Palm Banking: Demo

Context

Some people in Europe still believe mobile banking on a Palm is hardly possible these days. But technically an implementation could be done since the PalmPilot Professional, launched in 1997. You should also not underestimate the Palm.Net Service and the wireless Palm VII organizer currently limited to the United States. Palm's solution is actually user-friendly and usable compared with today's WAP technology, which most likely was not sufficiently field-tested involving real users.

All you need to get started with Palm Banking is:

• a Palm OS device with TCP/IP support (PalmPilot Pro or newer)
• a dial-up or wireless modem to connect to the Web (via infrared or cable connection to cell phone)
• a Web browser like Browse-it (ProxiWeb), Palm Web Browser Pro, EudoraWeb, Handspring Blazer or PalmComm
• an Internet based banking service optimized for small screens and Palm browsers.

The Palm.Net Service and Web clipping applications will be available in Europe this year. The Palm Mobile Internet Kit allows handhelds since the Palm III to link with mobile phones for wireless Web connectivity.

WAP browsers are also available for Palm devices but require WML (Wireless Markup Language) instead of plain HTML. Unfortunately WAP browser in mobile phones produce poorly formatted screen output.

Web-based Demo

The miniature, Web-based Palm Banking demo is almost real, so the future of mobile banking begins here. You have two options to test-drive the demo according to your available hardware.

• Desktop computer: if you access this page from a Macintosh or PC, then you should run the Palm Banking simulator on your desktop browser (e.g. Mozilla, Netscape or Internet Explorer). The simulation features a Palm V including its monochrome screen with 160x160 pixel. The demo opens in a new browser window and requires JavaScript, frames and cascading style sheets (CSS).
• Mobile device: if you access this page from a personal digital assistant like a Palm, then you should run this Palm Banking demo, which is optimized for viewing on palmtop browsers. In case you want to try out the mini pages with your desktop browser, don't forget to minimize your browser window, to better match the small Palm display.

The static test data presented in this m-banking trial might not be always up-to-date. The HTML demo offers reduced functionality of the Palm Banking service but additional functionality will appear in the coming weeks. So stay tuned :-)

Tips & Tricks

How to make your Web site Palm-friendly (partly from the PalmPilot: The Ultimate Guide)?

• Never use a cklickable graphic button without a text link that does the same.
• If you must use Java or frames on your page, provide an alternative set of pages that work without these Palm-hostile features. Also avoid JavaScript, cascading style sheets and other new technologies.
• Wherever you do use graphics, provide an <ALT> tag in the HTML code for each image.
• If you plan to offer downloadable files on your page, don't compress them or encode them. The only Palm browser that can download files are ProxyWeb and HandWeb, and they work best with files whose names end with .prc or .pdb.
• Use simples tables for laying out your design and do not nest them.
• Keep in mind that most portable devices have still monochrome displays, therefore your user interface should build on black and white as the only colors. Grayscale and color support is increasing nowadays.

Marty Kacin offers 15 solid tips for preparing HTML pages for display on tiny screens in his article Optimizing Web Content For Handheld Devices.

The HTML code of the Palm Banking demo contains meta tags specific for the Palm OS platform for easy porting to the Palm VII.

With the Palm OS Emulator (POSE) and a Palm VII ROM installed, you can run the DPWeb browser to test drive the demo from your desktop computer (for experts or developers only).