I have a desktop site which works fine and which my guests frequently comment favourably on. The theme is supposedly responsive, but actually the site doesn’t work well on mobiles. I’ve experimented with making the desktop version more mobile-friendly, but I lose a lot of information which I think is necessary for desktop users. However as I run a B&B it’s important that the basic information (location/contact details/easy online booking) is readily available and easy to find on a mobile.
So I am planning on making a new site optimised for mobiles, using the same key images and heavily edited blurb, but with easy contact details and booking engine.
It seems that to do this I need to use Mobilize, from Joe Workman - yes? I use it to insert the script into the new mobile website, install it in a subdomain and the job’s done - yes? And I keep the original website - yes?
When making a responsive site, you always have to be sure the content is responsive as well. If you do not have Stacks 3 (get it now), then the basic image and column stacks are NOT responsive (they are in version 3). So you would need a responsive column or image stack. Also, if you are self hosting videos, you would need to get a responsive video stack. Good thing there are many good stacks out there to help you, but you can always get the Responsive Bundle which has them all in one group. The nice thing about Joe’s responsive layout stacks is there is a Show/Hide stack that allows you to hide content on screen sizes. There are other stacks by other developers out there as well, again, only if you are in Stacks 2.
Mobilize is from Nimblehost, not Joe, but is a good way to make a desktop and mobile site. You will need to use a mobile theme though.
As far as I know, Mobilize is offered by NimbleHost. Otherwise, yes, you should be able to achieve what you want with Mobilize. But I would check out their web site for more reliable info.
Thanks Zeebe. Yes, you’re right: the site was originally laid out about five years ago so isn’t really up to date. I used blocks too, which I assume are very responsive unfriendly!
Nevertheless my guests tell me that they like my site and find it easy to navigate and easy to drill down to find the information they want. Also there are sections which are far wordier than I would normally think was good practice, but it’s there to answer questions and does serve a purpose.
So in this case making a special, very pared-down, mobile version makes sense. I’ve found a couple of themes which will work well, but before I spent hours creating a special site I wanted to check I’d understood!
Rovertek: I’ve downloaded the PDF and studied their website, but just wanted to be sure I’d understood. Happily it seems I have!