Functionally complete all pages within the system.
Preceding Week's Status
All pages within the system are functionally complete.
Current Week's Objectives
- Begin updating site style sheets to visually match the wireframes
- Start preliminary bug fixes
- Create a test plan document for the site
- Create test scripts for the pages within the site
Issues & Concerns
Yesterday, I began the initial modifications needed to allow the site to work on IE Mobile for Windows Mobile 6. After several hours of experimentation and research, I learned that the version of IE Mobile we're targeting does not have support for basic CSS1 features. This will make it impossible to make the site visually match our wireframes.
It is not technically possible to make IE Mobile's rendering of the site match our wireframes. Our best option is to strive to make it degrade gracefully. This means designing the site in a way that will feature rich for more capable browsers such as the Safari Mobile browser, however, for less capable browsers such as IE Mobile, the user experience will be severely scaled back to the point where only basic functionality is present.
One alternative to this would be to suggest users install a more capable browser onto their phone such as Opera Mobile or the Iris Browser. These are very popular and highly capable browsers available to Windows Mobile users. The Iris Browser is available compeltely free of charge. The current beta of Opera Mobile is also available free of charge, however the latest stable release is only available for a small fee.
I've created a screenshot of IE Mobile's acid test results as well as attached the reference rendering for comparison. Keep in mind, the blue background found in the reference rendering is supposed to display in order to "pass" the acid test. This test demonstrates IE Mobile's lacking support for even the most basic of CSS standards, which is why it is not technically feasible to support.
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