This paper illustrates a new approach to automatic re-authoring of web pages for rendering on small-screen devices. The approach
is based on automatic detection of the device type and screen size from the HTTP request header to render a desktop web page
or a transformed one for display on small screen devices, for example, PDAs. Known algorithms (transforms) are employed to
reduce the size of page elements, to hide parts of the text, and to transform tables into text while preserving the structural
format of the web page. The system comprises a preprocessor that works offline and a just-in-time handler that responds to
HTTP requests. The preprocessor employs Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to set default attributes for the page and prepares it
for the handler. The latter is responsible for downsizing graphical elements in the page, converting tables to text, and inserting
visibility attributes and JavaScript code to allow the user of the client device to interact with the page and cause parts
of the text to disappear or reappear. A system was developed that implements the approach and was used it to collect performance
results and conduct usability testing. The importance of the approach lies in its ability to display hidden parts of the web
page without having to revisit the server, thus reducing user wait times considerably, saving battery power, and cutting down
on wireless network traffic.
Keywords Context awareness - Mobile device types - Small screen devices - Web page rendering - Transcoding - Wireless devices - Web browsing