rsponsive vs mobile template

[DarkAngel]

We have many responsive templates to choose from and I was wondering if anyone is going to be making a separate mobile template. I think that would be one that takes over when it detects the viewer is on a mobile device.


It would be something to think about for those of that have many mods and have customized their stores a lot.

I know there are some other software makers that have them already, for blogs and galleries.

[schoolboy]

Ive heard that Jose, at Ultimate Zencart has been working on such an animal. It will be a commercial offering no doubt, but you could check it out.

[DarkAngel]

thanks schoolboy, I was hoping for something from this forum would tackle/was tackling it. I think it would be very beneficial cause sometimes although the templates are responsive and beautiful, they either come equipped with extras that we normally do not have as mods. Or when other mods are installed that may change sizes we need to adjust the @min-width and if ya don't know how to edit the responsive end you are totally SOL cause you do not get the information to do it, just get told what you need to look at.

Also Google can drive you crazy cause they sometimes do not "see" the template as responsive or then there mobility detector will say they are not mobile friendly due to links being too small, text being too small and close together AND even when you view the site on a cell phone (Android for instance) and see it is fine...they claim there are some things out of the borders and too wide. This makes for confusing info.

Having this mod would be an asset so we can keep our template for web and use the additional that will indeed detect the mobile item being used

[schoolboy]

We've been looking at a lot of options for responsiveness. All have their avantages - and draw-backs, but it is clear to me that jquery mobile is probably the way to go, because it negates the need to have a completely new template - AND it is a lot more "efficient" in terms of page-speed on mobile devices.

The main challenge with a "responsive" template is that they are CSS and JS "hungry", as this code does a hell of a lot of hiding and re-shaping of page elements. This can seriously affect page-speed - which is now one of Google's main evaluation criteria.

We're also looking at NUMINIX's "tableau" template, where minification and cache features compensate for heavy CSS and JS.

As with all templates, you will need to tweak the CSS for margins, padding and line-height in order to satisfy Google's need to have sufficient space between clickable elements.

There is no "one-size-fits-all" (yet).

While there may be a preference to finding "free" resources, we take the view that we are running a commercial operation, and a poorly-functioning site affects revenue. We look at what we are LOSING, rather than what a commercial module is COSTING - and when you take this view - and do some numbers, spending a few pounds on a good commercial module/template/solution is the best route (in a business sense).

What if you were running a transport company, and 5 out of 6 of your trucks were inoperable because the tyres are flat?

Do you skimp and keep applying cheap n nasty puncture repair patches (which fail frequently and result in more down-time), or do you just go buy new tyres? Without an efficient truck, you're not going to transport anything, and your customers will just go find a company who has trucks that work.

[DarkAngel]

Thanks for chiming in schoolboy.

I have been trying almost all the responsive templates that are offered here. I noticed on the one that I finally got to behave, so far that is, after editing text/slight image sizes decrease in them and amount of them and buttons edited which did not break it...yet.

There were all sorts of things that would not behave and demos showed things perfectly aligned yet when installed the product pages were not aligned and when following the advice to edit the code -- the template proceeded to break and not go back, even after files were brought back to original totally.

I also noticed that the JS was a lot and although Google thinks they are the end all, be all to getting sites ranked they are not happy. Using their webmaster tools and checking the sites to see if they are considered mobile, they ultimately fail for text too small/ links too close together and not finger friendly..what I could do with that last statement...LOL

Then there are some that when checked for responsiveness again Google says they are not.

I also tried a mobile template I found for free that says if you like the free version you will love the full version....well I did not. I tried it on a live store and none of the products showed up, it claimed to be empty. Then when uninstalling it...the SQL worked flawlessly, the template was removed totally, however, the CSS_JS Loader was still there even after removing all its files/installer.

I am so disillusioned with responsive it just is not funny....and yet Google also intimated that if sites/stores are not responsive/mobile friendly they will be ignored.

I --at the moment--am not financially able to buy a responsive template but with the ones that have not functioned properly I can't see paying for something that may be iffy at best. Spending money to make money is a great idea but it needs to work or you have wasted your money.

I totally understand too that if one is not knowledgeable with the responsive end that we ask questions but many just give vague answers and not really helpful...we are learning this stuff and some that know it more just do not wish to help out with what to do where and about how much to set a setting for.

But my mama did not give birth to a quitter and like that dog withs bone we just keep on trucking.

[schoolboy]

We're busy testing sheffield responsive blue (picflor) on a "clone" of our main website.

see: http:// ngraving . co . uk - original site at http:// tagmakers . co . uk

to see its responsiveness (ngraving site), you can just "re-size" the browser. You have to either look at it in a "real" mobile device, or through an emulator such as http://troy.labs.daum.net

Running this test site through Google Pagespeed testing tool, we're almost there - but like you, we need to adjust space between clickable elements.

We're probably going to use Sheffield Blue Responsive as it satisfies many of Google's requirements.

Also, if you try to satisfy EVERYTHING google throws at you you will never succeed. Google is using electronic automatons to make assessments in these "tools", and they will always come up with something that's not quite "satisfactory".

What we do is COMPARE ourselves against our competitors. We run their sites through these tools, then try to make sure we are scoring better than they are. The "logic" here is that we only really need to be better than the competition, so when the bunfight for ranking (in our sector) begins, we're more likely to be ahead if our ranking criteria scores are higher than theirs.

[rbarbour]

Yes, great article but IMO most statements are statistically incorrect and a matter of opinion.

On April 21st Google changed their algorithm to benefit mobile friendly websites. That is, if your website meets Google’s specific requirements to be considered mobile friendly, your website was to benefit from better rankings on searches and a small notice stating Mobile Friendly next to your site would be displayed. Google’s only concern is to enhance their users' mobile surfing experience.

Meeting Google's specific requirements will only benefit you for device specific searches "Mobile Searches" and has nothing to do with search results from other devices. They are serving up "Mobile Friendly" results first on mobile devices but continue to serve up their normal results when searching via any other device.

You have to consider the fact that not everyone has a high speed connection, and users do not like waiting for pages to load. With a responsive website that is difficult to do, because the CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is designed to just hide the portions of the site that are too big for mobile devices.

Statistically speaking "Yes" this is how RWD works!

But the responsive templates offered here (not sure about the numinix template) include mobiledetect which allows you to load "device specific" modules, templates, define pages, banners, images, ect. so hiding elements when a user of a desktop shrinks it's browser, yes but if visited by a mobile device can prevent the loading on together.

In addition, by adding a responsive web design template to your site you are actually rebuilding your entire site. Your customers are already accustomed to your website look and your branding when they visit on their desktop systems, and you're changing it for no reason.

Totally not true, a RWD is just the opposite.

Mobile websites work differently in the sense that they first detect whether the user is viewing the site from a mobile device, then load the required content.

So does the responsive templates offered here in the forum (not sure about the numinix template).

Again, great article but IMO it was wrote specifically to promote/sell MobiZenCart!

[barco57]

I agree with rbarbour, good article but Jose has a product too sell...

[angst]

Schoolboy,
Your Sheffield Blue variation at ngraving co uk is exactly what I have been looking for.
I have been fiddling with that Sheffield Blue template for a couple days and have dug through the support thread but can not figure out how to ditch the slideshow. Where did you go to take that out entirely?
Im also wanting to take out the social media buttons all together. The documentation gives directions that seem to relate to an earlier version.

[picaflor-azul]

Schoolboy,
Your Sheffield Blue variation at ngraving co uk is exactly what I have been looking for.
I have been fiddling with that Sheffield Blue template for a couple days and have dug through the support thread but can not figure out how to ditch the slideshow. Where did you go to take that out entirely?
Im also wanting to take out the social media buttons all together. The documentation gives directions that seem to relate to an earlier version.

That site is using the new version 2.0 of the template package. You can turn off the slide show in the admin. See the template readme.html file for instructions.

Thanks,

Anne