks is already underway in many countries, offering bandwidth anywhere from 128Kbps to 2Mbps.

Partly because of these two advancements, the WAP Forum and NTT DoCoMo have agreed to migrate towards XHTML Basic for future devices. XHTML Basic uses a subset of XHTML. Therefore, it is far more familiar to web developers than WML. Existing web browsers can already display XHTML Basic, which is not the case with WML or cHTML. XHTML Basic also utilizes CSS to define colors, fonts, and other presentation styles. Newer, more capable devices should be able to take advantage of far more style instructions than currently available devices.

The migration to XHTML Basic will not eliminate the need for technologies such as XSLT, however. Even though normal web browsers can display the same XHTML Basic web pages that wireless devices use, devices such as cellular phones and pagers will always have tiny displays. Most web applications will still need to maintain a simplified interface for these devices to minimize the amount of scrolling the user has to do. Therefore, XSLT will continue to be important.