Authoring Requirements for the WPS Mobile Style

Authoring Requirements for the WPS Mobile Style

WPS 6.5, Beta Version
Revision Date: March, 2009 /

About This Document

This document describes the authoring requirements for the WPS mobile style. Users will learn about style features they can use and how best to author content and test it to create a mobile Companion Website.

Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

Adobe, Creative Suite, Device Central, DreamWeaver, Flash, Flash Lite, Illustrator, and PDF are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems, Inc.

iPhone is a registered trademark of Apple, Inc.

Microsoft, Pocket PC, Windows and Word are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

Motorola is a registered trademark of Motorola, Inc.

Nokia is a registered trademark of Nokia Corp.

Opera is a registered trademark of Opera Software ASA.

Palm and Tungsten are registered trademarks of Palm, Inc.

BlackBerry is a registered trademark of Research in Motion, Ltd.

Authoring Requirements for the WPS Mobile Style

Contents

1Introduction

Requirements

Choosing What to Support

Incompatible Companion Website Features

Using Simulators While Developing

Simulating Handhelds with Firefox

Acquiring the BlackBerry Simulator

Acquiring the Windows Mobile Software

Adobe Mobile Support

Using Other Simulators

2Authoring Content

Using Problemsets

Tutorial Mode

Randomizing Answers

Using the Problemset Timer

Question Hints and Feedback

Authoring for Desktop/Laptop Browsers and Mobile Devices

Adding Media

Nested Content

3Working with Styles and SMS

Using SAM

Flash cards

Previous/next buttons

Using Study Plan

Using SMS

4Testing and Launching

Using Validators

Testing on Different Devices

Testing with Simulators

AMarketing your Mobile Site

Authoring Requirements for the WPS Mobile Style

1Introduction

The WPS mobile style lets you author Companion Websites that can be viewed on a mobile device such as a BlackBerry 8700 or a Palm Tungsten E2. The mobile style also works with MP3 players, video game consoles, and ultramobile computers. The style provides the following features:

A tutorial mode which presents and grades single questions before the next question is shown to the user.
Flash cards which allow students to study key terms at their convenience.
Previous/next navigation.
Language support for German and Italian.
UTF-8 character support.

Requirements

To use the WPS mobile style, you need the following hardware and software:

Authoring Requirements

A desktop computer with access to WPS to author the Companion Website.

Testing Requirements

A PDA, cell phone, MP3 player, video game console, or ultramobile computer with WIFI support
A mobile web browser with XHTML Mobile Profile support and the ability to store cookies

Note Pearson Education has tested the mobile style on the following devices. Similar devices and devices that meet the previously listed requirements should also be compatible but Pearson cannot guarantee that every possible device will work with the mobile style.

The mobile style was tested on the following devices and browsers:

Devices

Blackjack2
iPhone 3G
Moto Q
Nokia N95 (S60)
Palm TREO 700p (Palm OS)
Palm TREO 700w (Windows Mobile OS)
PSP

HTC TyTN
iPod Touch
Nintendo DS
Palm Centro
Palm TREO 750
RIM BlackBerry 88x0
RIM BlackBerry Pearl

Browsers

Safari web browser
BlackBerry browser
Opera
Blazer® mobile web browser
Internet Explorer Mobile browser

Important Not all mobile browsers work with all devices. Be sure to test your Companion Website with the devices and browsers you want to support.

Note Most of the mobile devices we tested had some issues with specific UTF-8 characters. We suggest that you verify any Companion Website content using the mobile style on a range of actual devices before publishing. Testing your content in this way ensures all characters in the site display properly.

Choosing What to Support

Before you start developing your mobile site, give some thought to the features in the site you want to support. For example, do you want a simple site that can be viewed on many devices or a site with JavaScript and/or video that targets fewer devices and a specific audience? These questions are important because they will affect the kind of site you ultimately create and deliver.

The approach the mobile style has taken is to avoid the more advanced web technologies such as JavaScript, Flash, and video files, in favor of simpler sites that are accessible to more devices and more users. This does not mean you cannot use these technologies, it only means that if you decideto include Flash, for example, you will need to identify the target devices, browsers, and applications that will be required to support Flash on your mobile site.

For the widest range of support, require nothing more than the W3C’s Default Delivery Context, located at

Incompatible Companion Website Features

The following standard Companion Website features are not currently implemented for the WPS mobile style:

The Grade Tracker and Class Manager applications
The following question types

Essay
Fill in the blank
Matching
Labeling
Pattern match

Websearch modules
Browser Tune-up, available to all Companion Websites authored with the default WPS style (cw_2005)
Profile support, a common feature in many Companion Websites authored with the default WPS style (cw_2005)
The ability to email quiz results
Hints for problemset questions
The problemset timer
Study Plans
Exporting content for offline use.

Using Simulators While Developing

Depending on the target devices you want to support and the budget you have to acquire them, you may find it easier and less expensive to use one or more mobile simulators when developing, and subsequently testing, your mobile Companion Website. This section gives some general instructions and URLs for obtaining mobile simulator software.

Simulating Handhelds with Firefox

While not a simulator per se, the Web Developer toolbar for the Firefox browser has a feature that allows you to display content by media type. You can use the Web Developer toolbar to show you how the content will look on a handheld device with your desktop or laptop computer. To download the toolbar, visit

Acquiring the BlackBerry Simulator

To test mobile applications on a BlackBerry device, you do not necessarily need a BlackBerry Wireless Handheld and its entire BlackBerry Enterprise Service infrastructure. The BlackBerry Device Simulator simulates the behavior of UI elements and the events in almost the same manner as you would use a mobile device. The simulator makes visualization and testing easier too.

To acquire the BlackBerry Simulator:

With a web browser, display the BlackBerry homepage,
Download and install BlackBerry JDE v4.x
With a web browser, display the web page at
Download and install BlackBerry Handheld Simulator v4.0.x (use the JDE number)

You have installed the Mobile Data Service (MDS) and the handheld or device simulator. To use the BlackBerry Simulator, first open the MDS, then the device simulator.

Acquiring the Windows Mobile Software

Microsoft provides a simulator for Pocket PC 2005 and Pocket PC 2003 as part of their software development kit (SDK) for each product. Use the following URLs to learn more on the requirements to use each simulator.

To learn more about Pocket PC 2005:

To learn more about Pocket PC 2003:

Adobe Mobile Support

Adobe provides support for mobile devices with a feature called Device Central. It is bundled into several of their products including Photoshop, Flash, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, and their Creative Suite. To learn more about this feature and how it might assist you, visit

Using Other Simulators

Other simulator software is available at Use these simulators as needed. iPhone simulators are part of the device’s SDK. You can download the iPhone SDK from Also visit the Device Anywhere web site at This service provides access to hundreds of real handsets, on live worldwide networks, remotely over the Internet enabling you to test your test against the handheld devices you want to support.

2Authoring Content

Content authored in WPS for use with the mobile style must be compliant with the XHTML Mobile Profile. If you have not authored XHTML code before, it is similar to HTML except that all tags are terminated and all attribute values are delimited with quotes (for example, align="left"). For more information on the XHTML Mobile Profile, visit Following the Mobile Web Best Practices, located at is also recommended.

The content you author resides inside one or more WPS objects. These objects are created in WPS and then stored in the WPS content database.

Below is a summary of the objects that the mobile style supports. For more details about these objects or how to author a Companion Website with WPS, read the WPS Authoring Help.

WPS Object / Description
Volume / The content for your site begins with volumes. Each volume contains a set of content that you publish (launch) as a Companion Website.
Volumes are identified by a label. The volume label in WPS conforms to the following rules:

The first character must be a letter.
You can include any ASCII letter, any number, hyphens, and underscores in the label.
Use only lowercase letters in the alphabetic sections of the label.
Do not include ampersands (&), or periods (.) in the label because some output formats cannot display them correctly. Since HTML entities begin with an ampersand, you cannot include these items in volume labels.
Do not include spaces or Unicode symbols in volume labels.

For mobile sites, we recommend you keep the label as short as possible because the label determines the final URL of the site, and entering a long URL on a mobile device can be difficult.
Part / A portion of a site that allows authors to group and organize chapters and other elements at a high level. Organizing content into parts also provides a simple mechanism for separating content that will be password-protected from content that is unprotected. Parts can contain any other component or any module except volumes.
Chapter / A logical organizer that allows authors to mirror chapters from the book associated with the Companion Website. Chapters contain no content of their own and, by default, are numbered sequentially.
Appendix / A logical organizer that allows authors to mirror appendixes from the book associated with the Companion Website. By default, appendixes are lettered sequentially, starting with A. Appendixes contain no content of their own.
Resource / A logical organizer that is not numbered and contains no content of its own
Introduction / A logical organizer that is not numbered and contains no content of its own.
Basic Module / Blank HTML pages that you can use to add any content you require.
Destinations / A set of links to individual URLs. For each link, you enter the destination URL, the link text and, optionally, a description of the link.
Group / Blank HTML pages that you can use to add any content you require, like basic modules. Groups also let you organize related content by parenting any module off it, allowing you to create multiple levels to your site.
Problemset / Quizzes with one or more questions. Problemsets also include a grader (the WPS Apache grader) so that the answers entered by students can be scored. For more information on problemsets refer to Using Problemsets on page 6.
Multiple-choice question / A question given to students that offers multiple answers from which the student selects the correct one. A question can contain multiple correct answers. When a question provides multiple correct answers, a student must select every correct answer for the question to be graded correct.
True/False question / A statement which the student must determine whether it is true or false.

Using Problemsets

Problemsets have the following requirements:

All problemsets must contain at least one question that has been edited and saved. Adding a question without also editing it is insufficient.
Multiple-choice questions require at least two answers, and at least one of them must be designated correct.
True/false questions require a designated correct answer.
The grader also imposes a limit of 200 questions per problemset. However, since navigation on some handheld devices can be cumbersome, you probably want to limit the number of questions in a quiz to 10 or 20.
Do not include JavaScript in problemsets, question answers, and feedback. It can affect grader execution.

Tutorial Mode

Tutorial mode allows the student to receive grading and feedback question by question:

To select tutorial mode for a problemset:

Log into WPS and navigate to a problemset.

Select Problemset Information.
Select Tutorial from the Module Mode field.
Click Save and Close to save your selection.

Randomizing Answers

Problemsets allow you to randomize answers once at launch time. Multiple-choice questions also support randomizing answers each time the quiz is loaded but this feature is not supported in the mobile style. Consequently all answers in a quiz appear in the same order every time a student displays it on his or her handheld device until the site is relaunched.

To enable randomization of answers at launch:

Log into WPS and navigate to a problemset.

Select Problemset Information.
Select On from the Randomize Answer Sequence field.
Click Save and Close to save your selection.

Using the Problemset Timer

Problemsets provide a timer which can be used in traditional Companion Websites to determine if a student can complete a quiz within a specified period. In mobile Companion Websites, the timer is not supported.

Question Hints and Feedback

All WPS questions provide hints and feedback; however, the mobile style does not support hints. Question-level feedback can be included in Multiple-choice questions and answer-level feedback is supported in Multiple-choice and True/False questions.

Authoring for Desktop/Laptop Browsers and Mobile Devices

If you want to single source your content for both traditional desktop browsers and a set of mobile devices, you will want to adhere to the limitations for mobile devices. For example, you should not include labeling questions in your site since the mobile style does not support them.

However, you may find the list of limitations for mobile devices too restrictive and want to include one or more features in your desktop site that is not available in the mobile version. If you choose to do that you will need to author two sites: the desktop site and the mobile site.

Adding Media

Like any website in the world, your mobile Companion Website can use images in the standard web formats: GIF or JPEG. All images should have a width no greater than 72 pixels. The height of the image depends on the devices you select to support. Generally, a height of 72 pixels works well with most devices. If you do not mind the user scrolling, images can be taller.

Note The fewer images you use the better because each image adds to the load time of the web page that references it.

When you add an IMG tag always provide width, height, and alt attributes for image tags as follows:

img src="_pearson_mobile/pearsonlogo.gif"

width="70"

height="41"

alt="Pearson Education" />

Use of other media, such as video, PDF files, or Word files, is discouraged because:

It limits the available mobile web browsers that are compatible with your site.
It requires the user to have additional external applications to view these files.
It lengthens the load time of the web page using this media.

Nested Content

Using groups in WPS you can add multiple levels to your Companion Website. When a traditional desktop/laptop browser is used to view the site, navigating a deep Companion Website is not usually an issue. However, on mobile device, where navigation can be cumbersome, you probably want to limit the depth of the site to three or four levels. If you include five or more levels, a Skip link is added to the breadcrumbs at the top of the site, as shown in the following figure. Clicking the link lets you move passed the navigation and into the content of the current page.

3Working with Styles and SMS

WPS styles control the appearance of Companion Websites. To use a style you select it from the list of styles and apply it to your site. Typically, the style used predominately throughout a site is applied to the volume object. When this is done, all other objects in the site inherit the same style.

Using this technique you can apply the mobile style to the volume object to use the style throughout your mobile site.

Important Do not mix styles within your mobile Companion Website. The mobile style does not support the use of multiple styles with it and you could produce unexpected results if you mix any other style with the mobile style.

The mobile style does not support replaceable images, replaceable CSS, replaceable text, or multiple skins. This is to allow the style to be updated as mobile devices evolve. As such, overriding the CSS at the content level is not recommended.