Can you recommend a good device detection approach for Wordpress?

February 4, 2013 8:51 AM

Not sure I want to use Twitter bootstrap for the mobile versions of my Wordpress site. What alternatives do I have?

I used the responsive Twitter bootstrap framework & HTML5 boilerplate as the base for a Wordpress custom theme. It's working well and fun to use for the tablet / desktop versions of the site. But I don't like Bootstrap's use of display: none to hide markup and I have found some accessibility problems in the mobile version that are making me consider creating another version of the theme.

So I am considering creating a mobile version of my theme to send to phones. But I have read that device detection is not the best (i.e. not foolproof) and that it is better to design responsively. I'm also curious if there's a good case to be taken for sending a specific mobile theme to a mobile phone using device detection and I want to experiment with that.

Are there good plugins you'd recommend (e.g. that harness WURFL?) that make it easy to create a separate mobile theme? Have you ever used device detection as opposed to media queries to send a mobilized theme in wordpress? Are there guides you recommend? Your thoughts and experiences are welcomed. At the end of the day, accessibility for my desktop site is good, and it's a priority for my mobile site too. Thanks!

posted by radiocontrolled to computers & internet (2 answers total)

It depends on what you want your mobile site to do, but I find device detection to be superior to media queries for anything other than minor cosmetic changes. This is especially the case when I want to run some different JavaScript on mobile. Usually, though, I will use a combination of the two.

I have no idea what plugin to recommend, but https://github.com/serbanghita/Mobile-Detect can be dropped into your child theme folder and used in functions.php, front-page.php, etc.
posted by michaelh at 9:37 AM on February 4 [1 favorite]

I think you should do a google search for "responsive design framework" and experiment with two or three. There are quite a few that will essentially make this a non-problem, assuming they meet your requirements.
posted by jsturgill at 3:32 PM on February 4