Our “Tips Central” blog series spotlights WPtouch Pro-powered sites built and maintained by designers, developers and site owners like you. Read about other designers, developers, and site owners’ experiences with WPtouch Pro and get ideas for your own projects. Our experts also provide their recommendations for additional site enhancements using WPtouch Pro.

Site URL: www.motionworks.com.au
Site Owner: John Dickinson
License Type: Single
Motionworks on Twitter: @Motionworks

How long have you been using WPtouch Pro?
Two weeks. I was using the free version of WPtouch for about a year but noticed that WPtouch Pro included a theme for the iPad as well as additional features for customizing the look of the site.

Why did you choose WPtouch Pro to power your mobile site?
The number one reason is ease of use. To get a mobile site all I needed to do was install the plug-in and activate it! WPtouch Pro did the rest.

What do you like most about using WPtouch Pro?
I like that I didn’t have to know any kind of coding to get it up and running and that making general modifications is easy.

What improvements would you like to see included in future WPtouch Pro updates?
Themes. Themes. Themes. Also some way of adding advertising banners easily and also adding customised headers more easily.

NOTE FROM SUPPORT: Advertising can be easily included through the options located at General > Advertising & Stats.
Support Documentation: Enabling Advertising in WPtouch Pro

OUR TIPS CENTRAL SUGGESTIONS FOR MOTIONWORKS.COM.AU

Note: Links to support documentation are available exclusively to current WPtouch Pro customers who are logged into bravenewcode.com.

1. Add custom links to menu.
The Twitter, Facebook, RSS buttons in the menu of the desktop theme can be added to the mobile theme either by using the options located at Menu + Icons > Custom Menu or by activating a custom WordPress menu. Either choice will allow the site’s social media urls to be available site-wide in a prominent location.
Support Documentation: Using a custom WordPress menu

Adding custom links and icons

2. Add startup screens it iOS Web-App Mode.
While iOS Web-App Mode is active on motionworks.com.au, it can be further setup to include startup screens for iPhon and iPad. Startup screens provide an opportunity to include branding or a message to visitors while iOS Web-App Mode loads.
Support Documentation: iOS Web-App Mode

Web-App Mode startup screens

3. Enable SHOP content.
Currently, the ecommerce content found in the “Shop” is incomplete in the mobile theme. This may be because the desktop theme uses custom post types, custom page templates, or a combination of these. Both can be enabled in WPtouch Pro to allow the store to function on mobile devices. We recommend taking advantage of the support bundled into every WPtouch Pro license to complete this setup.
Support Documentation: Enabling Custom Post Type Support and/or Creating a Custom Page Template

Custom post type support

4. Enable category page templates.
The desktop theme also appears to use custom page templates for category display (as evidenced on this page: http://motionworks.com.au/category/creativebackgrounddesign). By including this page template as instructed above, all content available via the desktop theme will also be fully available in the mobile theme.
Support Documentation: See WPtouch Pro Tip #3

Custom page template support

Are you interested in having your WPtouch Pro-powered site featured in our “Tips Central” series? Please drop us a note through our contact form to inquire.

Our “Tips Central” blog series spotlights WPtouch Pro-powered sites built and maintained by designers, developers and site owners like you.

Read about other designers, developers, and site owners’ experiences with WPtouch Pro and get ideas for your own projects. Our experts also provide their recommendations for additional site enhancements using WPtouch Pro.

Site URL: http://webdesign-westmidlands.com
Director, Creative Web Development: Derek Plant
License Type: Single Licence
Blog: Wired into the Web

How long have you been using WPtouch Pro?
Only the last couple of months, but we very quickly understood how powerful it is and dug a little deeper to try and get the most out of it. We have been amazed by the results.

Why did you choose WPtouch Pro to power your mobile site?
We were looking for a way to create and maintain a mobile version of our website without a great deal of time or expense and without a steep learning curve. WPtouch Pro was the obvious choice.

What do you like most about using WPtouch Pro?
A lot of things. Firstly, although we use Headway which is a responsive theme and works very well, it doesn’t quite have the same user experience as when viewing the site with WPtouch Pro. However they play very well together and we like using Headway for iPad and WPtouch Pro for mobile phones. We think they make a great combination. It depends on the site layout of course, and you need to preview both to decide, but the level of choice offered by WPtouch Pro allows for very fine control.

One of our favorite features is the use of WPtouch Pro’s custom shortcodes. These make it very easy to have fine control over which content displays only on mobile devices and which displays only on the desktop theme.

A way we like to work is to start with a layout of the desktop version then add color-coded, semi-transparent panels over the different areas: For example red for mobile only, green for desktop only, and none for the common elements. This makes it very easy to see at a glance what we can eliminate or even add in just for mobile display. Using just two shortcodes gives us all of the control we need to apply them using the WordPress editor.

The ability to use a custom landing page, a custom menu, and custom icons gives tremendous freedom to give a great user experience that looks and feels that it has been designed specifically for mobile users.

What improvements would you like to see included in future WPtouch Pro updates?
Not many things because it would be a shame to lose the easy learning curve. Maybe an easy way to show widgets would be a good addition although we use a workaround for that — it would be great to be able to display widgets in the menu similar to the way categories display. It may also be good to have a notification bar for announcements.

Other than that we can’t really see much room for improvement. Its beauty is in its simplicity. That simplicity is what inspired us to create a WPtouch Pro video overview and to publish a WPtouch Pro Kindle eBook.

OUR TIPS CENTRAL SUGGESTIONS FOR Creative Web Development

Note: Links to support documentation are available exclusively to current WPtouch Pro customers who are logged into bravenewcode.com.

1. Add a custom home screen icon.
To round out the current implementation of iOS Web-App Mode, a custom home screen icon may be added. This would complement the existing custom startup screen and custom title for the web-app. This icon may be added via Menu + Icons >; Menu and Icon Setup >; General Icons + Menu Setup >; Site, Theme & Bookmark.
Support Documentation: iOS Web-App Mode

Custom icon support

2. Make the custom landing page consistent in the desktop theme.
We noticed that the custom mobile landing page, when viewed in the desktop theme, did not share many of the same page elements with the rest of the desktop theme. Consistency here is important as the custom landing page becomes the site home page when visitors use the switch link.

We also noticed excellent use of the WPtouch Pro footer to add contact and branding elements that are unique to the mobile theme. WPtouch Pro’s custom menu option was also used to add menu items in the mobile theme that are not present in the non-mobile theme. Kudos!

Custom footer and menu

Are you interested in having your WPtouch Pro-powered site featured in our “Tips Central” series? Please drop us a note through our contact form to inquire.

Our “Tips Central” blog series spotlights WPtouch Pro-powered sites built and maintained by designers, developers and site owners like you. Read about other designers, developers, and site owners’ experiences with WPtouch Pro and get ideas for your own projects. Our experts also provide their recommendations for additional site enhancements using WPtouch Pro.

Site URL: www.geeksoncall.com.au
Designer: Vincent Brown
License Type: 5-Pack
Vincent Brown on Twitter: @Vintuitive

How long have you been using WPtouch Pro?

I began using the free WPtouch plugin about two years ago and upgraded to the Pro version at the beginning of this year for the extra features, such as the ability to create a child theme and the addition of an iPad theme.

Why did you choose WPtouch Pro to power your mobile site?

With so many people surfing the web on mobile devices it is vital for business websites to be compatible with mobile devices. It was especially important that the Geeks on Call website be viewable on mobile devices as customers are likely to be turning to their mobile to find help when their computer goes down.

Although many WordPress themes incorporate responsive design there are still cross-device factors that need to be dealt with to ensure a website works with all the different mobile operating systems. I know that the BraveNewCode team works hard on keeping the WPtouch Pro plugin current and compatible with Android, Blackberry, Palm as well as iOS, so that saved me a lot of trouble.

What do you like most about using WPtouch Pro?

Ease of use. It works simply by installing and activating the plugin, and an advanced mobile website can be created by modifying the style and appearance and other factors in the admin settings. Having the ability to add the client’s own logo and icons to match the desktop version of their website means that uniformity of the brand is retained across platforms.

The Web-App Mode is appealing for my clients, as it functions like a native iPhone app, makes use of the full screen so that it is not inside the Safari browser.

What improvements would you like to see included in future WPtouch Pro updates?

Perhaps some prebuilt themes could be added with a variety of styles and layouts to choose from. More uniformity between the iPad and iPhone versions, eg: Header bar theme styles, sidebar backgrounds, etc. A full width option on select pages in landscape view on the iPad would be great too.

OUR TIPS CENTRAL SUGGESTIONS FOR GEEKSONCALL.COM.AU

Note: Links to support documentation are available exclusively to current WPtouch Pro customers who are logged into bravenewcode.com.

1. Customize the header
While geeksoncall.com.au takes advantage of WPtouch Pro’s custom logo feature, the site could take it a step further by customizing the entire header area of the mobile theme to use the header image from the non-mobile theme. Accomplishing this requires adding custom CSS to a child theme.
Support Documentation: Applying Custom CSS (See “Common CSS Customizations”)

Apply Custom CSS

2. Use startup screen images
WPtouch Pro’s iOS Web-App Mode offers the ability to display custom startup screen images while your site loads. Startup screens are a great way to display a message or branding image for a few seconds. Options to add images are offered to support all sizes of mobile device Retina displays.
Support Documentation: iOS Web-App Mode

Enable Web-App Mode Loading Screens

3. Match custom link colors.
The non-mobile site for geeksoncall.com.au uses custom link colors. The red used can be carried through to the mobile site theme by changing the default “Sitewide link color” in the Active Theme > Style/Appearance > Body and Post Styling panel.

Match Styling

Are you interested in having your WPtouch Pro-powered site featured in our “Tips Central” series? Please drop us a note through our contact form to inquire.

Our “Tips Central” blog series spotlights WPtouch Pro-powered sites built and maintained by designers, developers and site owners like you. Read about other designers, developers, and site owners’ experiences with WPtouch Pro and get ideas for your own projects. Our experts also provide their recommendations for additional site enhancements using WPtouch Pro.

Site URL: leeannbrady.com
Site Designer: Kelly Brady
License Type: Developer
Twitter: @drleebrady

How long have you been using WPtouch Pro?
I believe we launched the site in May 2011. We initially used the free version of WPtouch and soon after upgraded to WPtouch Pro. Besides the enhancements to my mobile site, I liked the idea of having access to support.

Why did you choose WPtouch Pro to power your mobile site?
I’m not a good front-end designer and I needed a solid, functional mobile capability for blog posts. I’m not a theme developer and certainly not a mobile theme developer. The plugin I chose needed to support embedded video but not clash with a complex, free theme framework we currently use. I really liked the look and feel of WPtouch Pro right out of the gate so nothing had to be done except setting a few preferences in the WPtouch Pro admin panels.

What do you like most about using WPtouch Pro?
“Fire and forget.” WPtouch Pro doesn’t cause problems, doesn’t require a lot of maintenance, looks very nice, and keeps up with iPad/Android and other mobile display formats.

What improvements would you like to see included in future WPtouch Pro updates?
I’d love to see a theme wizard or other easier parameters made available so that I could change some of the look and feel a little if I want to without having to learn more about your mobile themes. I’d also love for you to include — or to offer at a small fee — a set of ready-to-go mobile themes that vary the look and feel a little.

OUR TIPS CENTRAL SUGGESTIONS FOR leeannbrady.com

Note: Links to support documentation are available exclusively to current WPtouch Pro customers who are logged into bravenewcode.com.

1. Extend non-mobile theme styling.
WPtouch Pro’s styling options — including its fully customizable child theme feature — will allow the non-mobile theme’s styling elements such as header, navigation bar, and content area background color to be carried through to the mobile theme. Small changes such as these can help solidify brand continuity across platforms.

WPtouch Pro’s Mobile theme styling options

2. Add social links.
WPtouch Pro’s menu can be customized to include the social links from the “Stay Connected” homepage sidebar on leeannbrady.com. Up to three items can be added to the default WPtouch Pro menu or a custom WordPress menu can but used for maximum flexibility. Icons can be added to maximize recognition.
Support Documentation: Using a custom WordPress menu

Adding custom social media icons

3. Enable advanced functionality.
It appears that the non-mobile theme for leeannbrady.com uses custom post types, custom page templates, or a combination of these to display content such as the “Dental Articles” landing page. WPtouch Pro can be set up to access these functions from the non-mobile theme so they are available to mobile devices.

NOTE: Complexity of this setup varies with the complexity of the non-mobile theme.

Support Documentation: Enabling Custom Post Type Support
and Creating a Custom Page Template

WPtouch Pro’s Custom Post Type support

4. Include Google Translate functionality.
The non-mobile site uses a plugin that adds a Google Translate tool to the site footer. That plugin’s code can be included in the Custom Footer Content field in WPtouch Pro’s General settings and will appear on the mobile site experience.

Custom footer content support

5. Add startup images for iOS Web-App Mode.
When activating iOS Web-App Mode to complete your online experience, WPtouch Pro offers options to include images for a variety of screen sizes and resolutions, including Retina displays.
Support Documentation: iOS Web-App Mode

Web-App Mode loading screen options

Are you interested in having your WPtouch Pro-powered site featured in our “Tips Central” series? Please drop us a note through our contact form to inquire.