Our panel of mobile experts reveals what your website needs for a seamless on-the-go experience.

Handheld devices are more capable than ever, but their capabilities remain extremely limited in comparison to the kind of desktops and laptops most commonly used to browse the web. With their relatively tiny screens and slow connections, sending a handheld device the code for your normal website is likely to produce confusion and frustration in those you're trying to serve, leading to severely curtailed responses.

In theory, of course, any website can be accessed by any mobile device. But in reality, many websites are coded with much more robust devices like desktops and laptops in mind. The trends to rely on network- and CPU-intensive technologies -- and to have the web browser in continuous communication with the web server (a la Ajax) -- further limit the compatibility of many standard websites with mobile devices.

Important differences
The three main differences between handhelds and larger computers are the:

• Much smaller screen size
• Relative scarcity on handhelds of support for advanced browser-related technologies like cookies, Java and Flash -- without which many standard websites just don't perform well or look good
• Intrinsically slower and sometimes spotty nature of the networks serving handhelds

All this is why the most successful websites aimed at mobile browsers are now being optimized for this class of equipment.

Why is this important? One reason is the sheer size of the opportunity. For example, more people have internet access through cellphones than through computers. In addition, Nielson Mobile reportedly tabulated some 9 million purchases from cellphones during the month of April. That's up more than 70 percent, year over year.

Not everyone agrees on the best designs and technological underpinnings for successful websites targeted at mobile users. But there are broad swaths of concurrence on what's best and what's not. We reached out to a panel of mobile experts to get the scoop on what websites need to make it in a handheld world.

Our panel participants include:

• Will Park, editor-at-large, IntoMobile, an online technology blog supporting a community of mobile enthusiasts.
• Chris Spiek, AWS managing partner, Awecomm Technologies, involved in web strategy, site development, social media and advertising.
• Marty Dickinson, HereNextYear.com, a mobile marketing consultant who offers premium internet marketing services, internet business tools and internet marketing education for business owners.