cHTML (Compact HTML) is effectively a cut down version of the regular HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) used over the Internet, which has been adapted for use with small computing devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, and smartphones. cHTML enables small handheld devices to connect to the World Wide Web, and to present Internet text content on the mobile device's display screen.
Because handheld devices have limitations in their display, power supply, and memory resources, cHTML does not support JPEG images, tables, image maps, multiple fonts, background colours and images, frames, style sheets and more than two colours. As pages are designed to fit the screen, scrolling is also not featured, but four buttons are used to do all the basic operations. However, cHTML does support GIF images.
WML (Wireless Markup Language) is a similar markup language used with the WAP (Wireless Application Protocol). cHTML was originally developed for use with i-Mode devices by Access Company Ltd., a Japanese company, and was accepted by the W3C in 1998.