Put Your Site in the User's Pocket

Jim Floyd
Product Manager
Microsoft Corporation

July 21, 1997
Updated: August 19, 1997

The following article was originally published in Site Builder Magazine (now known as MSDN Online Voices).

With the advent of Microsoft Windows CE and the Handheld PC (H/PC), users can take the Internet with them, wherever they go. The application that makes the Internet "fit in your hand" is Microsoft Pocket Internet Explorer. If your Web site has information of use to a mobile professional, you should consider optimizing your site for viewing on a Windows CE-based Handheld PC.

Pocket Internet Explorer is included with every H/PC. In some cases, Pocket Internet Explorer is already installed in the ROM of the H/PC. Pocket Internet Explorer is always included on the companion CD-ROM shipped with H/PCs, and is available for downloading and installation from Microsoft's Windows CE site . Installation is easy: Simply dock your H/PC to your PC, insert the companion CD-ROM or select the installation file on from your hard disk, and run the setup program for Pocket Internet Explorer.

How Can Pocket Internet Explorer Help Attract More Readers to Your Site?

The challenges that Webmasters face in making their content relevant and fresh are daunting. Solutions like PointCast help by moving information directly to users, but what happens when the user is away from his or her desk?

With the success of the H/PC, increasing numbers of mobile professionals are carrying the answer with them throughout the day. Microsoft's research on the activities that Windows users undertook when away from their PC led to the implementation of Windows CE for the H/PC. The mobile professional segment, characterized by their use of PCs and the Internet while coupled with the need to leave their desk in the normal performance of their job, consists of more than 50 million people in the United States, and well over 100 million people worldwide. While the degree of mobility among those in the segment varies, all are typically away from their desk about one-fifth of their average workweek.

H/PCs manufactured by Hewlett-Packard, Philips, LG, and Hitachi have recently gone on sale, in addition to the models offered by Casio, Compaq, and NEC. Thousands of software and peripheral developers are working on products for them. Retailers are devoting more prime space for sales of the H/PC and compatible software. Today's H/PC is ready for the future, because it can accept operating system upgrades through a simple ROM chip replacement. Microsoft is actively listening to customers, ISVs, and the Windows CE OEMs to solicit their feedback for the next version of Windows CE for the H/PC.

Web users want information tailored to their needs and interests, and the freshest, most relevant information available. Every H/PC is able to browse the Web and exchange e-mail with SMTP/POP3 e-mail systems, as well as Microsoft Exchange. Especially useful to mobile Web users is the wide array of wireless services that are available for the H/PC. Some work best in text-only mode; others support graphics, albeit slowly.

That's the Way the Cookie Customizes

There are numerous possibilities for customizing the information that you offer your users. Many Webmasters use tools like cookies to offer custom views of their sites to frequent visitors, and e-mail subscriptions to inform them of new content. Version 1.1 of Pocket Internet Explorer supports cookies and encryption standards (SSL & PCT). You may find that readers using H/PCs visit your site more frequently, since they can receive notifications of content updates via many different wireless e-mail options. Clients, customers, or employees can use their H/PCs to look up information on your site when they are away from their desk; either on the road, or in another building.

Jim Floyd is Microsoft's Product Manager for the Handheld PC.

How can I enable my site for Pocket Internet Explorer?

It's not hard. Read Got the Whole Web in Your Hands? How To Optimize Your Site for Pocket Internet Explorer by Dave Kramer, editor at Microsoft's Mobile Worker Magazine.

Pocket Internet Explorer capabilities

For now, Pocket Internet Explorer does not support frames, Java applets, JavaScript, Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript), ActiveX controls, or plug-ins.

Improvements planned for the next release include support for frames.
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