[jamesosix]

Hey guys

A client of mine needs his website to be mobile friendly, but the sad truth is - it isnt.

The site uses things like flash (embeded music from soundcloud) etc and none of these work on androids. Where would I begin in turning his site into a mobile efficent site?

I thought about going the way of an app, that when a user visits his site and it detects its a mobile, it could redirect to a "install our free app now" kind of page. However, this would most likely turn people off, rather than on.

I just dont know where to even begin tackling this issue.

Any advice is (as always) appreciated.

Cheers guys

ps. site in question is http://musicbyleethomas.com/

[Ste Hughes]

I do these often. They sell quite well.

Set up a m.domain.com sub domain.

build the site specifically for the mobile devices.

then put a script on the main site to detect screen size. if it is lower than 520px wide I ask them if they would like to use the mobile version of the site. This means people on phones or smaller tablets are asked.

failing that just talk him into an entire redesign (sell him on flash is bad) and build something thats responsive. I think thats the future for mobile devices.

[jamesosix]

Good advice. The thing is his site is a wordpress site and tbh I just dont have the time to commit to essentially a second "mobile" site. Also he uses soundcloud to embed his music, and ideally he doesnt wanna lose listen stats, however if that couldnt be avoided, then i would suggest to him to upload and embed his music directly. Then there is also the management of it. He is hard work as it is, to get him to write new content and posts haha.

Ahh I just dunno. Thanks for the input

[Ste Hughes]

What about a plugin like WP Touch?

[jamesosix]

I actually installed it and its works per se. Just looks quite boring, and the options - well I dont get half of them. I guess there is multiple issues that need to be thought about. For example, wptouch does well at displaying his posts, but then the music doesnt play on android (due to flash limitations) so maybe having something that determines if its a non flash compatible device, then it serves the self hosted music? Hmm...

Thanks for your feedback once more

[francine87]

Bump! I just got asked by a client to do this as well but I'm pretty new to web dev (i.e., he currently has a flash website that he wants to work on his iPhone & iPad specifically). I've only had some experience in building sites with RWD from scratch but haven't ever dealt with redirecting sites.

@Ste Hughes:
CSS Tricks < I've been looking around to see what options there are... and was wondering if doing what you suggested ie.,create a mobile sub domain then redirecting the site as CSS Tricks suggested would make sense?

This post has been edited by francine87: 02 February 2012 - 09:06 PM

[Ste Hughes]

thats the script I use for it. Works well

Also OP - android is a flash enabled device? It should play flash no problems.

I have an android phone and tablet - both play flash content

[jamesosix]

Ste Hughes, on 03 February 2012 - 12:33 AM, said:

thats the script I use for it. Works well

Also OP - android is a flash enabled device? It should play flash no problems.

I have an android phone and tablet - both play flash content

certain android phones dont. Something to do with the tech the flash uses and the fact that certain androids cant handle the data or something.

I tried his site on my wildfire s and i get the old "application not supported" or something to that degree.

Personally speaking its quite bad how adobe have basically f****ed off a pretty big portion of certain android phones.

Unless, there has been an update. But last I heard was that adobe didnt have any fixes inline and blame the hardware on the phones..

edit:
yet youtube videos work..

go figure.

This post has been edited by jamesosix: 03 February 2012 - 04:44 PM

[Ste Hughes]

Well what are you going to do for iphones?

They do not support flash in anyway shape or form

[jamesosix]

Ste Hughes, on 03 February 2012 - 04:40 PM, said:

Well what are you going to do for iphones?

They do not support flash in anyway shape or form

that's exactly my concern. So far we have:
+ sound cloud integration (that obviously uses flash).
+ youtube embedded videos (flash)
- lots of iphone users (wild fire s users) who cant see or hear much of anything.

Imo the best solution will be self hosted version, but that means he will essentially have to update 2 sites at any given time - not to mention the extra bandwidth cost etc.

And the problem grows lol.

I am open to any and all suggestions how you guys would approach the problem(s).

This post has been edited by jamesosix: 03 February 2012 - 04:59 PM

[Renaissance-Design]

Soundcloud have released a HTML5 implementation of their widget, and YouTube are working on it.

[Ste Hughes]

why do you need the music? If i was on my phone searching for you and it starting kicking out music I would just press the back button

Also if I'm on a 3g connection I'm not likely to want to wait for a video to load or want its bandwidth on my bill.

Just me...

[jamesosix]

Ste Hughes, on 03 February 2012 - 05:20 PM, said:

why do you need the music? If i was on my phone searching for you and it starting kicking out music I would just press the back button

Also if I'm on a 3g connection I'm not likely to want to wait for a video to load or want its bandwidth on my bill.

Just me...

It doesnt just start. The user has to start it. Also If i am looking for a musician, and cant find a workable "music is here" link of some sort, i would click the back button.

Cheers RD Reading it now

[jamesosix]

cheers RD. Implemented that now. Hopefully html 5 video isnt far behind. For now the best solution is self hosted video...if that is the case, the site will work great on a mobile as it is Thanks again

[brightonimplant]

i think is the best way to using jquery instead of using embed flash files

[brightonimplant]

and if you want to use the site for mobile user friendly you should have to keep the site as much easy to load ...

[Private-I]

I'd make the website simple and mostly text based. design it for mobile phones only. too mnay websites are just converted to the mobile format without being designed for it.