Not much in the recent past, having a responsive website that works on desktop and mobile devices used to be an option. Today, it is outright necessary.
Even when people are using your website at first, they will flock to your competitors if they are offered the convenience of browsing / using their website from a mobile platform. It is the new internet access point, and surpasses desktop usage by huge numbers. Fact is that 25% of all search queries are done on a mobile device. Obviously, Mobile is big.
Amongst all this, a vast number of companies are making efforts to leverage the mobile platform (including the rush for a responsive website). Companies who have adopted the mobile strategy have reported more than 35% increase in visitors after refreshing their site with the responsive design which focuses on content, speed and overall user experience.
In mobile scenarios where responsive design is not present, users are generally frustrated by slow loading times and other issues such as visibility, access to action icons etc. They complain that the website is not optimized for mobile use.
Steering the story to WordPress, it has managed to distinguish itself as one of the most accessible, manageable and easy to use CMS solution. It is the prime platform for a corporate website, blog, magazine or an ecommerce store. It’s hard to beat its appeal as there are multiple themes, extensive support and useful plugins.
As per a report, close to 48% of Technorati’s Top 100 blogs and over 74.6 million sites in total (and the number is growing) are managed with WordPress. Moreover, there are 29,000 WordPress plugins already published (and hundreds are in development)
Now, combining both these stories, we talk of WordPress sites/blogs on mobile. Instead of getting your users frustrated you can get them to enjoy the experience, be a regular visitor on your site, engage with you, and convert. For all WordPress users out there, here are a few plugins to help make your website responsive:
1. WordPress Mobile Pack 2.0
This plugin allows you to boost your user experience up a notch and make your WordPress website look and feel like a mobile application. You can package and deliver your content across platforms, operating systems and devices. With this you enjoy a cross platform access, responsive UI and a ready made theme with abstract covers post sync. Moreover, you can customize appearance including colors and fonts. You can also integrate with analytics and have a full screen mode for those who want to access the applied theme on desktop, cool isn’t it??
Requirement: WordPress version 3.5 or higher.
Through the use of responsive themes, MobilePress makes your website responsive. Along with mobile friendly settings, you can install customized themes with this plugin. It has adopted the idea that a lot of future mobile devices will support simple themes.The fact is that this idea actually works and little simplicity does no harm as most mobile designs are very simple anyway. Moreover, if there was a lag between displaying the right theme on detecting the right browser, this plugin wouldn’t have any lag. This powerful plugin has themes that suit all major operating systems and web browsers and does not even need regular updates.
All in all, this is the simplest way of making your website mobile friendly.
Aside from giving you a mobile responsive design, Jeptack supercharges your website and delivers a lot more. There a whopping 33 specific features making JetPack more than a plugin. It’s the package you, as a site owner cannot do without. The basic “Mobile theme” feature can be used to optimize the WordPress site for mobile devices. Apart from that, there is the ability of using contact forms, custom CSS, transforming your image galleries with Carousel, and much more. Moreover, if you are familiar with CSS and bit PHP coding, you can further customize your theme.
“Photon”, the site verification tool accelerates the site speed. Also, there is direct integration with Google+ page.
Even though the name is a bit quirky, when you look for it in the plugin directory, you know what it is all about. Load your mobile themes and setup the plugin. It looks at your website it detects the browser being used and sends the right theme to accommodate it. You are allowed to show different home pages for different mobile devices. This can be very handy when you are trying to sell to Apple or Blackberry users. It enables mobile bookmarking with QR codes and works with W3 Total Cache.
Another one on our list that will help you turn your WordPress website into a mobile only website. Even if you access the website on a desktop, it will look the same way it does on a mobile device. However, it might actually be suitable for your desktop website, in case you do not need a lot of functions on the same. It is a plausibly good idea.
However you must not adopt this plugin if your current mobile theme is currently a “brought down” version of the bigger desktop website (ex: the Facebook mobile website). However, if you do choose a mobile-only website version, the process of changing your website becomes a lot easier with this.
This plugin is being used by more than 5.5 million blogs (and counting). It is an entire suite that is mobile response focussed and is faster than responsive sites with touch enhancements which are ready for multi screen and a crisp retina interface.
The best part is that is features an “Infinity Cache” that used mobile caching to make websites extremely fast. Image scaling is done via. CSS and it delivers mobile optimized images according to the device. Extensions are used much like the addons within a plugin to deliver seperate content for mobile devices alongwith images and faster performance.
The best for the last. This is one of those versatile plugins that will make your website mobile friendly in a few seconds. The best part about it is that it makes your website compatible with almost all mobile platforms. And this is a remarkable feat, by all standards.
It can boost the usability of a website drastically by harnessing it’s powerful features. The most sophisticated features include
a) Mobile friendly navigation b) Integration with mobile advertising c) Advanced pagination
d) Dynamic resizing of images
Concluding words:
With all these super awesome and utile plugins at your service, we are sure you will not have any hassles in converting your WordPress desktop based site into a responsive mobile site.
Author
Addison Cohen is a mobile app developer working with Appsted Ltd, the leading mobile applications development services provider which delivers most comprehensive mobile application solutions. He loves sharing latest information on mobile technologies like iOS, Android development processes.