Wordpress Blogs on iPhone or iPod Touch?
Have you happened to think about what happens to the iPhone and iPod Touch users when they visit your blog? Well, if you don’t know, let me explain. Basically, the entire page is loaded up and fitted to a 3.5″ display. In order to read your posts they have to use their fingers to zoom in on the post and scroll side to side. Doesn’t that sound somewhat boring?
Well, theres a twist because theres a plug-in called WPtouch by BraveNewCode that will make life a lot easier for your iPhone and iPod Touch users. What this plug-in essentially does is, it automatically displays your blog in an iPhone compatible theme when it recognizes that the user is using an iPhone or iPod Touch.
It also allows them to switch between the customized iPhone view or the Normal View so its easy to flip back if they rather see it in normal view. The best part is that its highly customizable from the Wordpress Admin panel. The plug-in was really simple to install and just needed to be activated for it to work.
To demonstrate, I whipped out my Flip Mino and did a small tutorial on an iPod Touch.
So now that you realize what this can do for your readers, you may want to install WPtouch . The reason is that very soon there will be a large number of iPhone and possibly iPod Touch users and you wouldnt want to disappoint them by having them zoon into portions of your blog. Many major websites such as FatWallet, Facebook, Google and even Twitter have an iPhone specific design. So if you want to keep up with the times, add this plug-in and make life a little more easier for your iPhone and iPod Touch users.
Note: I apologize for the brightness issues with the Touch. It seemed as though if I made it brighter it wasnt too clear but if I lowered the brightness then it would act as a mirror of everything else but the screen. Hopefully its clear enough considering I dont have any fancy lenses or anything.
Wow, that is pretty neat. I didn’t know that such a plugin existed out there.
Nice video too, was nice to see it in action. Perhaps it would be a wise choice to add this plugin to my list.
Thanks a lot.
Thanks for the comment. Its a great plugin to have considering that the number of iPhone users will soon be much higher.
Thanks for sharing this.
No problem. You have a great blog there.
I will have to maybe check this out…I have been considering figuring out a way to optimize my site for mobile browsers, PDA’s, cell phones, etc, but just haven’t thought that the market was big enough yet.
Does this plugin work for other browsers (IE Windows Mobile) or just iPod stuff? Perhaps there is a way to change some code and make it work for other devices?
This one is strictly for the iPhone and iPod touch. I will be working on a theme for Windows Mobile users sometime soon so lets see how that works.
it would be great if there were a single solution for iPhone/iTouch, Windows Mobile, and other cell phone browsers all in one simple package.
Yeah, I’m going to look into the Windows Mobile section for a plug-in and if I find something, you’ll see a post about it.
I like how your blog appears with the plugin enabled.
Do you have the stats, how many readers are coming to your blog using iPhone?
Thanks Hendry. I believe around 6% of my readers use an iPhone or an iPod Touch. I’m sure the numbers vary depending on which blogger you pick. Hopefully this helps you out.