Device detection , the easy way

Helpful sites to get you started on device detection for you own mobile website or service.

The first part of giving the user the best user experience is making sure you are serving your content or solution in the correct format, scaled to the device which its being served on. This is most important for mobile users, and with internet usage growing month on months, its something we feel most businesses should take under consideration (the sooner the better).

There are many solutions , some paid for, some free, which offer this type of service. The idea is quite simple, utilise an established database of mobile phone specifications, to correctly identify the mobile device, then apply a schema , normally a style sheet (which should be created inline for error control) and repurpose content onto the device. This is done by checking the user agents header information, determining the device via the header string, selecting the specifications from the database, and applying the variables to the micro site code. Yes, its sounds pretty complicated and sometimes can be.

This is why we have posted this very article, so that you can dip your toe into the stream of possibilities out there. The best reading on the subject can be done on the wurfl and device atlas websites. It gives a good idea of what is expected of your developers to start your own mobile versioned site. We recommend the Wurfl content areas first and foremost (for those with less budget then they would like - IE free of charge) to Device atlas which is simpler to use and has more support.

For Wurfl Wireless Universal Resource File click here
For Device Atlas - click here

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