| Tagged in: Untagged | Aug 17, 2008 |
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| Posted by: Mike Carson in News |
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The number of mobile browsers in PDA's, Blackberry, and Smart Phones is increasing at a rapid pace. Soon the mobile world will outpace the number of desktop computers used to browse the web. So how does one with a Joomla website stay on top of this increasingly popular form of surfing?
We'll discuss that topic here...
There is a wonderful little tool that was created by Denis Ryabov that allows your Joomla website to be readable in a pocket computer web browser. The PDA Plugin and Template. By installing a template (Which you can modify to your heart's content) and a simple plugin (Which requires really no configuration at all), you have a ready to go pda compatible Joomla website.
You can get the PDA Plugin extension by clicking here.
There are some other things to consider when making your Joomla website "mobile ready". You may also have some compromises to accept as well.
The first thing you must accept is that you cannot display a full 3 column 1024x768 screen on a tiny mobile device screen. The approach I take is to place the main menu (left column) followed by the body. This means some planning when laying out your content. Decide what is important to the mobile visitor and keep it in the center or left column.
You will also need to be more aware of your use of images on your website. Large images do not show up well in mobile browsers. They scew the screen and make it very difficult for your website visitors to navigate. Also keep in mind that images take longer for your website to load in a mobile browser. Keep image size and usage to a minimum when optimizing your website for mobile users.
Keep your navigation very clear and easy for your mobile users to navigate your website when using mobile browsers. Your visitors may get frustrated if they cannot easily navigate your site or have to wait for long pageload times.
Keep in mind that some if not most of your installed Joomla extensions may not display properly or even work properly on a mobile screen or device. Some extensions may not be able to display in the intended format causing a very confusing layout for your mobile visitors to navigate.
Bottom line is that you need to consider who is visiting your website the most, and cater to those visitors. If you have the majority of your visitors coming from the mobile web then create your site for those visitors. make it accessible to them. Test your website with many different mobile browsers. Ask your friends to help you work out any display issues you might have by looking at your site on different mobile devices.
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Commented By: John Coonen, October 29, 2008
I guess it's time to get a big-ass magnifying glass and carry it around, velcro'd to my sweater. It may not be sexy, but I will be connected, right?
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While I agree that accessibility is an important concern for designers with a large mobile clientele, I hope we don't go the way of facilitating the continued existence of ancient browsers (IE 5/6 hacks anyone?) and allow cell providers and programmers to continue offering stripped down versions of popular browsers. Rich media online and web 2.0 style sites have been exposed and people want them on their phones too!
It's incredible to see on-air connection speeds increase at the rate they have. Verizon/Sprint have EVDO access at speeds faster than DSL (hell, even faster than my stupid landline from those commies Comcas....connection terminated) and almost all their smart phones come with said access at a monthly price comparable to the big guys on the ground. Add to that the mix of the Safari browser on the iPhone, Google's mobile Chrome browser on the G1, and even Verizon's full html browser on their not-so-smart phone, the LG Dare, and you find people finally straying away from the stripped down mobile browsers. On my MotoQ, I find myself using the beta version of the full-featured SkyFire browser (www.skyfire.com) to view full sites (even flash!) or to interact with MySpace/Facebook and it's FAST! I get the full experience on even image-heavy websites and forget about the IE Mobile icon on my phone's desktop, who needs it?
I guess my point is this: if you find your users largely utilize the stripped down mobile browsers then by all means, give them the full experience. Better yet, develop a standalone app for their Blackberries, WM Phones, or Google Phones to interact with your site! I, on the other hand, will not be doing that. Consider it my contribution to the acceleration of mobile browsing technology in the hopes that we won't fall into the same trap as developers which we've fallen into with the old IE users