Programming .Mobi – Mobile Websites

Are you a programmer? What programming languages are you using currently – C#.net, Java, PHP, Perl, Ruby, SQL … don’t worry – you got some new career opportunities in mobile web site development too.

Even though all the above mentioned programming languages can be used, I strongly suggest going with PHP-MYSQL combination – because of its tremendous advantages in dynamic content design and delivery.

Also – the Wordpress, Joomla and other Content Management Engines mostly follow PHP-MYSQL as preferred programming. Personally, PHP-MYSQL programming is very easy to learn, and a average developer can do wonders in 10 days with right challenges.

• XHTML and CSS knowledge - required – Very important but can be easily handled with Dreamweaver type of Software Tools.


• Javascript knowledge - required – but can be handled with customizing available downloaded code blocks.


• SQL – required – Database Programming, Query based applications.


• XML – required – to handle simple and complex data structures


• Knowledge in using popular IDE tools for PHP – this reduces development time by instant help, and programming support.


• Preferred knowledge – HTML 5, Mobile detection using WURFL, Multimedia and Streaming, Mobile Wordpress, Location Detection, Widget Design Patterns, Mobile SEO and Social Features and MIME Types for Mobile content.

I strongly suggest having a code library for all required functionalities, so that the plug-and-execute can happen with little or no modification.

Wordpress Blogs on the go…

Are you traveling without computer access, and you want to post a blog entry? Are you using a mobile phone with internet access – here you got an interesting utility for mobile devices – “Wordpress Mobile Apps”.

Wordpress for Mobile is available for all flavors –including iOS, Windows Phone 7, Andriod, Blackberry and Nokia. You have to simply download and install using appropriate stores.

URL : http://wordpress.org/extend/mobile/

You can create blog entries, edit, delete, approve or reject comments, do some administration and also can upload and share media components from your mobile [based on your network capacity].

I downloaded and installed for Nokia platform, wordmobi – works on python + pips framework.

Try it and share your views.

Wordpress Mobile Pack – advanced .Mobi Development

Wordpress Mobile pack is another very powerful complete toolkit, to help mobilize the corporate Wordpress Site. It comes with excellent mobile switcher, to select themes based on the type of the user, that is visiting the site, a selection of mobile themes, extra widgets, device adaptation and a mobile administration panel to allow users to edit the site or write new posts when out and about.

Note: PHP 5.x is also highly recommended, although the plugin also works with PHP 4.3.

Some extraordinary features include:

• A set of advanced themes for Nokia and WebKit devices, designed by Forum Nokia. These also look beautiful on Android, iPhone and Palm devices


• Standards adherence, ensuring that mark-up is valid XHTML-MP 1 and the site scores 5 on mobiReady.


• Device adaptation, including the rescaling of images, intelligent splitting of articles and posts into multiple pages, the simplifaction styles, and the removal of non-supported media.


• A mobile admin panel, that allows the blog managers to access the admin interface via a mobile device, with simplified access to the most common features such as editing a post or approving comments.


• Mobile analytics, allowing you to track your mobile traffic with PercentMobile, and view simple local traffic tallies


• A mobile ad widget to easily enable mobile ads with AdMob or Google's Mobile Adsense.

WordPress and .Mobi Development

Wordpress is a well known name in cross platform open source blog publishing application market. It uses PHP and MYSQL – and it can be used as Content Management System also.  It has many features including plug-in architecture and custom templates – best for beginners to advance level users.

Wordpress is providing Mobile template and functional extensions for .mobi development.  Wordpress Mobile Edition is a Plug-in that shows an interface designed for a mobile device, when visitors come to your side on mobile devices. Mobile Browsers are automatically detected using WURFL, the list of mobile browsers can be customized on the settings page.

The Installation is very simple – just like all other Wordpress Plug-ins

• Drop the wp-mobile.php file in your wp-content/plugins directory


• Drop the carrington-mobile-(version #) directory in your wp-content/themes directory


• Click the 'Activate' link for WordPress Mobile Edition on your Plugins page (in the WordPress admin interface)

Mobile template themes can be created, and customized for your business requirements. You can also add other plug-ins such as RSS feeds, Micro Blog Panel etc. You can create and edit pages to customize the PHP/XHTML content – add your Facebook Badges, LinkedIN profile connecters etc.

Visit my Mobile blog – http://m.gvmuthu.com – I created it using Wordpress – just as a beginner. Share your comments and suggestions – let me see, how best I can improve it.