A constructive Mobile Channel question
Wow! It's actually possible to write a constructive, polite letter of request and email it to a publication! My faith in humanity is restored. --DA

You have one of the BEST Internet Web sites for those of us using Windows CE (palm-sized PC). I was curious, however, on how you would have an excellent article about creating and modifying a Mobile Channel for WindowsCE PamPCs, but not have one yourself on YOUR Web site?????

Since many of us mobile Windows CE'ers log onto your pages regularly...we really could use such a feature, so that we could take your valuable information with us on our palm-sized PCs.

just a suggestion…

pradike@msn.com

David Gewirtz responds
It is ironic, isn't it? Honestly, I didn't know much about how Mobile Channels worked until I had a chance to read Craig's excellent article. I love it when I get to learn something new while editing my own magazine! It's such a kick.

When we originally set out to produce online publications and started building our Editorial Production System technology, the magic that generates everything you see for all our publications, there really wasn't a good way to download data to handhelds. Now, with Mobile Channels and AvantGo, there are two excellent alternatives.

Right now, we're still a bit time constrained. After launching a new journal, it takes a while to come up for air and start new projects. I had figured that doing an AvantGo version of our publications was a low priority--until I looked at our browser stats. Something above 20% of our PalmPower readership reads the publication (with no special download version or formatting) with AvantGo! So a download version is now a higher priority. Since AvantGo is now out for Windows CE, I expect to see a similar level of readership on this platform.

I'm expecting we'll extend the Editorial Production System so it'll automatically generate an AvantGo channel instead of a Mobile Channel, at least at first. AvantGo runs on both Windows CE and Palm devices, and that means one round of development is usable across publications. I frankly can't give you a timeframe, but it's now definitely on the list.