By Simple curiosity purpose: Suppose we have a WordPress theme that is not responsive and we want to apply changes for it to become responsive.
How do I get started?
Do I Install bootstrap? Or without bootstrap and try each element to make it responsive?
I want to know how it is easier, faster and more professional.
Also I want to know and what tools you use (free) when you change WordPress themes.
From past experience,
client want to retain existing theme(non-responsive theme),
the solution was used https://wordpress.org/plugins/any-mobile-theme-switcher/
then install additional responsive theme(may it own dev or purchase) with the plugin to cater the client's need.
If no need to retain existing theme,
you may start with bootstrap or other responsive theme.
Related
Most "regular" websites I've seen generally use Twitter Bootstrap, at least for the grid layout.
Most themes I've seen to WordPress does not use Bootstrap, they are often built with a custom grid layout.
Is Wordpress + bootstrap a bad solution? Or why do so few Wordpress themes use bootstrap?
I'd agree with most of the comments, but I'd argue that this is NOT an opinion based question. There's nothing empirically WRONG or BAD about using Bootstrap in WordPress themes. In fact, I do it every single work day. Sage theme is a popular starter theme that uses Bootstrap, and there's plenty others that do as well.
The technologies are perfectly compatible, it's ultimately just up to your design / development goals for the theme. If you desire finer control and don't want to do a bunch of style overrides for a very specific look-and-feel, then maybe Bootstrap isn't right for that particular project. However, there's nothing from the WordPress side of things that would make this a bad solution.
I'm developing a custom wordpress theme and currently using the column shortcodes plugin to achieve columns but they aren't working well. For example, they suddenly stopped going across the browser and will now only display one on top of the other except for on one page where they will work if a is placed between the shortcodes (where it should not be placed, nor was div even opened...this was typo that is now the only way to make the shortcode columns display properly). I wasn't working on any code when they started acting weird, so I'm not sure what's happening.
If anyone has experienced this with column shortcodes, let me know. Otherwise, I'm looking for a tutorial or something to teach me how to create well-coded, responsive columns that work in wordpress without using a plugin.
I recommend working with a framework like bootstrap/foundation or lightweight framework like skeleton.
shoelace.io create responsive columns for bootstrap.
If you only support modern browsers try CSS3 columns http://html5css3box.com/multiple-columns/
I am working on a blog redesign and I am well acquainted with responsive design. I am not so familiar with wordpress though, so I am thinking of using twitter bootstrap. My question is, if I customize my stylesheets and other files(like header.php etc) can a bootstrap update erase all my changes? What would be the bets way to keep bootstrap as a base and building from there? I have my design specs from a designer, so I have to customize or build from scratch.
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I am having a website and i have applied a WordPress theme to it. But it is not responsive and doesn't view properly on mobile and other handle held devices. So is there any way to make an existing applied theme responsive ? Thanks in advance.
Of course you can make it responsive.
But, it can be a little bit of work. You are retrofitting an existing building.
Here are some things I am doing:
Set up CSS breakpoints
See more here: http://css-tricks.com/snippets/css/media-queries-for-standard-devices/ > This basically sets up the ability to change the CSS at different screen widths that correspond to different device screen widths.
Basically you can do a ton of magic to the existing layout/appearance of a site, just by modifying the CSS.
Along with modifying layout, you could pull out fancy CSS3 stuff (decoration) from the basic stylesheet, only showing it at larger sizes.
There's a lot more that could be said about this. CSS is an art.
You can use the Responsive Page Tester plugin—this is really cool: http://wordpress.org/plugins/responsive-page-tester/
Make images responsive
Okay, there's been a ton of talk about this over the past few years—but this seems to work fo r me. Use http://responsiveimg.com/ (is there a WP plugin that uses this yet? Not sure.) You could take a look at http://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-responsive-images/ . I like http://responsiveimg.com/ because I can see that it really replaces the bloody images with the proper size.
You need to concern yourself not just with the appearance, but the page weight, as well.
If you need to change the image sizes to match the breakpoints you desire, you need to rebuild the images. This plugin is wonderful for both rebuilding images, and setting the sizes: http://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-image-sizes/
Selectively Hide or Show stuff
You could use this plugin, that lets you use shortcodes to hide or show things for mobile/desktop: http://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-mobile-detect/ . If you are more technical, loading this plugin lets you use https://code.google.com/p/php-mobile-detect/, and you can access all the functions there. (See http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?1392). Anyway, if you use the functions, you can hide/show at the template level, not just the edit window level.
Convert the menu to a mobile-friendly one at mobile sizes
At a certain breakpiont, you need to collapse the menu. This paid one might work for you: http://labs.sevenspark.com/UberMenu . You could also try this one: http://wordpress.org/plugins/responsive-select-menu/ . It's pretty darn nice.
Resizing videos
Here: http://wordpress.org/plugins/fitvids-for-wordpress/
Or, just serve a different theme altogether
WP Touch Pro is great — http://www.bravenewcode.com/wptouch/ . It has a tone of great defaults.
Pros:
Start from a mobile "scratch," instead of trying to retrofit a potentially heavy desktop site into your mobile
Fit in just the changes you need
Take advantage of a lot of mobile code and design that's been done for you
Cons:
It may have a totally different "look" than your current site
Custom features such as custom post types or special theme code will not be there, and would have to be recreated or left out
If the theme is not 'responsive' then there is no switch to make it responsive.
To make a theme 'responsive' requires general knowledge about what makes a theme responsive.
In general, a theme is classed as responsive if the format of the page can adapt according to the viewing window it has been given. This is either through a user resizing the browser, or the user viewing the page on different sized devices such as mobile phones.
To understand how to implement this in a general sense, and specifically for WordPress, would require a more specific question.
To make any changes to a WordPress theme, first you must learn about the WordPress theme structure, and WordPress Template Hierarchy.
Hope this helps to point you in the right direction.
One simple suggestion for making WordPress theme responsive:
First you may found out some responsive WordPress theme that matches your existing theme and then you may improve some changes that affected your look n feel due to application of new theme.
This is the first solution that you may try since it is simple than the second one. If it doesn't work out for you then you may proceed to change the CSS so as to make it responsive by creating a child theme.
I have an existing website running in wordpress, and uses a custom headway theme. I want to make it compatible with BlackBerry.
What is the process of making it compatible with a BlackBerry?
Do I need separate css, or a separate site dedicated just for mobile?
How do I emulate a BlackBerry and debug my css or design?
Zourtney linked a pretty cool looking plugin, but if you're looking to do this by hand you want to use css3 Media Queries.
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/07/19/how-to-use-css3-media-queries-to-create-a-mobile-version-of-your-website/
http://www.davidrcole.com/2010/11/make-your-website-mobile-friendly-in-one-night/
For older blackberries - basically anything pre torch I believe you're going to have very shoddy css and JS support, so you'll want to do some testing on an actual device, and use clean semantic html on your page for better rendering.
First off, you certainly don't want another site -- that is, you don't want another copy of your database. What you do want is theme switching -- found through a quick Google search.
You will want a completely separate Wordpress theme (CSS + html/php). And always be sure that you also include links for mobile users to view the full site (default theme) as well.