WordPress Mobile Web Development: Beginner's Guide [Paperback]

The author's website [...] has direct contact information. I wanted to emulate her sample WordPress site [...] so I could follow along more closely. After I e-mailed her, she sent me her Dropbox account so I could download all the files. Then when I experience an error, she e-mailed me that I needed to install the Mobble plugin [...]

Book is split into 10 chapters. First chapter deals with use of plugins to deliver mobile version of a website. Step by step instructions are included for few popular plugins. Second chapter is about using responsive themes that use same theme for mobile and desktop viewing, adjusting layout to different screen size using CSS.

Chapters 3, 4, 5 and 6 are dedicated to building a responsive theme from setting up media queries for different devices, setting the layout to follow the responsive approach, working with theme elements and optimizing content for smaller screens (images before all). Chapter 8 deals with the detection of the device visiting the page and different method for this.

Chapters 9 and 10 are dedicated to web apps, and methods for building them, and what plugins and tools you can use to enhance the app. Last chapter is about testing the mobile websites without using devices, all through desktop simulators for different platforms.

Chapters on web apps are lacking and they are missing the much needed information about different mobile platforms and specific aspects needed for such apps on different devices. There is only a list of websites for different mobile systems and nothing more. testing chapter is also lacking information for more popular mobile environments, most likely due to the fact that only Opera has real testing tools for its mobile browsers.

This is very good book. It was written for beginners, and it delivers relevant information for various methods on making mobile friendly website. Step by step tutorials in it are great, easy to follow and understand. There are some things that maybe are not exactly for beginners, but even code and CSS examples are followed by a lot of explanations.

This book comprehensively covers the options available to make a Wordpress site work well on all mobile devices - phones and tablets. Whilst aimed at the beginner, more advanced developers will find many useful tips and resources throughout the book.

WordPress Mobile Web Development: Beginner's Guide starts with some simple steps a developer can take to enhance how his site will look on different devices. The meat of the book discusses what is meant by responsive design and how to provide a good user experience on all devices using more hands-on techniques. Native apps are discussed and what the developer can do to make use of a browser's in-built functionality. There is also a discussion on useful techniques and strategies for testing and debugging your site.

Each chapter provides numerous resources for downloading and references for further research. Techniques are detailed via a step by step approach and accompanied by a good use of screenshots. Many of the chapters include pop quizzes for you to test your understanding and retention.
The first two chapters address the resources available to make a wordpress site mobile friendly. There are a number of themes and plugins available to download, enabling the developer to quickly ensure their site works well on all devices. The book explains the different impact these resources have on both development and end result. The author walks the reader through the steps to implement responsive themes or plugins including a description of the options and how to use them.
The next five chapters focus on the theory of responsive design and more advanced techniques to customise the mobile experience. Issues of accessibility, response times and ease of interaction are addressed both from a theoretical and practical perspective. The author repeatedly refers back to these issues to help the developer determine which technique is the most suitable to use.

Specific chapters focus on the different aspects of a website - page layout, text, navigation, images and videos - and how to make them responsive. In these chapters, you will learn how to use media queries, optimize images as well as file size and adjust your layout depending on device size and orientation. The author identifies different strategies to employ depending on the objective of the page and offers solutions for different problems. For example if space is an issue for displaying the navigation, she suggests using an accordion effect or using a fixed position button to link to the navigation further down the page. You can download a sample chapter at [...]
The 2 chapters on native apps provide a good overview on their pros and cons versus mobile sites. Immediate and longer term solutions for a developer to consider are identified and as in previous chapters, third party solutions are offered for further investigation. The final chapter on testing is excellent, providing invaluable techniques and resources for testing. Clearly testing on all mobile devices is challenging and this chapter provides a number of options.

I highly recommend this book to beginning developers with a small caveat - experience with Wordpress is essential and knowledge of CSS is useful. More advanced developers and developers who do not use Wordpress will also benefit from the many resources and references discussed. My only criticism of this book is that, unlike some books, it does not provide the full code for the example site which would enable the user to properly try out all the code and techniques.