Handheld Device Markup Language - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Handheld Device Markup Language (HDML) is a markup language

Markup language

A markup language is a modern system for annotating a text in a way that is syntactically distinguishable from that text. The idea and terminology evolved from the "marking up" of manuscripts, i.e. the revision instructions by editors, traditionally written with a blue pencil on authors' manuscripts...

intended for display on handheld computers, information appliance

Information appliance

In general terms, an information appliance or information device is any machine or device that is usable for the purposes of computing, telecommunicating, reproducing, and presenting encoded information in myriad forms and applications....

s, smartphone

Smartphone

A smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...

s, etc.. It is similar to HTML

HTML

HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....

, but for wireless

Wireless

Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...

and handheld devices with small displays, like PDA

Personal digital assistant

A personal digital assistant , also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet...

, mobile phone

Mobile phone

A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...

s and so on.

It was originally developed in about 1996 by Unwired Planet, the company that became Phone.com and then Openwave

Openwave

Openwave is a software company. Based in Redwood City, California, USA, Openwave is historically significant in its introduction of the Mobile Internet and its expansion into a large successful mobile software supplier in the mobile telecom sector...

. HDML was submitted to W3C for standardization, but was not turned into a standard. Instead it became an important influence on the development and standardization of WML

Wireless Markup Language

Wireless Markup Language , based on XML, is a markup language intended for devices that implement the Wireless Application Protocol specification, such as mobile phones. It provides navigational support, data input, hyperlinks, text and image presentation, and forms, much like HTML...

, which then replaced HDML in practice. (Although HDML is still in use in Japan by KDDI

KDDI

is a Japanese telecommunications operator formed in October 2000 through the merger of DDI Corp., KDD Corp., and IDO Corp. It has its headquarters in the Garden Air Tower in Iidabashi, Chiyoda, Tokyo....

brands such as au

Au (mobile phone operator)

, or au by KDDI, is a mobile phone brand in Japan marketed by KDDI Corporation in the main islands of Japan and Okinawa Cellular in Okinawa.-Naming:...

, especially for mobile banking solutions.)

See also