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How many optimize for mobile?

PremiumMember
jimcoe
Posts: 259
Joined: 13 Feb 12
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How many optimize for mobile?

Do you optimize your website/blog for smartphone browsing?
Has it affected the visual optimization or visual design when your site is viewed in a traditional browser?

I've had to give up some of the clean and well organized look of my new blog for my new ebook, in order to make it more usable on smart phones.

Especially:
* Fewer and more shallow indents
* Smaller video playback area
* Un-centering some elements
* Removing "width=" from divs (or making them much more narrow)

This is in spite of the fact that I'm using one of the best commercial themes for the outstanding StudioPress "Genesis" framework on top of the latest WordPress version.

Yes, it is a theme designed to automatically go into mobile mode on a smart phone. Of course that's if you don't mess up that functionality with inline structures like divs that are too wide (see above).

What's your experience with the mobile challenge?

Cheers!
_jimcoe
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Last edited by jimcoe on 28 Dec 12 5:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 

cecille.l
Posts: 6369
Joined: 25 Feb 11
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Hi _jimcoe ,

This is not something I have ventured into yet which is unfortunate because more and more people are using their mobile phones to browse sites. Smartphones are really getting smarter than ever by the day. Most are now capable of web browsing so I think that while you want to make your websites "mobile-friendly", you do not have to sacrifice so much changes because most elements can be viewed through a mobile phone.

Have a good day!
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Cecille

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PremiumMember
jimcoe
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Thanks for the response Cecille.

I tested all my Blog edits on my Android Samsung Galaxy SII's browser as I went. They were all necessary for viewing on it. This is with the latest WordPress + StudioPress Genesis framework and StudioPress Eleven40 child theme for regular browsers or mobile. These commercial products are recognized as top quality and especially good for SEO (with the best SEO plugin from Joost de Valk).

However, I did do a lot of customizing on the theme so some of that accounts for changes I had to make for mobile.

Have not had time yet to run the site's newest HTML and CSS through my 2 code validator programs (BTW, I recommend the CSE HTML validator and the TopStyle CSS validator) - that might turn up some more stuff to debug.

For many sites, the options on a smart phone (for sites not modified for mobile) are:
1. Seeing the whole page, but too small to read.
2. Seeing an enlarged version of the page and having to swipe your finger across to scroll each and every line of text - but sometimes scrolling also breaks and the right side of the page remains invisible.

So a mobile ready site seems like a requirement, either now or soon. I'd recommend that all marketers check the specs on any themes to be used and see that they are mobile ready - this is sometimes called "Responsive Design" in the theme features lists.

Cheers!
_jim coe
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Site Admin
maryt
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Nice thought Jimcoe.

Is there a tracking tool where you can know if your website has been viewed via mobile? If there is, it'll be useful for those individuals who are thinking of whether or not to get their sites mobile-ready. If there are quite a large number of people viewing the site on mobile, then maybe it is best to have the site ready for mobile browsing.
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jimcoe
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Is there a tracking tool where you can know if your website has been viewed via mobile?

Good question Mary. Haven't been in Google Analytics for a while, but next time I'm in there I'll take a good look. I seem to remember some GA metrics about mobile.

Anyone?

Personally, I've decided that if StudioPress thinks it's important enough to make all their newer themes mobile ready and to modify their Genesis framework for it - then that's enough for me.

I won't be building any new sites or blogs which I don't test against my smart phone in future - unless a client specifically tells me not to prepare their site for mobile.

Cheers!
_jim coe
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Site Admin
maryt
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@JImCoe

I know Google Keyword Tool already has the option to search for keywords entered by mobile users. Maybe their Analytics can also track mobile browsers.
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cecille.l
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Yes, you can use Google Analytics to track mobile visits. I came across this video showing how you can track mobile visits using Google Analytics.

I think Mary raised a good point. Turning on this feature in GA will give one an idea of how many are accessing their site through mobile phones and thus, see if there is a need to optimize their sites for mobile users.

Have a good day!
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Cecille

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PremiumMember
jimcoe
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Excellent info Affilo-staffers!

I'm going to start tracking mobile search phrases and visits. More merry metrics - the fun never stops...

If I can manage to get some traffic, I'll publish the percentages here, although official stats will be more valuable.

StudioPress just announced their 10th "mobile responsive" theme today ("Mindstream" - sweet features if you want to use a lot of media) - "Eleven40" I used is one of the 10. Looks good on my Android smart phone.

Mindstream - no, I'm not their affiliate

Cheers!
_jim coe
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jay3
Posts: 35
Joined: 30 May 12
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Hey Jim,

I'm guessing that once you start venturing into other online assets like ecommerce sites, mobility becomes more of a need to have than anything else ;-)

Compuware did an interesting study in 2011 on what consumers expectations of mobile and application performance are:
[Link no longer available]

Actually, i remember a product being released some time back in 2011 that makes sites "mobile friendly" on the fly but passed it off as "hocus pocus" ^-.-^

Will try to find the email and post a non affiliate link back if i find it.

Have you come across any viable solutions that don't require hacking through the wordpress backend and that work on the fly independent of which wordpress theme you're using?

Cheers,
Jay
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jimcoe
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@ Jay:

Well, since my StudioPress "Genesis" framework + their newer "Responsive design" "Child Themes" works great for me, I haven't looked for other solutions. A search on "mobile" on the http://www.WordPress.org plugins page does show many items, some for converting themes to mobile friendly versions.

BTW, I mostly had to mess with the Theme's code to get it to work well on my Android phone because of previous custom coding I did that broke the mobile friendly features which were already built in. Especially declaring divs which were fixed at too wide a size.

The main exceptions that would happen even in a fresh install were overly deep multiple indents and image/videos which were too wide. Pretty easy things to avoid, once you know.

If you use WordPress with a theme designed to work with mobile devices, you shouldn't need to "hack" anything - it should work as built. Of course you should test it on a mobile device. I retest mine after every new post, page or major edit.

Hope this helps...
_jim coe
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daviskathy393
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Joined: 22 Nov 12
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Inorder to convert your site into mobile you should no convert it directly.. For example you may have many discription part which will be hard to rephase.. Instead you can create a website.. If you are having a blog then you can create similar blogs which is very easy using templates these days..
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PremiumMember
jimcoe
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I see that WordPress "Jetpack" now has a "Mobile Theme" feature which says it will make your blog mobile responsive. Since I use the StudioPress "Genesis" framework and their mobile ready themes, I'm not going to try the Jetpack tool myself.

Anyone else tried that Jetpack tool?

Hope this helps...
_jim coe
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addy.jhon11
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jimcoe raise good point here! The optimization through mobile is vital and have great chances to come across with popularity. This is effective idea to advertise site on mobile. A website is able to view by mobile because the resolution highly effects the performance of a website. Search the best mobile theme features and apply them for generating traffic.

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Last edited by addy.jhon11 on 10 Jan 13 9:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
 

frank.zeno
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I have tried to optimize for mobile a bunch of times but it never really worked. Chances are I'm going to need to hire a professional if I want any results.
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eric11
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I've found that since a significant number of users are "browsing on the go" it is well worth the effort to optimize your site for a mobile device. A significant number of people are using their smart phone all the time and if your website is hard to view and use on a smart phone you are losing a LOT of potential traffic!
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maryt
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There are themes for sites that are designed to be mobile ready. For those who really want to have their site "mobile-friendly", you can look for website themes that have this feature.

Mary
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PremiumMember
jimcoe
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Notice that there are many phrases used to denote a "mobile device ready theme". Many theme vendors call them "Responsive" themes or "Mobile Responsive" themes.

Hope this helps...
_jim coe
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mark schaaf
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Hi Jim, I haven't really done anything for mobile it seems my site fits fine on phones and tablets, the only thing I have done is to put an extra link on some pages because phones and tablets don't let your drop down menu's work so in order to see what other pages are there I added the links for those pages in. I also think that an on site site map makes a lot of sense because people can go there and see all your pages and can click on anything they might not see because of drop down menu's not working.

At the same time I think technology will catch up at some point in time something like a change in HTML that will make everything work on everything. Also I might get one phone hit per 100 regular so for me it isn't worth the bother.
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Last edited by mark schaaf on 22 May 14 4:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 

Mark
 
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jimcoe
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Hey Mark...

Yes, I agree that website maps for visitors (not just for Google) are a good idea. I used to always include those in my client's static sites. Should probably do it again for my newer WordPress sites.
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maryt
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Nice suggestion Mark. :)

Your chosen theme may have been versatile to different screen sizes and you're lucky you do not need to switch to mobile theme. :)
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daljeet.kaur
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Smartphones are in a trend now, 85% of the people are accessing their favorite websites on smartphones. SO, it is very important to optimize your website for mobile.
There are various points you need to take care for Mobile optimization:-
-> Your website should be accessible with mobile friendly alternatives like HTML5, jQUERY, JPG, GIF image formats.

-> It is suggested to not built websites in flash as flash websites are not mobile friendly.

-> Always make sure that your website has proper navigation that are going to show on mobile.

While doing search for mobile optimization, http://www.fatbit.com/fab/mobile-landing-pages-how-to-make-the-most-of-them/ , i found this link where proper guidance for mobile optimization has been shown. Read this. Its really interesting.
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skywalker
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Hello,

I am hesitating on building my website with Affilotheme as it is not a responsive theme. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!
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This topic was started on May 05, 2012 and has been closed due to inactivity. If you want to discuss this topic further, please create a new forum topic.

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