[pmwiki-devel] Web for mobiles -- Nuntio vobis gaudium magnum: habemus the skin!

[kirpi at kirpi.it]

>> Luigi:
>> ...provide the action/skin/setskin=mobile along with a basic
>> mobile skin as a default feature of a standard pmwiki install.

> Patrick:
> If someone provides the skin, I think I can make the rest work.

After a few days here is a skin which, I hope, would serve as a base
for the need.
You can download it from
http://www.kirpi.it/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=Test.Mobile and a couple of test
pages are running at
http://www.kirpi.it/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=Mobile.Mobile?action=mobile
It does validate as XHTML Mobile 1.0 and should make sense overall (almost).

I came to this approach after visiting many sites.[1]
Of course a better skin could be conceived but I have no skills for
this and, which is more, the one I submit to your attention here is
maybe enough as a start.[2]
Perhaps testing it officially now will enable us to consolidate it and
provide a sound and solid mobile skin for the days when 2.2.0 will
exit beta.
So, if Patrick agrees to make it a standard pmwiki feature, I think it
will be good.
I ask you all, of course, to revise the skin, as I am far from an expert.

Following are some boring details on the work done:
 -- A custom sized/tailored logo should be used (which is included as
a placeholder in the mobile skin folder, similar to the one on the
standard pmwiki skin folder), but it looks fine also in text-only
mode.
 -- Menu and search field are at the bottom: the focus definitely is
on the page content. A "menu" link at top-right let the user jump to
the menu area at will and with no effort.
 -- Bulleted lists are shifted to the left not to loose available
space. Numbered lists should be used sparingly, as they might create
confusion with accesskeys. Please see here to understand what I mean
http://mobile.reuters.com/mobile/m/Home
 -- %thumb lfloat% can often be used with images, unless they are the
right size already.
 -- I ask Patrick to please make the switch from the action=mobile to
the (set)skin=mobile approach: I couldn't handle it myself, despite
many hours spent on searching for how things should work.
 -- (:if mobile:) and (:if ! mobile:) command should be enabled, which
let the writers select (just in case) what content goes where. This is
quite an important point.
 -- A font resizing script should be enabled (read: it would be nice
if...), close to the one available at http://wap.itn.co.uk/, thus
allowing for flexibility, usability and letting the very same page fit
both for tiny mobiles and regular/wide screen use. Such mobile version
of pages allow/stimulate us to positively returning to the first years
of the internet: light, simple, uncluttered pages. One might well
prefer to navigate mobile-like even on regular screen, just to avoid
the clutter… At the moment the text resize feature at top-right of the
page is not functional (a javascript is present but has been commented
out as I couldn'l let it work, should be a typo maybe). Anyway a
better script, which includes cookie handling and more clever
behaviour, like the one Hans provides for Triad, is to be suggested;
but that is far beyond my scope (and skill) here.
 -- Check that multilanguage recipe still work as it should.
 -- No edit function has been taken into account for the moment. If
and when this wiki happens to be readable from mobiles, then also a
small edit template could be designed, which maybe takes inspiration
from http://en.wikipedia.7val.com/wiki/Cheese

Thanks
Luigi

----
[1] http://cantoni.mobi/
[2] "Better is the enemy of good." -- Voltaire