Have you ever counted how many ways there are to offer a mobile version of your website? If you have a lot of time on your hands, you might want to use it to start compiling a list and while you’re at it, you might also want to establish which solutions actually work and which fail miserably.
Recently I have made a “mobile app” of/for the WP TIPS website. I am using quotes on purpose as it actually is not really an app, it is just made to look like one. As a matter of fact it is just a bookmark to a mobile site with a pretty icon. But as such it is still pretty cool and it works on many smartphones like iPhone, Android and even Blackberry and ones like Nokia and SonyEricsson.
The web app comes as a plugin, Weever Apps, that you can download from the WordPress Plugin Repository. For it to function, you need to apply for an API-key on the Weever Apps website.
Configuration
Once you have added the API-key into the settings, you can start configuring your mobile site. There are some video tutorials available, but most are catered towards use of the Joomla version which Weever was originally created for.
Adding Content
You can choose to add content from Pages or Posts. For WP TIPS I have chosen to show all Posts and next to that Posts from the specific categories. I have tried to show the About Page too, but that returned an error all the time and I got tired of trying so skipped that altogether. [Edit January 12: I actually tried publishing the About Page again and added two screenshots of yet another failed attempt.]
Furthermore you can add:
- Welcome – this is a bit weird as it only grabs content from an existing Page. The word would suggest that it would be some kind of “welcome to my app”-page, but the only way to accomplish that would be to publish a page and not show it on the desktop version of your site. Overly complicated so I skipped it.
- Social Media – only Facebook and Twitter (and Identi.ca whatever that is) at time of writing; Google+ integration was promised 2 months ago and hopefully will make it into the app sometime soon.
- Video – YouTube or Vimeo
- Photos – Foursquare venue photos, Flickr feed or photo sets, Picasa albums or Facebook albums
- Events – Google Calendar or Facebook Events
- Forms – WuFoo forms
As you can see from the above list, it’s great if you have content on aforementioned sites, but if you have not, your app’s resources quickly can become exhausted.
Social Sharing
Whether you like it or not, each Weever Apps web app comes with a Social Sharing screen. This page is also branded with the Weever Apps logo which clicks through to their own mobile demo site. It also shows a QR Code of which the function is a miracle to me as you cannot interact with it in any way.
Then there are 3 social media to share with, Twitter, Facebook and Google+, but unfortunately all of them open in a browser instead of in their respective apps. There is also an email button that sends nothing more than the link to the web app.
Images
Once you have added all the content to your web app, you will need to upload some humongously big PNG files that will be used as app loading screen. Make sure to keep those images as small as possible in image size as otherwise it will defeat the purpose. A handy tip not mentioned anywhere in the plugin is to upload the 144x144px image as an image with a nice contrasting background color and rounded corners. That image namely will become your app’s icon!
Styling
And then comes the styling of your app to sort of fit the desktop version of your site. Before you start with styling, please keep in mind that it will be a pretty frustrating task and don’t expect too much of it. To work on the styling they give you a link to your mobile app which you can open from your desktop computer and they advise you to use “inspect element” within a webkit browser. Even so the different classes and ids used with this plugin are confusing at best and I can only wish you good luck with that!
Auto detection
They say that the Weever web app will be auto-detected by all smart phones. I only have my Google Nexus S and mobile detection is definitely not working, so to overcome this problem I decided to implement the fantastic mobile detection script written by Andy Moore. The script gives you the option to choose the behavior in eight different scenarios and generates the code for you to add to the header.php of your theme.
QR Codes
To promote your new web app, Weever suggests the use of the QR Code they generate for you. However this QR Code is less than 100px high and wide and only 72dpi, so I don’t see how to add the code to “Business cards, flyers and more! Be creative!” will ever work. Also because the detection does not always work, I would suggest to take the URL of the app, shorten it and then run that shortlink through a QR Code Generator like for example GOQR.ME; this gives you the flexibility of choosing the size, so you’re not stuck with something you will not be able to use in printed media.
Premium versions
Next to the free version, Weever Apps also has a premium version and a white label version. The premium version costs USD 10 per month (or USD 99 per year) and basically offers map functionality and the ability to host the app from your own URL. I am sure it is very nice to be able to have an online interactive map coming with the app, especially for businesses in the hospitality industry, but I think it would have been nicer to offer a one-time license fee instead of returning fee. For the white label version Weever suggests that you can resell the app to your clients, but for USD 40 per month (or USD 199 per year) per website I honestly don’t see that happening.
Conclusion
After having played around with Weever Apps for a bit, I kind of like what it does even though you have to work within many restrictions. There is plenty of room for improvement in various aspects of this plugin and apart from the tricky choice of name (calling it something it definitely is not), it’s a handy tool to give your desktop site a simple mobile version.
What I probably like best is that although a frustrating process, you can sort of style it like the desktop version of your website. That is something that is definitely not possible with each and every mobile plugin out there.
What I also like is that people can save it as an “app” onto their smartphones and although it has hardly anything to do with a real app, it is still pretty cool that people eventually will have your logo somewhere on their phone, giving them the possibility to go straight to the mobile version of your site.
The third thing I like about it is that basically because it merely is a link to a website where the web app is running, it looks the same for all the mobile devices you choose to make it available for and that obviously saves you from some massive headaches.
In the end, you will have to choose for yourself whether Weever Apps is a viable alternative to a mobile solution for you. Let us know in the comments!
Seems pretty cool. I’m still trying to figure out exactly what I want to settle on for an app. I made one for VoodooPress using joemobi (I Keep meaning to write an article) that is OK. It’s an actual app…so that is neat. It definitely focuses on content… as in… in can’t be configured much. It picks up your posts and cats. Not very flexible, but it works well. I may have to try out this weever one for my personal site.
Hi Rev. Voodoo, appreciate your commenting here! I have downloaded your app (at last) and have realized that it indeed is much more of an app than making it with Weever ever will be. Then again, Weever has customization.
Yours also seems to be (a lot) faster than mine (even when in cache) and commenting is possible whereas on Weever comments are not even visible.
What I think is a plus of Weever over joemobi is that Weever is not Android focused only, but instead is “one serves all”; I seem to remember that you wrote that yours is an Android app only?
Well, try it out and let me know your findings.
Hey there. JoeMObi actually gives you Android and Blackberry currently. Support is coming for iOS soon, and also html5. They are pretty new, but expanding. It seems a lot of folks are getting into offering the apps. Each one has it’s ups and downs. Until I learn how to make my own app, it’s a tradeoff I’ll have to live with!!
Thanks for the review!
Couple of responses:
- The ‘Welcome’ tab is a slideshow feature, where you can rotate through individual posts you wish to highlight for incoming visitors. We’ll have to make that more clear.
- We use PNG file that are twice as big as needed for most smart phone so you can get that nice “2x resolution” effect on iPhones and other forthcoming devices. This makes the graphics look really sharp on these screens.
- We actually are working on a QR Code generator this week to allow you to get those images at a higher resolution for print materials. That said, the primary QR is just a link to your site, so it’s easy enough to get a high-rez custom QR anywhere.
One thing I have to take issue with is the idea that “apps” only exist when we use the definition provided popularly by Apple. In fact, much of the original vision of the ‘app store’ was based on the idea of “web apps” – a bit like Weever Apps – and then changed to meet a combination of industry interests (and the inherent profitability of a’walled garden’ model.)
HTML5-based apps are still apps – touch-based, responsive mobile interactions that ‘feel’ like shuffling a deck of cards, have a persistent navigation and tab bar, and more.
Our apps aren’t emulations of existing apps but a preview into what most apps will look like within a few years, today – almost every industry analysis suggests disruptive, displacing growth in HTML5 app technologies. It makes sense – why have one app for one device – when HTML5 can provide an app for almost all of the popular touch phones and tablets out there?
Also, HTML5 has offline mode (something we’re working on), and web apps have access to GPS/Accelorometer phone functions and most of what other apps have. We don’t have access to the camera/media yet – but this is just an artificial barrier put up by Apple et. al – and it will probably be removed one day.
Anyway, just my thoughts and we certainly appreciate both the positive comments and critical feedback. Thanks again!
Andrew H.
Lead Designer, Weever Apps
Dear Andrew, thanks for stopping by and leaving a couple of responses!
Andrew, I had another look at the Welcome tab and I honestly cannot figure out how that can be made into a “slideshow feature, where you can rotate through individual posts you wish to highlight for incoming visitors”.
The only 2 options it gives me are linking it to an existing page or linking it to “another R3S item (Advanced)”. See screenshot.
To my understanding I would have to make a special welcome page, publish it, but don’t show it on the desktop version and then use that page as welcome tab for the “app”. Of course I will then still have to overcome the problem of Pages not picking up at all as described in my Review (Adding Content).