RealTown's RealTalk

12/30/2008 @ 1:59 AM HST

Aloha RTers:

Our recent island wide black out gave me a lot of time to think while waiting for the power to be restored (our area was almost the last to get power). Most of the info we got was from a small radio (we learned from the Oct 2006 earthquake) and going online wth my cell phone.

I was impressed that most of the local TV stations and newspapers had a mobile version, which got me to thinking: How difficult is it to create a mobile version of a website?

1. Does a whole new site have to be created?

2. How does it know to go to the mobile version - is it automatic? I noticed that the URLs were no different than the regular sites.

3. One good start I have is that my IDX sytem from IDXPro just came out with a mobile version which I plan to incoporate into a mobile version of my website.

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated. Happy New Year and thanks in advance for any assistance.


With Warmest Aloha,

Ruth A. Gabbard (R), CRB, CRS, SRES, PB
Gabbard Hawaii Properties | Honolulu, Hawaii
808-534-1850 | 877-ALOHA HI (256-4244) Toll Free
Listserv E-mail: realtalk@hawaii-properties.info

Ruth,

The IDXPro mobile version was for agents only. Do you have access to a public version ?

John Womeldorf/ Realtor

Liz Moore and Associates

Williamsburg/ Hampton Roads VA

John@MrWilliamsburg.com

www.MrWilliamsburg.com

www.WilliamsburgsRealEstate.com blog

Ruth, here are a few articles that you may find helpful:

http://tinyurl.com/8ke7sj
http://www.w3.org/TR/mobile-bp/summary
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2004/04/14/mobile.html
http://winksite.com/site/index.cfm
http://www.mobisitegalore.com/index.html
--
Suzanne Hathcock Stephens
Point2Agent Design Partner
http://www.SuzStephens.com
360-666-0881
_______________

Ruth in Honolulu wrote:
I was impressed that most of the local TV stations and newspapers had a
mobile version, which got me to thinking: How difficult is it to create
a mobile version of a website?

1. Does a whole new site have to be created?

2. How does it know to go to the mobile version - is it automatic? I
noticed that the URLs were no different than the regular sites.

3. One good start I have is that my IDX sytem from IDXPro just came out
with a mobile version which I plan to incoporate into a mobile version
of my website.

1/6/2009 @ 4:18 AM HST

Thanks everyone who responded on/offlist.

>>

John Womeldorf:

The IDXPro mobile version was for agents only. Do you have access to a public version?

<<

Hi John:

As far as I know, that is a public version. The IDXPro mobile version (beta) I have can be accessed by anyone. Here's the link:

http://idxpro.cisdata.net/AR19162/Search/mobile/?by=location

Or do you mean a mobile version without having an IDXPro account? I think I have the mobile version because I already have IDXPro, but you can check with John Anderson from ihouse for more details (janderson@ihouseweb.com). There are still a few bugs, but I think they are working on them.

>>

Jeff Graves:

First of all, the power outage affected 300,000 on O'ahu, but the rest of us (I live on Maui) and anywhere else in the world (with power) were able to see your site. So my first question is why would you need a mobile site?

Secondly, the larger website hosting companies have a "mirrored" copy (automatically updated daily) of your site…so if power goes down internet traffic is automatically redirected to the mirrored site.

<<

Jeff:

I knew Maui and the other neighbor islands had power (my aunty on Maui called to check on me). I wasn't concerned about people seeing my site (it was fine - it's hosted on the mainland). I was commenting that while I was waiting for the power to be restored, I was getting my information from the radio and by going online with my cell phone, which turned out to be very helpful. While I was browsing, I noticed most of the local TV stations had mobile versions of their website which were much easier to navigate and read because it was a mobile version.

Why would I need a mobile site?

Because there are many who view websites via their cell phones. My site can be viewed on a cell phone of course but it is not formatted to fit the mobile screen. I'm going to create a mobile version mostly to search for listings - a 2009 goal.


With Warmest Aloha,

Ruth A. Gabbard (R), CRB, CRS, SRES, PB
Gabbard Hawaii Properties | Honolulu, Hawaii
808-534-1850 | 877-ALOHA HI (256-4244) Toll Free
Listserv E-mail: realtalk@hawaii-properties.info

Happy New Years All.

IDXPro Mobile has been modified to be viewed by the general public. The initial release was targeted to the agent but recently been updated to remove reference to listing agent information except what is required by the MLS.

IDXPro Mobile was developed with iPhone and Blackberry (larger screens) in mind but does well with several other larger screen mobile devices. iPhone does the best job at taking advantage of the features and searches.

A handful of updates are scheduled for the next month to take care of some usability issues for some devices and make contacting the agent easier.

John Anderson
iHOUSE Web Solutions
www.IDXPro.com
iHOUSE is a RealTown approved vendor.
janderson@ihouseweb.com

One more note on IDXPro...

The mobile version is not a stand alone application/service. It is included at no extra charge with our regular IDXPro MLS Search service. Once the regular IDXPro service is established mobile is ready to go with not extra work required to set it up.

John Anderson
iHOUSE Web Solutions
www.IDXPro.com
janderson@ihouseweb.com