In case if you are reading this on your Mobile device, by now you would have got used to the nicer mobile interface powered by our mobile site m.technofriends.in. For the mobile site, we are using a relatively new, but very easy to use service from a Bangalore based MobileMotion. The product (now in private beta) is called MobStac Blogger and in this article, i will walk you through the very simple process of setting up the mobile edition of your blog and the features provided by the product.
As the service is in private beta, you must use the coupon code TECHNOFAN when signing up for the service (as mentioned in the steps below).
Features provided by MobStac Blogger
1.) Solution provided by MobStac Blogger works on all mobile phones and not just the iPhone. I was using the WP-Touch wordpress theme earlier (which did worked well), but have now shifted to MobStac Blogger and would recommend you as well to use this [as its compatible on all phones]
2.) MobStac Blogger takes the device type into consideration when rendering the UI. For e.g., Blackberry users will not see advanced features meant for touch devices like iPhones and Android users.
3.) Images and video are automatically resized, ensuring they suit the screen size of the reader’s device. In addition, articles are automatically paginated on lower-end devices.
Apart from the above, MobStac Blogger will soon also add support for choosing themes. Addition of Analytics and Ads integration is also in the pipeline.
Steps you need to follow to get your mobile website up and running.
1.) Navigate to blogger.mobstac.com/a/register/
2.) Fill in the required details like Email address and password. As the service is in closed Beta, you will need to enter an Invite Code. Use “TECHNOFAN” (without quotes and all in caps).
3.) You will next be able to login to the service using the email id and password specified.
4.) Next fill in the tab called “Settings”. You will be required to enter details like Blog Title, Blog Tagline, Header Image. On the right hand side, you will be able to see the preview of the generated site once you save the changes.
5.) Once you do this and save the changes, your mobile website needs to be able to handle traffic and also do automatic traffic redirection. In order to do so, you need to download the WordPress plugin (this is required if you have a wordpress blog). If you have a blog not on WordPress, you might want to write automatic redirection code for user-agents sent by mobile devices and browsers. (this is what the plugin does automatically for you, if you are on WordPress). The mobile traffic is then served off the MobStac Blogger servers.
6.) You can also setup your own custom domain like m.technofriends.in. You will need to add a CNAME target provided to you by MobStac Blogger for this custom domain.
Do give MobStac a spin and share your experience in the comments section below.
Update 1
Since this article first went online, MobStac has added various new features, below is a quick list
a. MobStac’s WordPress Plugin — Allows you to also view Mobile Site stats. These are basic stats and just show you the number of mobile views on a day-by-day basis.
b. Ad Integration — Currently it also supports showing ads from Adsense (AdMob).
c. Google Analytics — Also supported is integration with Google Analytics to get you even in-depth analytics.
About Vaibhav Pandey
At the very core of my heart, i am someone who enjoys creating things. A computer engineer by education i grew up in New Delhi in India. My interests include network security, mobility and cloud computing.
Follow me on Twitter at @vaibhav1981 Tagged with: Mobile Device Detection, Mobile Website, mobstac blogger, Wordpress