C-HTML

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Please add citations from reliable sources. (December 2011)

Evolution of mobile web standards

C-HTML (short for Compact HyperText Markup Language), also called i-mode-HTML,^[1] is a subset of HTML for small information devices, such as first generation smart phones and PDAs, such as DoCoMo's i-mode mobile phones used in Japan. C-HTML adds several features not found in standard HTML, notably accesskeys, phone number shortcuts for links, and emoji pictorial characters as locally extended Shift JIS, all concepts borrowed from HDML/WML.

Because small devices such as cellular phones have hardware restrictions such as lower memory, low power CPUs with limited or no storage capabilities, small mono-color display screens, single-character fonts and restricted input methods (the absence of a keyboard or a mouse), there is a need for a simpler form of HTML.^[2]

C-HTML does not support tables, image maps, multiple fonts and styling of fonts, background colors and images, frames, style sheets, and is limited to a monochromatic display.^[3]

The language is defined so that all the basic interactive operations can be done by a combination of four buttons and not by two-dimensional cursor movement: cursor forward, cursor backward, select, and back/stop. Functionality requiring two-dimensional cursor pointing, like image maps, are excluded from C-HTML.