: What is the current practice for mobile domains? What is the current "standard" practice for mobile (m.*) domains (and why)? When should I use them? When should I not? I've read some sources

@Becky754

Posted in: #Mobile #Restful

What is the current "standard" practice for mobile (m.*) domains (and why)? When should I use them? When should I not?

I've read some sources online (mainly stackoverflow and the google developer docs), but wondered if someone could shed some more light on this. I've also noticed that stackexchange sites don't seem to redirect to a mobile-only domain when the "desktop" link is opened on a mobile device. But reddit, for example, does redirect to a mobile domain. Try clicking on these two links from a smartphone, for example:


Stackexchange link: webmasters.stackexchange.com/questions/79535/what-is-current-standard-practise-for-redirects-of-http-sub-domains Reddit link: www.reddit.com/r/television/comments/4w5d7c/stranger_things_was_rejected_15_to_20_times_by/

My instinct would be to say that the stackexchange behavior is more webby, because it treats the URL as canonical and hides the User-Agent sniffing from the client*. If the user shares the URL with a friend, the friend doesn't know if she accessed the content originally from a mobile or desktop device. And that's a Good Thing (tm).

But I would like to know if there are any practical or historical reasons for using mobile domains vs. (what I'm calling here) canonical URLs.

* I actually didn't check if stackexchange really does agent sniffing, but you get the idea...

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