Blackbe;rry BROWSER VERSION 4.7.0 - FUNDAMENTALS GUIDE User manual

BlackBerry Browser
Version: 4.7.0
Fundamentals Guide

SWDT432285-432285-1205031032-001

Contents
1 Understanding the BlackBerry device browsing environment............................................................................................. 3
Characteristics of BlackBerry devices........................................................................................................................................... 3
BlackBerry Device Software version considerations.......................................................................................................... 4
Trackball.................................................................................................................................................................................. 4
Trackwheel.............................................................................................................................................................................. 5
Touch screen........................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Keyboard.................................................................................................................................................................................. 6
Network gateways and BlackBerry Browser configurations...................................................................................................... 8
The BlackBerry MDS Connection Service network gateway............................................................................................. 9
The BlackBerry Internet Service Browsing network gateway............................................................................................ 10
WAP network gateways......................................................................................................................................................... 11
2 BlackBerry Browser content support and features................................................................................................................. 13
BlackBerry Browser content support............................................................................................................................................ 13
BlackBerry Browser features.......................................................................................................................................................... 14
Network gateway features............................................................................................................................................................. 15
3 Content and network management in the BlackBerry Browser........................................................................................... 16
Content rendering........................................................................................................................................................................... 16
Browser content views........................................................................................................................................................... 16
Style sheets and CSS support............................................................................................................................................... 17
Form support........................................................................................................................................................................... 18
Table support.......................................................................................................................................................................... 19
Images..................................................................................................................................................................................... 20
Support for media streaming................................................................................................................................................ 21
Support for web feeds............................................................................................................................................................ 21
Script processing............................................................................................................................................................................. 22
JavaScript support and DOM access................................................................................................................................... 23
Support for AJAX and the XMLHttpRequest object........................................................................................................... 24
Content navigation......................................................................................................................................................................... 24
Page navigation...................................................................................................................................................................... 24
Link behavior........................................................................................................................................................................... 25
Navigation history in the BlackBerry Browser.................................................................................................................... 26
Bookmarks in the BlackBerry Browser................................................................................................................................. 27

Content storage.............................................................................................................................................................................. 27
Content caches....................................................................................................................................................................... 27
Cookie storage........................................................................................................................................................................ 28
4 Content optimization and delivery........................................................................................................................................... 29
Content optimization by the network gateway........................................................................................................................... 29
Content transcoding.............................................................................................................................................................. 29
Content preprocessing and filtering.................................................................................................................................... 30
Image optimization................................................................................................................................................................ 30
Progressive downloading of images..................................................................................................................................... 31
Pushed content delivery................................................................................................................................................................. 31
Pushed content supported by the BlackBerry MDS Connection Service........................................................................ 32
Pushed content supported by the BlackBerry Internet Service Browsing network gateway........................................ 33
Pushed content supported by WAP network gateways..................................................................................................... 34
5 Glossary......................................................................................................................................................................................... 35
6 Legal notice.................................................................................................................................................................................. 38

Understanding the BlackBerry device browsing
environment 1
When you develop web content for the BlackBerry® Browser, you must be aware of the web standards that the BlackBerry Browser
supports and determine how to develop web content that functions within those supported standards. However, to create an
effective browsing experience on the BlackBerry Browser, you must understand more than just what the BlackBerry Browser
supports. You must also be aware of the physical components of the wireless browsing environment in which the BlackBerry
Browser exists, and how they contribute, positively and negatively, to the user's wireless browsing experience. These physical
components include the following:
•The BlackBerry devices: BlackBerry device models have different versions of the BlackBerry Device Software, different screen
sizes, and different input methods.
•The wireless network: Wireless networks possess less bandwidth than wired networks or Wi-Fi® networks. Wireless networks
provide reduced data transfer rates, which results in increased network latency.
• The network gateway: Network gateways connect the wireless network, over which the BlackBerry devices communicate,
to the wired network, on which web servers and data systems exist. Different network gateways offer different support for
content optimization and content delivery strategies. The BlackBerry Browser is designed to communicate through several
network gateways.
Developing content with the wireless environment in mind can help you to work around some of the limitations inherent in
wireless browsing. With a greater understanding of theBlackBerry Browser, you can make the content development decisions
necessary to provide the functionality that users require, while also providing a positive wireless browsing experience.
Characteristics of BlackBerry devices
BlackBerry® devices come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and capabilities. Among the currently available BlackBerry devices that
might request your content, there is a range of software and hardware. The different hardware and software characteristics of
BlackBerry devices have an impact on the user's browsing experience, and might influence the decisions you make as you create
content for the BlackBerry® Browser.
BlackBerry devices can differ in the following ways:
• BlackBerry® Device Software version
• screen size
•input methods, including the navigation method (trackwheel or trackball) and the keypad (QWERTY or SureType® keypad)
The User-Agent header that accompanies every request from the BlackBerry Browser provides the BlackBerry device model
number, from which you can determine the physical characteristics of the BlackBerry device, and the version of the BlackBerry
Device Software that the requesting BlackBerry device is running.
Fundamentals Guide Understanding the BlackBerry device browsing environment
3

BlackBerry Device Software version considerations
The BlackBerry® Browser is a BlackBerry® Device Software application that is included with every BlackBerry device. The version
of the BlackBerry Device Software that is running on theBlackBerry device determines what content the BlackBerry Browser
supports and how the content is rendered.
Two generations of the BlackBerry Browser exist.
• The first generation of the BlackBerry Browser, included with BlackBerry Device Software version 4.5 or earlier, supports
simple web page presentations and wireless-specific content very well. In BlackBerry Device Software version 3.8 or later,
the BlackBerry Browser provides basic JavaScript® and CSS support. In an effort to make more of the web accessible to the
BlackBerry Browser, support for more complex presentation formats has been added over a number of releases. However,
the first generation of the BlackBerry Browser focuses on managing and mitigating the effects of the wireless network.
• The second-generation BlackBerry Browser was introduced in BlackBerry Device Software version 4.6. The BlackBerry
Browser rendering agent and JavaScript engine were completely redesigned to provide much greater support of existing
web standards. With full support for standards such as HTML 4.01, CSS 2.1, and DOM Level 2, the second generation of the
BlackBerry Browser has the ability to render most existing web content.
You should consider the BlackBerry Browser that is included with BlackBerry Device Software version 4.6 or later as functionally
distinct from the first generation of the BlackBerry Browser that is included with earlier BlackBerry Device Software versions.
When you design content for the BlackBerry device, you need to decide the version or versions of the BlackBerry Device Software
to target. Keep in mind that the number of BlackBerry device users who use a first generation BlackBerry Browser to access your
content is likely to be much larger than the number of users with a second generation of the browser. If you want to create content
that makes use of the presentation and scripting support offered by the second generation of the BlackBerry Browser, consider
also providing simplified content that targets BlackBerry device users who are browsing with a first generation of the BlackBerry
Browser.
For more specific information about what is supported with each version of the BlackBerry Device Software, see the BlackBerry
Browser HTML Reference, the BlackBerry Browser CSS Reference and the BlackBerry Browser JavaScript Reference.
Trackball
On BlackBerry® devices with a trackball, the trackball is the primary control for user navigation. Users can
• roll the trackball to move the cursor
• click the trackball to perform default actions or open a context menu
• click the trackball while pressing the Shift key to select objects
BlackBerry devices with a trackball also include a Menu key that is located to the left of the trackball. Users can press the Menu
key to open a full menu of available actions.
Fundamentals Guide Characteristics of BlackBerry devices
4

Trackwheel
BlackBerry® devices that precede the BlackBerry® Pearl™ 8100 Series use a trackwheel as the primary control for user navigation.
The trackwheel is located on the right side of the device.
Users can
• roll the trackwheel to move the cursor vertically
• roll the trackwheel while pressing the Alt key to move the cursor horizontally
• click the trackwheel to select objects or open the menu
Touch screen
On BlackBerry® devices with a SurePress™ touch screen, users use a finger to interact with the applications on the device. Users
type text and navigate screens by performing various actions on the touch screen.
In addition, users can click common actions on the shortcut bar that is located at the bottom of the screen. Or, users can press
the Menu key, which is located to the right of the Send key, to open a full menu of available actions.
On BlackBerry devices with a touch screen, users can perform the following actions:
Action Result
touch the screen lightly This action highlights an item or places the cursor in a specific location. It is
equivalent to rolling the trackball or trackwheel to highlight an item or place the
cursor.
Inapplicationsthatsupportafull-screenview,suchasBlackBerry®Maps,thisaction
hides the banner and shortcut bar.
On the shortcut bar, this action displays a tooltip that describes the action that the
icon represents.
touch the screen twice quickly On a web page, map, picture, or presentation attachment, this action zooms in to
the web page, map, picture, or presentation attachment.
click (press) the screen This action invokes an action. For example, when users click an item in a list, the
screen that is associated with the item appears. This action is equivalent to clicking
the trackball or trackwheel.
On a map, picture, or presentation attachment, this action zooms in to the map,
picture, or presentation attachment. On a web page, this action zooms in to the
web page or follows a link.
Fundamentals Guide Characteristics of BlackBerry devices
5

Action Result
slide a finger up or down quickly on the
screen
Sliding a finger up quickly displays the next screen. Sliding a finger down quickly
displays the previous screen.
When the keyboard appears, sliding a finger down quickly hides the keyboard and
displays the shortcut bar.
slide a finger to the left or right quickly
on the screen
This action displays the next or previous picture or message, or the next or previous
day, week, or month in a calendar.
hold a finger on an item Holding a finger on the progress bar while a song or video is playing fast forwards
or rewinds the song or video.
In a text field, this action displays an empty rectangle cursor to help users position
the cursor more accurately in a text field.
touch and drag an item on the screen This action moves the content on the screen in the corresponding direction. For
example, when users touch and drag a menu item, the list of menu items moves in
the same direction.
In a text field or in Month view in a calendar, this action moves the empty rectangle
cursor in the same direction.
touch the screen in two locations at the
same time
This action highlights the text between the two locations or the list of items, such
as messages, between the two locations. To add or remove text or items from the
selection, users can touch the screen at another location.
press the Escape key This action cancels a selection.
On a web page, map, or picture, this action zooms out one level. Users can press
the Escape key twice to zoom back to the original view.
Keyboard
Users use the keyboard primarily to type text. On BlackBerry® devices with a trackwheel or trackball, users can also use the
keyboard to move around a screen (for example, to move around a map). However, navigation using the keyboard should always
be an alternative to navigation using the trackball or trackwheel.
BlackBerry devices with a trackwheel or trackball have either a QWERTY keyboard or SureType® keyboard. Both types of keyboard
include character keys and modifier keys. Character keys send a character to the BlackBerry device and include text keys, the
Menu key, and the Escape key. A modifier key alters the functionality of character keys. Modifier keys include the Shift key and
the Alt key.
Fundamentals Guide Characteristics of BlackBerry devices
6

QWERTY keyboard
The QWERTY keyboard provides users with a keyboard that is similar to the keyboard on a computer. Users type as they would
on a computer keyboard except that numbers and symbols are located in different places.
To type common symbols, users press the Alt key and the appropriate character key. To type other symbols, users press the Symbol
key. When users press a modifier key, a typing mode indicator appears in the upper-right corner of the screen.
SureType keyboard
BlackBerry® devices with SureType® technology integrate a traditional phone keypad and a familiar QWERTY-style keyboard
with intuitive software. SureType technology is designed to predict words as users type them.
Fundamentals Guide Characteristics of BlackBerry devices
7

Users who have a BlackBerry device with SureType technology can type text using the SureType input method or the multi-tap
input method.
•When users use SureType technology, they press the letter key for each letter in a word once. For example, to type run, users
would press the ER key once, the UI key once, and the BN key once. As users type, a list of possible letter combinations and
words appears on the screen. SureType technology selects letter combinations or words from the list based on context. If
users type a word or letter combination (for example, a web address or an abbreviation) that SureType technology does not
recognize, users use the list that appears on the screen to build the word letter by letter. SureType technology is designed
to "learn" new words or letter combinations that users type and add them to a custom word list.
•When users use the multi-tap input method, they press a letter key once to type the first letter on the key and twice to type
the second letter. For example, to type run, users would press the ER key twice, the UI key once, and the BN key twice.
SureType technology is the default input method for most fields. Multi-tap is the default input method for phone number fields
and password fields. If users switch from using SureType technology to using the multi-tap input method, a typing indicator
appears in the upper-right corner of the screen to indicate the current input method.
Network gateways and BlackBerry Browser configurations
The BlackBerry® Browser can be configured to connect to the wireless network through one of three network gateways.
Network gateway Accessed by Protocol
BlackBerry MDS Connection Service BlackBerry Browser configuration HTTP/IPPP
BlackBerry Internet Service Browsing Internet Browser configuration HTTP/IPPP
Fundamentals Guide Network gateways and BlackBerry Browser configurations
8

Network gateway Accessed by Protocol
WAP-compliant gateway WAP Browser configuration WAP 1.2 and WAP 2.0
Users can choose the network gateway that the BlackBerry Browser communicates with by choosing the configuration that is
associated with that network gateway. For example, users might choose the WAP Browser configuration to access bookmarks
provided by their service provider, the Internet Browser configuration to access Internet content, and the BlackBerry Browser
configuration to access their organization's intranet.
Users can specify the settings for each configuration to help optimize the performance. For example, to ensure the correct
operation of an organization's web application, users might want to turn on support for JavaScript® for the BlackBerry Browser
configuration;however,todownloadcontentmorequicklyovertheInternetforpersonaluse,usersmightwanttodisableJavaScript
for the Internet Browser configuration.
On Wi-Fi®-enabled BlackBerry devices, users can choose to use the Hotspot Browser to browse the Internet when they are in a
Wi-Fi hotspot.
The BlackBerry MDS Connection Service network gateway
The BlackBerry® MDS Connection Service is designed to provide users with secure access to their organization's intranets, and
access to the Internet. The BlackBerry MDS Connection Service is a component of the BlackBerry® Enterprise Server that exists
on the organization's network behind a firewall.
The BlackBerry MDS Connection Service acts as a proxy for the BlackBerry® Browser, and makes requests on behalf of the
BlackBerryBrowser.The BlackBerryMDSConnection Serviceoptimizesthe contentinthe response,toenhance networkefficiency
and improve display on smaller screens, before it sends the content to the BlackBerry Browser .
The BlackBerry Browser accesses the BlackBerry MDS Connection Service network gateway using the BlackBerry Browser
configuration. The BlackBerry Browser configuration communicates with the BlackBerry MDS Connection Service using HTTP/
IPPP.
To browse the Internet or an intranet through the BlackBerry MDS Connection Service network gateway, users must specify the
BlackBerry Browser configuration in the Browser Configuration settings.
Because the BlackBerry MDS Connection Service is a component of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, administrators can specify
a number of settings for the BlackBerry Browser configuration. For example, to help control the amount of bandwidth used,
administrators can specify whether the BlackBerry Browser supports JavaScript®.
BlackBerry MDS Connection Service security
To provide access to a requested web page, the BlackBerry® MDS Connection Service opens a connection to the Internet from
within the organization . The BlackBerry MDS Services can use SSL and TLS protocols to encrypt communication over the Internet
between the BlackBerry® Enterprise Server and the web server.
Fundamentals Guide Network gateways and BlackBerry Browser configurations
9

Communication between the BlackBerry MDS Connection Service and the BlackBerry® Browserconfiguration is always encrypted
with the same Triple DES that is used for all communication between the BlackBerry Enterprise Server and the BlackBerry device.
The BlackBerry MDS Connection Service and the BlackBerry Browser configuration support HTTPS in the following modes:
• End-to-end mode: HTTP communication is encrypted using SSL or TLS for the entire connection between the BlackBerry
device and the originating content server. Communication over the wireless network between the BlackBerry device and
the BlackBerry MDS Connection Service is also encrypted using Triple DES encryption.
•Proxy mode: The BlackBerry MDS Connection Service performs SSL handshaking and sets up the SSL connection on behalf
of the BlackBerry device. Communication over the wireless network between the BlackBerry device and the BlackBerry MDS
Connection Service is not encrypted using SSL, but it is encrypted using Triple DES encryption. Communication over the
Internet between the BlackBerry MDS Connection Service and the content server is encrypted using SSL or TLS.
The BlackBerry MDS Connection Service network gateway supports several types of network authentication, including Basic
authentication, NTLM, and Kerberos™.
To restrict wireless network access, administrators can turn the BlackBerry MDS Connection Service on or off for specific users
or user groups. Administrators can also specify policies to control the organization's servers that users can access and the servers
that can open push connections to the BlackBerry MDS Connection Service.
The BlackBerry Internet Service Browsing network gateway
Wireless service providers can use the BlackBerry® Internet Service Browsing network gateway to offer BlackBerry device users
access to the content optimization and compression features provided by the BlackBerry® Infrastructure without using the
BlackBerry® Enterprise Server.
The BlackBerry Internet Service Browsing network gateway acts as a proxy for the BlackBerry® Browser, and makes requests on
behalfof theBlackBerryBrowser.TheBlackBerryInternetServiceBrowsingnetworkgatewayoptimizesthecontentintheresponse
to enhance network efficiency and improve display on the smaller screens before it relays the content to the BlackBerry Browser.
The BlackBerry Browser accesses the BlackBerry Internet Service Browsing network gateway using the Internet browser
configuration. The Internet browser configuration communicates with the BlackBerry Internet Service Browsing network gateway
using HTTP/IPPP.
To browse the Internet through the BlackBerry Internet Service Browsing network gateway, users must specify the Internet
browser configuration in the Browser Configuration settings.
To use the Internet browser configuration, a BlackBerry device user requires a service book that is issued to the BlackBerry device
by the BlackBerry® Provisioning System.
BlackBerry Internet Service Browsing security
The BlackBerry® Internet Service Browsing network gateway does not support Triple DES encryption and it is not designed to
access intranets that are protected by firewalls; however, it does permit users to access secure sites using HTTPS. The BlackBerry
Internet Service Browsing network gateway supports SSL encryption.
Fundamentals Guide Network gateways and BlackBerry Browser configurations
10

The BlackBerry Internet Service Browsing network gateway supports HTTPS in end-to-end mode. HTTP communication is
encrypted using SSL or TLS for the entire connection between the BlackBerry device and the content server.
WAP network gateways
WAP network gateways are hosted by wireless service providers. WAP network gateways must support WTP-level segmentation
and reassembly. Proprietary WAP extensions are not supported.
The BlackBerry® Browser accesses WAP network gateways using the WAP Browser configuration. To browse the Internet through
a WAP network gateway, users must specify the WAP Browser configuration in the Browser Configuration settings.
The WAP Browser configuration supports the following protocols:
Protocol Description
WAP 1.2.1 The WAP Browser configuration caches the WSP headers to decrease the transmission time of requests.
The WAP Browser configuration sends common HTTP headers to the WAP network gateway when it sets
up the WAP connection. In subsequent requests, the WAP Browser configuration sends only headers
that are specific to the request or that contain values that are different from the initial values.
WAP 2.0 The WAP Browser configuration sends HTTP over wTCP. The BlackBerry Browser sends the HTTP request
to a WAP 2.0 proxy, which then forwards the request to the server. The WAP network gateway determines
the content types that the BlackBerry Browser can access. For example, some WAP network gateways
might convert HTML content into a series of WML pages, or impose a limit on the size of content that
the BlackBerry Browser can request.
For more information about WAP protocols, visit www.wapforum.org and read the specification WAP-203-WSP-20000504-a.
WAP network gateway security
WAP 1.2.1 and WAP 2.0 protocols provide different security models.
Protocol Description
WAP 1.2.1 The WAP 1.2.1 protocol uses WTLS to access secure WAP services, including WTLS Class 1 (encryption
only, no authentication) and WTLS Class 2 (encryption and server authentication). The WAP Browser
configuration supports both DES (40-bit and 56-bit) and RC5 encryption (64-bit, 128-bit, and 168-
bit).Communication overthewireless networkbetween the BlackBerry®deviceand theWAPnetwork
gateway is encrypted using WTLS. Communication over the Internet between the WAP network
gateway and the web server is encrypted using SSL or TLS.
Fundamentals Guide Network gateways and BlackBerry Browser configurations
11

Protocol Description
The WAP network gateway decrypts data that it receives from either the BlackBerrydevice or the
web server and re-encrypts it using the appropriate protocol. During the conversion from one
encrypted format to another, data is briefly not encrypted at the service provider location.
The WAP Browser configuration does not support the WMLScriptCrypto library.
WAP 2.0 The WAP 2.0 protocol supports end-to-end HTTPS. Communication is encrypted using SSL or TLS
for the entire connection between the device and the content server.
The WAP Browser configuration supports PAP, which is used for authentication against RADIUS for PDP context activation on
GPRS networks. PDP context activation enables data transmission between the wireless network and the BlackBerrydevice.
Fundamentals Guide Network gateways and BlackBerry Browser configurations
12

BlackBerry Browser content support and features 2
BlackBerry Browser content support
The following table lists the web formats that the BlackBerry® Browser supports, and the version of the BlackBerry® Device
Software in which support was introduced.
Format type Content type Component Partial support in
BlackBerry Device
Software version
Full support in
BlackBerry Device
Software version
markup HTML 4.01 3.2.1 4.6
tables 3.8 4.6
image maps 3.8 4.6
frames 4.2 4.6
CSS 2.1 3.8 4.6
SVG 3.7 —
XHTML-MP — 3.6
WML — 3.2
scripting DOM L2 4.6 —
core — 4.6
HTML — 4.6
style — 4.6
events — 4.6
AJAX — 4.6
JavaScript® 1.5 3.8 4.6
ECMAScript™ 262 3rd Edition — 3.8
WMLScript 3.2.1 —
media video
WMV — 4.3
h.263 — 4.6
audio
MP3 — 4.2
MP4 — 4.2
Fundamentals Guide BlackBerry Browser content support and features
13

Format type Content type Component Partial support in
BlackBerry Device
Software version
Full support in
BlackBerry Device
Software version
WAV — 4.2
MIDI — 3.7
images
animated GIF — 3.8
TIFF — 3.7
BMP — 3.7
JPEG — 3.7
PNG — 3.2.1
GIF — 3.2.1
web feeds RSS 0.9, 1.0, 2.0 4.2 —
RSS enclosures — 4.3
Atom™ 4.2 —
BlackBerry Browser features
Category Feature Included in BlackBerry Device
Software version
navigation wireless service provider customizable bookmarks 3.8
one-click link navigation 3.7
bookmarks 3.2
navigation history list 3.2
content storage cookie cache 3.2
pushed content cache 3.6
content rendering media streaming 4.3
progressive image rendering 4.2.2
page view 4.2.1
column view 3.2
wireless-friendly browsing offline form submission 3.8
background downloading 3.2
Fundamentals Guide BlackBerry Browser features
14

Category Feature Included in BlackBerry Device
Software version
usability single browser Home screen icon 4.2
bookmarks associated with browser configurations 4.2
Network gateway features
Category Feature BlackBerry MDS
Connection Service
BlackBerry
Internet Service
Browsing
WAP
content delivery progressive delivery supported (4.2.2 or later) supported —
browser session management supported (4.1 or later) supported —
PAP push applications supported — —
RIM push applications supported (3.6 or later) — —
web signal push applications — supported —
WAP push applications — — supported
content optimization image optimization supported (3.6 or later) supported —
enhanced image optimization supported (4.1.5 or later) supported —
content filtering supported (3.7 or later) supported —
content preprocessing supported (3.7 or later) supported —
security SSL/TLS encryption supported (3.6 or later) supported —
WTLS encryption — — supported
Triple DES encryption supported (3.2 or later) — —
Kerberos™ authentication supported (3.2 or later) — —
NTLM authentication supported (3.2 or later) — —
Password authentication
protocol
— — supported
RADIUS for PDP — — supported
web access restriction supported (3.2 or later) — —
Fundamentals Guide Network gateway features
15

Content and network management in the BlackBerry
Browser 3
Content rendering
Browser content views
The BlackBerry® Browser can display content in Column View or Page View. In BlackBerry® Device Software version 4.5 or earlier,
Column View is the default view. In BlackBerry Device Software version 4.6 or later, Page View is the default view.
View Description
Column View In Column View, content is rendered vertically in a column the width of the screen. Content that exceeds
the width of the column is wrapped.
Tablerows that extendbeyond the widthof the screenare wrapped, withthe excess tablecells displayed
immediately below.
On devices in which framesets are supported, the frameset layout is ignored. Instead, the BlackBerry
Browser displays the content of each frame vertically in the order in which they are encountered.
Page View Page View was introduced in BlackBerry Device Software version 4.2.1, for BlackBerrydevices with a
trackball. Page View renders pages on a 1024 x 768 pixel canvas, appropriate for displaying content
designed for desktop computers, and scales the content to fit the width of the screen. Users can scroll
to the area of interest and zoom in to view the content at a standard size. When zoomed, the content
exceeds the width of the screen; users must scroll horizontally to view all of the content.
Page View is designed to display desktop-focused content in the BlackBerry Browser window. Content
that is designed specifically for the BlackBerry Browser should not be displayed in Page View.
To control how the content displays on the device, the BlackBerry Browser supports the
HandheldFriendly and viewport <meta> tags. To ensure that the content that is designed for the
BlackBerry Browser is displayed correctly, you must add one of the following tags to the <head>
element of your HTML content:
<meta name="HandheldFriendly" content="true" >
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width" >
Fundamentals Guide Content and network management in the BlackBerry Browser
16

Style sheets and CSS support
The BlackBerry® Browser supports inline, internal, or external CSS style definitions.
The level of support for style sheets in the BlackBerry Browser depends on the version of BlackBerry® Device Software that the
BlackBerry device is running.
BlackBerry Device
Software version Description
3.8 to 4.5 In BlackBerry Device Software version 3.8 to 4.5, the BlackBerry Browser provides partial support
for WAP CSS.
The BlackBerry Browser supports the following CSS models:
• Box model
• Border properties (introduced in BlackBerry Device Software version 3.8)
• Padding properties (introduced in BlackBerry Device Software version 4.3)
• Colors and background
• Fonts (excluding font-variant)
• Positioning
•The height and width properties (introduced in BlackBerry Device Software version
3.8)
• Text (text-align, text-decoration properties only)
• WAP marquee extensions
• WAP input extensions
In BlackBerry Device Software version 4.5 or earlier, users can turn off support for style sheets in
the BlackBerry Browser options, which prevents the BlackBerry Browser from processing any style
data, whether inline, internal, or external.
4.6 or later In BlackBerry Device Software version 4.6, the BlackBerry Browser provides full support for CSS 2.1,
excluding pseudo-elements and dynamic pseudo-classes, system fonts, and generated content.
The BlackBerry Browser supports the following CSS models:
• Box model
• Border properties
• Margin properties
Fundamentals Guide Content rendering
17

BlackBerry Device
Software version Description
• Padding properties
• Colors and background
• Fonts
• Lists
• Positioning
• Text
• Visual effects
• WAP input extensions
With enhanced CSS support and access to the DOM using JavaScript®, the BlackBerry Browser
supports most dynamic HTML effects, such as hiding or displaying web page content dynamically.
In BlackBerry Device Software version 4.6 or later, users can not specify support for style sheets;
style sheets are always supported.
For a complete list of the supported CSS properties and the BlackBerry Device Software version in which support was introduced,
see the BlackBerry Browser CSS Reference.
Form support
Forms work very well in the BlackBerry® Browser. Entering text is very simple on BlackBerry devices, and users can easily navigate
through the form with any of the navigation methods available on BlackBerry devices.
• On BlackBerry devices with a trackball, users can position the cursor over the form control. Users must click the trackball
to activate the form control that has focus.
•On BlackBerry devices with a trackwheel, users can use the trackwheel to skip sequentially through the form controls. Users
must click the trackwheel to activate the form control that has focus.
The level of support for forms in the BlackBerry Browser depends on the version of the BlackBerry® Device Software that the
BlackBerry device is running.
Fundamentals Guide Content rendering
18