Luca Passani has created a great document for anyone doing or considering mobile web development. It’s titled “Global Authoring Practices for the Mobile Web” and is a concise recipe for building a “one size fits all” mobile site. This is the simplest type of mobile site to create, one which meets the lowest common denominator (LCD) of mobile browser capabilities as opposed to a site that adapts to different devices to give the best possible experience on each. Luca is quick to point out that adaption is the preferred approach but a difficult one which many organizations and developers do not have the resources to accomplish. The GAP gives guidelines for creating the best possible LCD site.

Luca is one of the world’s top authorities on mobile web development. Along with Andrea Trasatti he originated WURFL and WALL, invaluable open source tools for building adaptive mobile sites.

Luca says he wrote GAP because he was unhappy the W3C’s Mobile Best Practices document and wanted to present an alternative. Although GAP follows the format of a standards document it’s anything but dry and academic being highly readable with lots of practical examples. It’s also the best summation I’ve seen of what does and doesn’t work with today’s mobile devices. Highly recommended to anyone involved in mobile development.