Abstract

Mobile phone users increasingly browse and search the Internet on their handsets. They want rich and diverse content made for the desktop to be equally accessible on their mobile devices. Thus, there is a need for automatic, on-the-fly, transformation of existing web content for mobile formats. However, mobile devices are restricted in their capabilities, user preferences, and network bandwidth. Although mobile devices typically require specially designed formats for optimal usability, it is not likely that all information available on the web can be translated into this format in advance. In addition, users of mobile devices may need different information in different contexts. Many adaptation techniques have been proposed to statically or dynamically modify the content of web pages for mobile phones. While useful, none of them has been designed to consider accessibility guidelines and content usability. This research project explored content adaptation for mobile phones from the HCI and accessibility guidelines perspectives. The content adaptation system is based upon customized templates that adapt content on-the-fly while also accommodating standard accessibility and HCI guidelines.