Convert Images With Care -- In certain circumstances, you may be forced to convert a complicated color image, such as a corporate logo, for use on the handheld. When faced with this situation, you can try some techniques to obtain a high quality result. Generally, the process involves converting the image to grayscale, reducing it to a bitmap and cleaning up any poorly converted areas.

Use Supported HTML Tags -- Using supported and industry standard HTML tags will enable your Web-based application to transfer more elegantly onto a handheld device. When using HTML tables be cautious to not create overly large or complex nested tables. Tables can quickly consume screen space and cause vertical/horizontal scrolling to become enabled and unnecessarily effect display performance during table rendering.

Provide An Alt-Tag Option -- After you pepper your pages with tasteful, high quality images, you must still face the fact that many users might choose not to load them. Therefore, it is extremely important to place meaningful alternate text tags in each of your embedded images. When creating alt tags, keep in mind that you are trying to convey the message of the picture, not describe it. Therefore, putting "Yellow button" as an Alt tag for a yellow button is not nearly as effective as using a "*" instead.

Focus On Content, Not Display -- The most important thing you should keep in mind when writing HTML for a handheld device is to keep it simple and elegant. Stick to the original intent of HTML, which is to focus on content and not display, and you won't go wrong. The main reason that certain pages on the Web won't display well on handhelds is that their designers used HTML for results it was never intended to produce. That said, there are times to bend the rules, especially if you are not content to wait for the next version of the software to add support for the tag or attribute you need.

Test Your Application -- Do not assume your applications will be perfect because they look good on a Web site. Test them with an actual handheld device. Also, it is always smart to test your applications on all of the devices you are deploying as today's devices range in screen size and resolution. For example, you can preview PalmPilot pages using 3Com's Palm OS Emulator for Windows (www.palm.com/devzone/pose/seed.html). An example of a page that displays well on both Windows CE (left) and Palm devices is shown below.

Regardless of whether your organization has PalmPilots, Cassiopeias, Niņos, PDAs, connected organizers, PC Companions, Palm-sized PCs or H/PCs, the tips in this article can help you begin the process of developing Web-based applications optimized for enterprise-wide deployment on mobile information devices.

To explore advanced techniques such as controlling layout with GIF spacers, creating image maps and using text in images, visit AvantGo on the Web at www.avantgo.com. The site is an excellent resource for those building interactive web applications for more advanced mobile application developers.

So what are you waiting for? Start optimizing your content today!