Web Design Help
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Need a mobile website design
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Posted August 3, 2012 at 7:31AM
I run a website called The Musician's Guide and i've noticed that <20% of traffic is now coming from iPhone/ iPad and so I'm thinking it's time to get a mobile site. Due to how the site's coded it's going to be hard to make it mobile optimised with responsive design, I just wondered if anyone had any experience using Telnames? It seems to just be a separate mobile optimised website you can buy. I've also been told that Twitter Bootstrap is quite good for mobile optimised sites. Any one any ideas or recommendations?
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Posted August 5, 2012 at 10:38PM
Hi Marcus
I wouldn't bother with Telnames, little use to you (or many people). Neither will any separate mobile domain be a great idea in your case, you then have two websites to maintain, optimise, promote. There are businesses where another site (or subdomain) makes sense but not so many. The whole idea of a separate mobile web may have seemed logical for a while but in general will not happen.
Also worth noting that in the longer term, none of this will be needed. I was fortunate recently to see a couple of still primitive but fascinating "thin air" screens projected from mobiles. A long way to go and battery power is an issue but they are the future. Staring at a few inches of gorilla glass may have seemed interesting but never a solution.
A good way off though and your site could be "mobilised" with media queries, worth bearing in mind that creating a responsive option can mean leaving a few aspects out on smaller screens. As you are using Wordpress, why not just switch to a responsive template. There are literally thousands around, you can see a few on this advertorial site:
http://www.premiumwp.com/best-responsive-wordpress-themes/
Probably no need to pay if you hunt around. There are also plenty of ways to incorporate Bootstrap, or a template based on this:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-bootstrap-css/ http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/the-bootstrap http://wpmu.org/7-free-twitter-bootstrap-themes-for-wordpress/
An interesting project, particularly for those liking off the peg modules. Can be best used with a fair bit of stripping out, depends on your intentions. Still feel your best bet may be spending a while hunting for a ready made template, even if you need to make minor modifications.
Minor point on your site, worth having a good read on canonicalisation for wordpress. I see you are using Joost De Valk's plugin. which I'm not so familiar with but may need tweaking. As an example, this snippet/tag page:
http://www.themusiciansguide.co.uk/blog/tag/record/
is indexed and canonicalised to itself. The tag should instead point to the main page the extract belongs to, which I imagine is:
There may also be other URL variations available for indexing. If possible, one indexable URL for each piece of content is good.
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Posted August 11, 2012 at 7:46PM
Hi Marcus, A friend recommended this site http://www.rtbwizards.com/mobile_templates.asp
Make sure you choose your colour first.
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Posted October 26, 2012 at 9:52AM
Yeah, Telnames isn't really that reliable, at least for me. There are many companies that specialize in mobile website design. Choose from them.
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Posted November 1, 2012 at 2:22PM
Hi,
Website looking good on a mobile is really important these days. A friend of mine who runs a mobile beauty business had her website done by excaliburwebservices.com.
This included GPS maps, QR code, online booking form and tap to call buttons.
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Posted November 1, 2012 at 5:58PM
sarah_76
The people you recommend don't look particularly professional to me - their own site contravenes current consumer legislation in at least three key areas.
