(via mashable)

Designing for the mobile web is slowly becoming mainstream. One of the most difficult aspects of designing for the mobile web is site compatibility across various devices. Some sites may render perfectly on Blackberry or Symbian handsets, while rendering distorted on iPhone or Android devices.

Below are a few tips and tricks to add compatibility for various devices and for testing:

1. Rather than trying to support every platform, choose a platform that meets your goals and interests. For instance, if Blackberry is the chosen device of your target audience, focus on a Blackberry-enhanced mobile site first, then perhaps move on to another platform. Also, as Mashable points out, the vast majority of the next generation of mobile devices use the WebKit rendering engine for their web browsers, so be sure take that into consideration.

2. Because not everyone has access to every major device they want to check, its wise to utilize mobile emulators to get a feel for how your content will on other devices. Some of mentioned emulators tools are iBBDemo2, Android SDK, Blackberry Web Development Page, Symbian S60 SDKs, and Opera Mini Emulator.

3. Incorporating a mobile-specific stylesheet in your main site, with restrictions that add or omit features based on what device is being used, is an effectively awesome way to supply your content across various devices. Mashable.com provided a few names of developers/bloggers/designers that may help in this aspect; Dave Shea, Chris Coyier, Dave Calhoun, and Dominique Hazael-Massieux.

4. Each device carries a user agent string, which can be used to speak to web browsers, telling them what type of device it is. If you want ad hoc feedback, simply change your user agent in order to catch a glimpse of how your content will look while testing in your web browser. Firefox and Safari, both, offer quick and easy options for changing your user agent.

5. If you already use a CMS such as WordPress or Drupal for your site, why not use a mobile plugin? There are both free and paid plugins available that work with various devices and give you the ability to specify which devices you want to use the mobile stylesheet and which devices you want to load the full page. Be sure to visit your CMS community for further guidance on mobile designing.

Reviewing each of these steps will help in your battle to design a mobile site that is compatible across many devices.