2010 will continue to see mobile developers and designers work hard in keeping up with consumers expectations. You see, we’ve been spoiled when it comes to web content. Things simply look great and work well on computers after years of design being poured into the same ol’ screen resolutions.
It’s on our mobile devices where things get hazy. Recently, the variety of phones has expanded the playing field and most existing content is rendered poorly on these devices. Many brands as well as publishers have taken notice and already jumped on the bandwagon, developing iPhone apps and special mobile-friendly landing pages.
This is great for consumers and now bloggers can also get in on the action. If you use WordPress, and there’s a good chance your site is one of the 202 million which do, you don’t need to look further than Brave New Code’s WPtouch WordPress Plugin.
In their own words: “WPtouch automatically transforms your WordPress blog into a web-application experience when viewed from an iPhone, iPod touch, Android, or BlackBerry Storm touch mobile device.”
Although not every mobile device is supported, some of the most popular web-browsing ones are, enabling you to provide a great experience to your on-the-go readers.
Here’s how to get set up in 5 easy steps:
1) Login to your WordPress blog dashboard.
2) In the Plugins area, click Add New and search for “WPtouch iPhone Theme”.
3) Select the first result – “WPtouch iPhone Theme” and install the plugin.
4) Activate the plugin. It works right out of the box!
5) Configure to taste.
WPtouch comes pre-packaged with several great features and offers immediate benefits:
- No coding required
- Faster site load time on mobile devices
- Automatic recognition of device type
- Mobile-friendly and easy to digest content formatting
- jQuery and Ajax visual effects for navigation
- Custom style and color options
- Social capabilities including Twitter, bookmarking and e-mail
- Neatly organized and easy to use admin panel
- 3rd party plugin support
When finished, give it a test drive by visiting your blog or ours on a compatible device. The final result should look something like this:
Original
After WPtouch
Happy blogging!
