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July 7, 2008
Your Church Web Site, 320x480
(Filed under: Web Sites)In case you live under a rock (or just aren't a slave to technology), an iPhone is about to set you back 199 George Washingtons. And they're predicting a whole bunch are going to sell.
So for all your webmasters out there, it's time to start seriously considering mobile versions of your site. But not volunteer webmasters, because we've already said that you should quit.
Heal Your Church Web Site has a guide up on how you can leverage the mobile web for the good of your church.
I personally love the idea of mobile church web sites. I'd love to be able to dial up my church's site on my phone to figure out what time the whatchamacallit was at. (link via Think Christian)
Posted by Joshua Cody at July 7, 2008 7:38 AM
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Comments
Nokia sells more phones in a week than all the iPhones that Apple and AT&T have sold since launch of the iPhone. Blackberry's have a significantly larger marketshare than the iPhone. So, the market for mobile web has existed long before the iPhone.
That said, I still haven't _volunteered_ to make a mobile version of Sojourn's website but I soon will. I know a number of friends at Sojourn will be getting data plans on their 3G iPhones this week and they've specifically requested to have a mobile version.
Posted by: Eric Atkins at July 7, 2008 6:29 AM
There is a REALLY good iPhone plugin for wordpress themes called "WPTOUCH", this is a very very simple way to make your blog readable on the iphone.
Posted by: Scott Fillmer at July 7, 2008 6:34 AM
1. Nokia may sell more phones, but no one cared about mobile internet use until Safari on the iPhone.
2.a. A special mobile version of your site is not needed if you built the site using standards based web design.
b. This is a great opportunity to trim the "suck" from your site. Get rid of silly animations and useless Flash.
Posted by: Fred Bauman at July 7, 2008 7:48 AM
Our church web site uses web standards (XHTML/CSS) and is built for a 1024px wide display. The iPhone renders the site beautifully in portrait or landscape modes. There is no need to maintain separate web sites if you are looking to target iPhone users. Just use web standards.
The current iPhone does not support Flash. I haven't heard from a reliable source that the 3G iPhone will have support for Flash. If you want to make your web site mobile, don't employ Flash.
In the month of June, only 0.5% of our site's visitors were using an iPhone. I wouldn't be surprised if some of that traffic was from me testing it. This percentage could be higher in the larger cities.
Posted by: Matt Leebert at July 7, 2008 10:54 AM
@Matt Leebert's comment (this is off topic, i know) - I'm noticing more and more sites being redesigned for 1024x768 screens. CMS readers - do you advise designing for 1024x768 resolutions now? Is it worth alienating stalwart 800x600 users? Just curious - at work we are now designing for the larger resolutions.
Posted by: Mike Talley at July 8, 2008 8:23 AM
@Mike - According to w3schools only 8% of users are still slogging around on 800x600. If you're doing a redesign I'd say it is safe to go 1024x768... unless your site tracking stats indicate you have a larger percentage with the 800x600 display.
Posted by: Ryan Burns at July 11, 2008 8:54 AM
Just came out in the BBC today that 40 million Americans browse the web from their mobile devices. 16% of phone users that is and it's only growing as awareness of it as an option increases.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7499340.stm
Posted by: Paul Prins at July 11, 2008 9:36 AM
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