Learn WML in minutes

Learn WML in minutes

WAP crash course by ccWAP.com

Important: No XML browser is obligated to display erroneous pages. Therefore always program exactly according to the given specifications. Review all cards before use with the corresponding tools.

WML Overview

What is WML ?

What do you need to read WML-pages ?

What do I need to program WML-pages ?

The structure of a WML-site

Deck and card

Card ID

Card elements

Empty tags

Creating comments

Masks

Tasks

The Go-Element

Links to cards on other decks

CDATA

The prev-element

Refresh

Noop

The do-element

Jump to previous card when activated

Jump to main page when activated
Jump to help page when activated
Label, type and name

Links

Variables

Meta-Tags

Select boxes

Text formatting

Tables

Paragraphs
Alignment
Images

WMLScript

The first 2 lines of a WML script
Refererring to the link on the internet
Internal link
Bold text
Strong text
Tabs
Organizing cards within a deck
Card end
Paragrap
Italic text
Integrate an image into a text
Meta-Tags
Text alignment
End of paragraph
Font size
Mark text
Title
Underline text
Beginning and end of WML code
Important note

What is WML ?

WML (Wireless Markup Language) is the new programming language of today and the near future for mobile communication devices of any kind. The language is strongly similar to HTML and can be learned fairly quick by HTML-experts.

WML has been developed especially for devices with limited memory and low graphic ability, like cell-phones or PDAs.

WML can be defined as somewhat of a �tweener� between HTML and the coming XML language, despite those the fact that these languages have been created for much more powerful machines.

What do I need to read WML-pages ?

To read WML-pages you need a WAP-browser, just like the ccWAP browser at www.ccwap.com . These special browsers will also �hide� some information from the end-user �just like HTML- and will also have meta-tags, which optimize the page for search engines.

All WML-pages will be black and white for the moment, because colors would need too much memory. The only graphic format of today is WBMP (Wireless Bitmap). Of course, the name�s similarity to the old BMP-format is not a coincidence.

What do I need to program WML-pages ?

For programming a good WML-page you can use any editor (a regular notepad will work just fine). Only for the encoding of images you will need a special editor, such as the ones on the ccWAP page for example.

The structure of a WML-page

The structure of a WML-page is very simple: Before all, please note that there is no such thing as a �WML-page� anyway.

Deck and card

A WML-page is actually called a �deck�. Every deck has one or more cards in its structure. Therefore a regular page is a card and the �homepage� is the deck. The name for WML-cards is .wml . Don�t forget to save all pages with that ending. Since most people learn best with examples we will take a look at the structure of the following card:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<!DOCTYPE wml PUBLIC "-//WAPFORUM//DTD WML 1.1//EN"

"http://www.wapforum.org/DTD/wml_1.1.xml">

<wml>

<p>

<!-I am learning WML example -->

I am learning the basics of WML.

</p>

</card>

</wml>

As you can see, it�s not hard to program a card. The first part from <?xml until xml"> is the declaration, which has to do with the XML-specification. If you are not a professional program, you will probably not be interested in the details of these specifications. In case you need some information you can check out the links on our site at www.ccwap.com.

After the declaration follows, just like HTML, the beginning of the page with a simple <wml> and it ends with </wml>.