One of the consequences of the huge spread and success of the iPhone is that a lot of popular Websites have started implementing a mobile interface, so that it’s better displayed on portable devices with smaller screens, and most of these scaled-down versions are rendered beautifully in iPhone’s MobileSafari. Not only that, they retain all their major features and are more accessible at the same time.

A very nice side effect is that mobile versions can be quite useful if you’re using a vintage Mac with a vintage browser. They usually load faster (especially Gmail), render better, and are overall more compatible with the limited capabilities of older browsers. What’s more, they’re usable: from my PowerBook 5300 with Mac OS 8.1 and iCab 2.99 I can tweet, read and write email using Gmail, enjoy a decent experience in Flickr, and so on. See some examples below:

Search Results in Google mobile -- iCab 2.99

A stripped-down Gmail interface. But it's usable and Gmail doesn't complain about browser compatibility...

The flickr mobile interface is much better on the iPhone, but iCab 2.99 on my PowerBook 5300 now loads my photostream and my friends' photos much faster; admittedly, the page looks unattractive, but it's definitely usable.

"What are you doing?" -- Twittering from my PowerBook 5300, of course.

And a quick look at the news, why not?