The Issue
On-line shoppers will soon be as likely to approach your site through a mobile phone or tablet as on a PC. If they do so their screen will be smaller and their download and upload speeds less than any webpage designed for the PC will comfortably adapt to.
Not only that, but the scene is changing so quickly that we can guess that whatever we do will need updating in the not-too-distant future.
The Current State of Affairs
What is also evident is that this whole area is in a state of flux.
What is also evident is that this whole area is in a state of flux.
Aside from the difficulty in posing the question to Google or the Drupal forums 'themes for mobiles?', 'reactive themes?' the industry has yet to settle on a terminology for themes that adapt themselves to the capacities of the users hardware.
I have found two basic terms:
- Adaptive themes and
- Responsive Themes
containing relevant - if baffling - material. The current state of flux in this area means that is highly likely there are other names used elsewhere within Drupal.
What's new?
The Two Basic Requirements
Detection
The first requirement is that we can detect the capabilities of the in-coming user's equipment. Here we are helped by the fact that that equipment will usually rely on a specific web browser to function on the net. HTML5, I am told, has the facility to detect the incoming browser but the documentation for 'AdaptiveTheme' says that
The first requirement is that we can detect the capabilities of the in-coming user's equipment. Here we are helped by the fact that that equipment will usually rely on a specific web browser to function on the net. HTML5, I am told, has the facility to detect the incoming browser but the documentation for 'AdaptiveTheme' says that
The get_browser() function can be used to tell what a visitor's browser is capable of. Unfortunately, the version provided by PHP has a number of limitations, namely:
- It can be difficult or impossible to configure for shared hosting environments.
- The data used to identify browsers and determine their capabilities requires consistent maintenance to keep up-to-date.
It recommends the Browscap module though when we tried to use it it generated a whole page of error messages. We used the Themekey module which purports to do the same thing.
Differentiation
Then we used the 'AdaptiveTheme' theme which offers you differing page layouts for different media. Out of the box it accommodates:
Then we used the 'AdaptiveTheme' theme which offers you differing page layouts for different media. Out of the box it accommodates:
- Standard
- Tablet and
- Smartphone
And in Tablet and Smartphone offers 'Landscape' and 'Portrait' options.
Other Facilities
There are about six or eight themes in Drupal that are either classed as "Adaptive" or "Responsive" and with themes this sophisticated there are many 'settings' for the Webmaster to play with - far too many you might think.
There are about six or eight themes in Drupal that are either classed as "Adaptive" or "Responsive" and with themes this sophisticated there are many 'settings' for the Webmaster to play with - far too many you might think.
The AD Commercial theme offers 3 basic colour schemes and what it calls 'custom'. None of them are particularly attractive but there is wide scope for you to morph a standard into something more in keeping with your needs.
Also some of these more sophisticated open-source themes are part of a complex commercial suite offering commercial modules to provide shopping trolleys, matrix screens to better show off your products and services.
As entrepreneurs yourselves, you can hardly criticize other entrepreneurs trying to sell a valuable product!
Computer-Virgin.net and MyWebTrade.net are two complementary wiki sites which take the new entrepreneur step by step through the processes of planning a new business, setting it up, and finally getting it up and running on the internet.
They are the brain-child of Roger Webb, a retired CEO of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) with a track record of turning around a large number of companies and autonomous subsidiaries both in Europe and the Third World.
They are the brain-child of Roger Webb, a retired CEO of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) with a track record of turning around a large number of companies and autonomous subsidiaries both in Europe and the Third World.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Roger_J_Webb
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7521369
ليست هناك تعليقات:
إرسال تعليق