Does ShopSite Pro Use XHTML-MP?

[lbohen]

I have read that for a website to be mobile readable that it must use XHTML-MP code conventions.

Does ShopSite Pro use XHTML-MP?

[ShopSite Lauren]

Almost any website and code type can be read on a mobile device. There are also many ways to implement a mobile specific website or look, including redirecting to a mobile domain (such as m.yourdomain.com) or to mobile specific pages (such as mydomain.com/mobile). You could also add code onto a web page that recreates the page in mobile format (like the original ShopSite Mobile Feature), or have a page that changes its display based on the browser width (like responsive design).

When you start creating any web page, you define the type of code it is. In an HTML document, you will start with a DOCTYPE tag indicating the language used, such as HTML 4, HTML5, XHTML, etc. When you are linking to an external file, you will indicate the type such as type="text/javascript" or type="text/css". The language you choose to code in comes with some tags/elements that are specific to that coding language. For example, HTML4 has tables and divs, but if you were to use HTML5, you could use tables, divs, and page specific elements such as header, section, article, etc, that are not available in HTML4.

With the evolution of coding languages, browsers, search engines, etc, need to evolve. Each coding language is going to have pros and cons. You can code in most languages and those will work in ShopSite, including XHTML-MP, but before you go to the effort of changing your entire website's coding language, you will want to research the pros and cons. I don't code in XHTML-MP, so I can't give specifics, but I do code in HTML5, so I will give you some 'for instance' examples for HTML5.

In HTML5, you can define regular features of a web page, such as Header, Navigation, Footer, and the main Article. This is great for search engines because instead of just guessing what is the most important for the page, the search engine can look for the HTML5 <article> tag to see what the main content is on the page. Search engines can also ignore or downplay the links in the <header> and <nav> sections, understanding that those sections are repeated on all (or most) website pages.

A negative of HTML5 is that it is not supported in older web browsers. There are some elements that can be 'explained' to older browsers, but others that can't. An example is with the <header> tag, most (if not all) newer browsers will treat the <header> tag like a <div> tag, and will default it to display as a block, stretching across the entire page (like a good header should). Whereas older browsers (specifically older IE browsers) will display <header> tags as a <span>, so it just contains elements, but does not stretch across the page like a <div>. So when coding in HTML5, you would need to define in your CSS that the header, footer, article, sections, nav, etc, are to be displayed as blocks, and have padding, margin, etc, all 'explained' to the browser. If your designer isn't aware of this, then any customers coming to your website using an older browser will see your site very differently than newer browsers.

Another example is with CSS3, you can create transitions, animations, etc. This is a huge enhancement to CSS's power. However, the majority of these transitions and animations aren't available in IE browsers at all, not even in newer browsers. So your code would need to account for browsers that both support and don't support your CSS.

So to answer your original question, you can code in XHTML-MP in ShopSite, but since this is a newer coding type, you should be aware of the limitations of that language. There are many ways to implement mobile that do not include rewriting your entire website in a different language.