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.