Responsive Themes or iPhone Enabled Themes?

DavidRunsFromTheYeti

Hi Everyone!

I have been checking out the new responsive themes by NimbleHost, Elixir Graphics, and Brandon Lee Design and I must say they are really cool.

I'm trying to figure out if I should start buying responsive themes or build separate themes for mobile devices like iPhones. I would need to re-do my sites if I go with responsive themes, but would have to build and do all the fancy pants stuff for an iPhone site detection if I went the other way.

Advice and Opinions?

(Also, if you have a responsive theme I don't know about, here's your chance to sell me one. I'm all ears and ready to do something quick!)

Monark

You asked a question that does not have an answer, well, not one size fits all answer anyway. This has more to do with opinion and personal needs. NimbleHost Phelix2 I believe is the best Mobile theme right now. Just my opinion. FYI: I do not own it yet. I am speaking just from a web surfer experience, aka, the customers.

Like I said I am sure others will have other opinions.

DavidRunsFromTheYeti

Thanks Monark! I have made note of your opinion of Phelix2 and am looking at it right after I type this.

kpryce2

Yeti,

I've got several Responsive Themes, but the best buy for me is Flood from Themeflood, which incorporates a solution called RAFT. Effectively, this gives you the options to design in a single theme but set specific pages just for the ipdad/iPhone etc.

However to get the best from a Responsive theme you really need a few Stacks and the best set available is from Joe Workman (at least to get you up and running).

Ken

HughS

I am finding that sourcing Responsive Themes that I really like and say something graphically is difficult. I love several of the themes developed by http://www.rapid-ideas.com, 'Camilo', 'Usine' and 'OHM' stand out, but tragically 'Responsive' they are not and when I look at some specific sites (that have been built on these themes) on my Galaxie, they simply don't work.

I am not a web developer and only a fairly basic site builder, but having worked with Xsite-Pro for a few years, now wish to move up a major notch to something more suiting my industry as a Videographer, so RW looks the ideal choice as a system I feel I can work with, BUT and it's a big BUT, the theme/s I am looking for must work really well on mobiles as my industry virtually lives on them. Spend an hour on a film set during smoko and you'll understand this.

Also as my business card for corporate work is a video, so everything must work seamlessly on the small screen.

I had a look through Elixir & BLT and there is some beautiful themes, but tragically no examples of sites built using them so one can see how they respond on mobile devices, also there were few that categorically stated they were Responsive, so the big question is who is producing top notch Responsive themes, where one can see examples of websites deveolped using the themes?

If there are any Responsive Themes similar to the Rapid Ideas material I would love to find them, but after hours of searching I feel I am hitting a brick wall on this one, so maybe this is a challenge for a few developers, or am I asking too much??

I would really appreciate some input, and thanks for putting up with my ramblings.rapid-ideas.com

kpryce2

Hugh,

There are now some excellent themes providing Responsive Functionality - Flood 3, Phellix, Mobi, Mark 1 to name just some.

BUT - and this is a biggy - they will not on their own do all you want. You need Stacks 2 together with some Responsive/Fluid Stacks (Joe Workman has released some great ones and there are others popping up on the Forums)

I'm heavily into designing a multi-device site, but have to say it does require a new approach and many methods used for the "Big Screen" should be abandoned. What I'm really learning is that one has to dramatically simplify ones design.

I'm not aware, incidentally of any of the Themes you have quoted (from Rapid Ideas) as being Responsive, and furthermore a couple didn't FULLY support all RW 5 functionality. That may have changed now.

Most of the sites you mention Elixer etc do display how it all works - you have to use a browser though that permits resizing down to iPhone size - you will get a true visualisation of how these themes work on all devices eg. 4 across columns repositioning below each other on the iPhone.

When it comes to Videos on these devices its imperative that the right codec is used for a video. You can export m4v files out of Quicktime that are suitable for mobile devices. So you see its a whole new learning curve and I certainly do not profess to being a Guru, but I'm getting there with the great new tools available for RW.

Regards

Ken

HughS

To be honest, I'm still getting my head around the whole RW system, having never used it before, so this is why I am doing so much research. The last thing I want to do is shell out on a bunch of templates and develop a site only to have it fail with its mobile presentation.

It is almost as though templates need 2 versions, one for PC and the second, that reflects the primary design, for mobiles, then the system has to auto sense somehow, or is this what Mobilze does?

mitchellm

I'd like to counter some of the previous comments: I think developing a responsive website with an appropriately chosen theme is awfully easy these days. I'm very impressed with what some developers have done.

For example, check out Flood 3 by Will Woodgate. You can even download a demo version to see if it meets your needs. What a deal!

I'm using no special "responsive" stuff besides Will's theme and having zero problems having everything play right on various devices: computer, iPad landscape, iPad portrait, iPhone, etc.

It's always possible that you run into a problem, and there are definitely special circumstances.

In general, the more that people seem to use cute & special effects the more they might run into problems. The more you rely on basic text (headers, paragraphs, lists) with basic images (even lightbox), vimeo, and audio then you should be all set to go.

There are definitely people who might need extra response stacks based on their setup, but I'm developing fairly large course websites that are now responsive using Flood 3 without any extras. Dead simple, dead effective. And did I mention you can try it out for free?

kpryce2

Mitch,

I basically agree with what your saying - if you want lots of effects you are going to be in trouble with Responsive Themes. I'm working currently (a lot) with Flood 3.1 (just enhanced for responsive banners).

But even Will agrees that some Stacks are "advisable" to manage content within his theme. For example - the Standard 4 Column Stack will just get chopped off the screen in Smart Phones, whereas Joe Workman's new Responsive Column Stacks behave responsively by moving the columns underneath each other (if that makes sense).

If you want video on multiple size screens from desktop to phone - a Responsive HTML5 Stack is essential. The same criteria applies to Images & Lightboxes - they need to be fluid i.e. not constrained by 'fixed width' elements.

Its certainly excellent advice to experiment with the Flood Theme, if only to determine its limitations, and why good device sites need a few additional tools than the new Themes are promising.

Alternatively - learn HTML5 and code into the pages. Me - I'm glad this hard graft has already been done by developers with much more know how than me. After-all, that's what RW and all the add-ons is about - zero coding effort.

I can hardly contradict you if you are already heavily into Flood 3 with a lot of content - but every Web Site needs a little bit of Pizazz, if only as attention grabbers.

Regards

Ken

mitchellm

Ken: I hear you. You make a number of good points. I just wanted to encourage the OP to jump in with responsive websites. It can seem overwhelming at first, but if someone starts off simple and builds things up slowly then they can learn the ins and outs of what they need in terms of "responsive" design as their website grows. It's certainly worth experimenting with!

The bottom line: a good theme developer makes all the difference in the world. Find a good, helpful, savvy responsive theme developer and his/her work makes your life sooo much easier. I grateful to Will every day.

kpryce2

Mitch,

Me too re Will - we've exchanged several long emails today and his patient guidance is terrific. I think for the moment I've got all the Responsive elements I need, and with past experience on "Flashy" stacks I shan't be tempted to jump in and buy again - just because someone claims they are 'now' Responsive.