[DeepAnalyzer]

Hi,

I like to develop a mobile website of my current desktop site.I saw there are couple of online tools to convert an existing website to mobile site.But i want to know is there anyway to develop a website by my own?

[Atli]

Hey.

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But i want to know is there anyway to develop a website by my own?

What do you mean? Of course there is. That's what web developers do: develop websites.

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I saw there are couple of online tools to convert an existing website to mobile site.

I wouldn't put to much faith in such tools. There is no fool-proof way to convert a full-size desktop site to a mobile site automatically. Sure, it may be able to do that to some extent, but it's unlikely it will give you the kind of look and feel you are hoping for.

The key phrase you want to research when it comes to developing sites for non-desktop systems is: "Responsive Design". This article at A List Apart is a good start, but there is plenty of material out there about this. - To sum it up: responsive design is about creating a layout that changes depending on the screen size, but without having to develop an entirely new site for each size. It uses CSS - and sometimes a bit of Javascript - to alter the appearance of the page so that it will display properly when scaled.

[DeepAnalyzer]

First thank you very much for your quick response.I mean is there any IDEs(eg:-Dreamweaver,Visual Studio) to develop mobile sites?Or can we use above IDEs to develop mobile sites as well as desktop sites?

[Atli]

The tools used to develop mobile sites are not different from the tools you'd use for desktop sites. You use the exact same technologies: HTML, CSS and Javascript, to do both. Although, you'd need some mobile devices to test on, I suppose. (Desktop browsers can test responsive designs though, up to a point.)

[DeepAnalyzer]

Hmm....ok.thanks.I have heard,to develop mobile sites should use XML.Is it?

[Atli]

No. Websites are developed in HTML, CSS and Javascript.

There is of course XHTML - a HTML variant that adopts the stronger syntax rules of XML - but that language was pretty much dead in the water from the get go, thanks to a complete lack of support from Microsoft. - These days you are hard pressed to find actual XHTML sites in the wild. It's all either HTML4 or HTML5.

(Note that I don't consider XHTML sites XHTML when transferred with the "text/html" mime type. They are rendered as HTML4 in those cases, so the XHTML syntax they use is actually just invalid HTML4.)

[DeepAnalyzer]

Ok.Thanks.I got my answer

[Lemur]

Learn the code by hand, an IDE at this point will cripple you professionally. The key distinction between mobile and desktop variants is a matter of size and fluid layouts. A well designed desktop site can scale with fluid layouts in CSS, but it would be advised to have an m.sitename.com with a site designed for mobile type platforms.

Your HTML should not change if you're doing it right, only the CSS.

[DeepAnalyzer]

@Lemur: Thank you also