My site is about ready to go live finally in the new year but I want to spend the next month or so ensuring it's at it's best. Top of my list is to get it fully useable with mobile devices. Problem is I don't even use a mobile phone myself and don't know where to start.
What should I do and how much should I expect to spend ?
I'll be starting up only using paypal for payments and I'm using the standard skin in the latest pro version.
Cs-cart offers a mobile application called Twigmo. [url=“https://www.cs-cart.com/twigmo.html”]https://www.cs-cart.com/twigmo.html[/url]
Many people in the forum are using it. I personally have not seen a need for such an application. The current cs-cart 3 web sites render fine and works fine in all modern mobile phone and Ipads.I have not seen a need to create a 'dumbed down' version just for mobile devices.
With that said, you do need to ensure your web site renders and functions okay in mobile devices, which unless you deviate to far from the default skin, should work fine.
[quote name='Triplets' timestamp='1349970614' post='146864']
I personally have not seen a need for such an application. The current cs-cart 3 web sites render fine and works fine in all modern mobile phone and Ipads.I have not seen a need to create a 'dumbed down' version just for mobile devices.
[/quote]
I totally agree. I went back from having a mobile site to having none, because I felt like people were missing out getting the limited mobile version. I guess it's ok if you sell parts or something that people order blindly and often, but if you sell something your customers want to read about …
Well that all sound great, I'll be checking that out and if I find different I'll report back here, thanks.
Product Features in popup windows don't work with Twigmo for various reasons I assume.
But all being said, yes kinda broken.
Triplets & Flow (Excellent potential DJ collaboration here)
Thank you, you saved me hours of research for what I already knew was true.
I hope I can repay the favor one day.
I did the mobile version and got no better conversions, in fact due to the nature of the site with a lot of product options it wasnt user friendly at all.I tested it lots with myself and most of our 30+ staff tried and all agreed std site was best My opinion is if you have customised items it can be a detriment.
John
Is there any way that people on mobile could be served static pages that are processed and updated each day/hr? Rather then having all the scripts running everytime someone visits my page, they would be served a prerendered version.
Mobile use of the internet will surpass desktop use very soon, and from what I've read, Google smiles on sites that cater to mobile users and render pages that are more friendly to smaller screens, so I wouldn't so easily dismiss the need for a mobile friendly site. Typically I get more people viewing my marketing emails on phones than on desktops and a good number of people who open emails on smartphones click through to my site on their mobile device.
I've also read that Google will begin to penalize sites in their search results that are not mobile friendly. Don't know how much credibility to put in that but it's worth thinking about.
Well the future lies in responsive design, and the future for all other cms and ecommerce plattfroms is already here…
I am happy to see that all cs-cart skins (no more than 6 at the time) offered in themeforest are responsive, and I think this will speed up a little things over at Simbirsk about making CS-Cart responsive out of the box.
Bootstrap is a responsive capable framework and its timeto use it! (http://kb.cs-cart.co…-with-bootstrap)
I personally dont see any other way solving this, twigmo is not a final solution if you want to go large (like wordpress for example)
Yes, I am waiting for CS-Cart to become responsive out of the box before updating to the 4.x branch. It's my understanding that will happen at 4.1, is that correct?
In the meantime I am using Seonid's mobile skin.
Well
as the cs-cart architect wrote on Nov 13 213 at [url=“Petition: Lets get the Responsive Layout happening! - General Questions - CS-Cart Community Forums”]Petition: Lets get the Responsive Layout happening! - General Questions - CS-Cart Community Forums
[color=#282828][font=arial, verdana, tahoma, sans-serif]“I know that CS-Cart team has plans for developing a responsive layout, and some day it will be released.[/font][/color]
[color=#282828][font=arial, verdana, tahoma, sans-serif]They offer Twigmo as the only mobile product at the moment.[/font][/color]
[color=#282828][font=arial, verdana, tahoma, sans-serif]But in future our clients will choose between unification with a responsive layout and a specialized high-speed mobile application.”[/font][/color]
[color=#282828][font=arial, verdana, tahoma, sans-serif]And again the Admin CEO Adminstrators on the same day[/font][/color]
[color=#282828][font=arial, verdana, tahoma, sans-serif]"Responsive theme is currently in work. It will be added with of one the major releases in early 2014.[/font][/color]
[color=#282828][font=arial, verdana, tahoma, sans-serif]So I wouldn't hold my breath for now…[/font][/color]
I would expect responsive design to be the heart of V4.1.1. Otherwise, what's the point of bootstrap?
If I recall, the date for V4.1.1 was last published as end of Jan-14. I wish they'd stop posting dates. It just puts people on hold and then they start complaining about not having something when they expect it. I'd much rather release dates were driven by functional and quality factors.
[quote name='tbirnseth' timestamp='1389148049' post='174687']
I would expect responsive design to be the heart of V4.1.1. Otherwise, what's the point of bootstrap?
[/quote]
The 'WOW' factor in their (as yet) feeble marketing attempts for the software. Why it won't include fully responsive designs: Twigmo, because it can/may already be a cash cow for those wanting a store which meets user demand.
[quote name='tbirnseth' timestamp='1389148049' post='174687']
If I recall, the date for V4.1.1 was last published as end of Jan-14. I wish they'd stop posting dates. It just puts people on hold and then they start complaining about not having something when they expect it. I'd much rather release dates were driven by functional and quality factors.
[/quote]
Agreed, but at least the lesson has been learnt, I won't be passing any information on to clients which may effectively cause their projects to go other ways.
I think it will be a while until you see a responsive design supported natively in CS Cart. I was under the impression that 4.1.1 was about SaaS and bug fixing?
Responsive design or not, Twigmo is not the answer. it's a bad attempt at a good idea. In addition to that the cost is ridiculous, especially if you run 5+ stores and have thousands of products per store.
Well it's been sometime since I started this thread so as it's popped back I thought I would post my own conclusions.
Bare in mind my site might be different to yours, my customer different. Main reason being my items tend to be used and so large high quality images help sell and so viewing on a phone is not likely to be my target.
I resoved my own concerns by sticking a resonsive Wordpress theme on the frontend. Cs-cart look find on tablets and in most cases any issues are down to the browser or the connection used. I don't take much notice of “I've heard or I've read” when it comes to Google, in fact I don't take much notice of google. The main reason is anything I do is unlikely to control what they do, I just have put up with the mess they create. My traffic comes from mainly social media and in turn if google are doing their job this shouls take care of ranking.
I have no current plans to implement any other features designed for screens less then ten inches. If I was I would setup a completely seperate shop designed for that size and forward people to it. I don't trust responsive code to create what I want it's as simple as that. For example if I have 50 products on a page I don't want an endless scroll of those. I would prefer to use read code to page one at a time.
There ya go.
Another way to do it is to have a custom mobile version done. I just managed a project that we did that for and it turned out awesome. The whole store is custom, which made it so the mobile version was even more custom than just a skin. I'd be happy to share the URL and the details with anyone that is interested. I didn't do the mobile version, so I'm not trying to drum up business for myself. I just want to share what is possible. Just PM me if you are interested.
Thanks,
Brandon