Mobile Device Style Assignment

[dartho]

This is my first released hack, be nice.

This hack will detect when a mobile device connects to your site and allow you to override the default style/skin with one you specify.

Just install the product-file and set which style is your mobile device style via the AdminCP. Has been tested with several 3.6.x versions up to 3.6.8

I am also releasing a skin I wrote (it is based on vbmechanics Alabama skin, so updated or modified would be a more accurate description) for my own needs - it could probably be tidied up a lot more, but it works for me - take it as it is, I may offer limited support for this skin if I get time (no promises), and feel free to offer suggestions. Mobi - My super light skin (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=151186) is probably the one to go for, it has much greater functionailty.

=Install Instructions=
Go to Plugin System, Manage Products in your AdminCP and click Add/Import Product link at the end of the page
Browse for the product-mobile_enabled36-x.x.x.xml product file and click 'import'
Refresh your admincp page and in VBulletin Options, select the settings for 'Mobile Device Detection'
Change the styleid of your mobile skin in "Mobile Device Style" to the StyleID number of your mobile device skin
Change the styleid of your PDA skin in "PDA Device Style" to the StyleID number of your PDA device skin
Your mobile/pda skin must be user selectable (although you can disbale the ability for users to change styles in vBulletin Options)
Thats it!

=Upgrade Instructions=
Go to Plugin System, Manage Products in your AdminCP and click Add/Import Product link at the end of the page
Browse for the product-mobile_enabled36-x.x.x.xml product file
Choose to overwrite
Click 'import'
Re-configure Styleid of mobile/pda skin if required

VERSION 1.0.7a
Based on initial release - supports assigning one alternative style to ALL detected mobile devices

VERSION 2.1.2
Now allows the addition of exceptions and also specifying a skin for Pocket PCs (Windows CE devices) and a skin for all otehr detected mobile devices.
I've also released a very light skin HERE which is great for cell/Mobile phones

LAST UPDATE 22-October 2007
VERSION 2.1.3 - removed, small bug
VERSION 2.1.3a

Added ability to assign different styles to IPods/iPhones (In addiotn to Windows CE devices and other detected mobile devices
Added ability to assign specific style to a user defined device (based on user agent string).

You will need to know the useragent string, or a unique fragment of the user agent string to do this. One exmple of how this can be used would be to assign a specific style to say Firefox users, perhaps a different style for Blackberry users, or you could assign a specific style to search engines (beware when doing this - google apprently doesn't like people displying different content to search engines)


To upgrade, simply overwrite product - your existing settings should be preserved.

I've left the previous version available for download - to get the new version, download and install the attached XML

**BACKUP YOUR DB BEFORE INSTALLING**

Other Mobile / Lite Skins:

Mobile - My super light skin (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=151186)
iPhone / iPod Touch Optimised Style (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=171947&highlight=iphone)
Alabama (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1085230#post1085230)
VBLite (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=92071)
WAP Plugin (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=100764) - this is a similar product and skin which I didn't find till after I'd made this one - it seems to be more directed at WAP devices as opposed to all Mobile Devices, and appears to no longer be supported, but worth having a look at.


Remember to click install and give a rating :up:

keywords: Mobile, PDA, Autodetect, Autoselect, WAP, Skin, portal, cell, phone, iphone

3.7 Version Here

[oldfan]

thanks, I'm going to test this out now :)

[Abdo-sa]

Thanks , but is there any mobile skin for 3.6.2 ?

[oldfan]

here's one
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=100764

[Abdo-sa]

here's one
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=100764
But this is for 3.5.1 isn't it ?

[MissKalunji]

i get an error


Parse error: parse error, unexpected $ in /home/xxxxx/public_html/forum/includes/class_dm_threadpost.php on line 288

[MissKalunji]

I reuploaded the file and it works...

[Abdo-sa]

Installed thanks

[radarhunter]

thanks a lot it works

[dartho]

I think you'll find that most simple styles for 3.5.x will work 3.6.x due to the fact that most features are discarded. I have a mobile style I am working on also which takes the features *I* like best out of other released styles - I'll try and track down other styles and add here after testing also

[scottct1]

I have a few users using non standard browsers and the system things they are a PDA. I am asking them now what browser they are using so we can fix this. :)

[dartho]

oops.... :surprised: Never had any complaints - very interested to knwo which browsers they were usig, should be easy to fix!

Thanks scottct1!

[scottct1]

Its being reported that its happening to SOME people using IE7.

I am using IE7 with no issues.

[dartho]

That is a bit odd, IE7 User Agents are meant to be as follows:
On Windows XP SP2, IE7 will send the following User-Agent header: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1)
On Windows 2003 Server, IE7 will send the following User-Agent header: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.2)
On Windows Vista, IE7 will send the following User-Agent header: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0)

If you are able to - it would be good if you could confirm what their useragent string is by enabling it in the "Whos Online" when the users with an issue are online.

Thanks

[ktp101]

here's one
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=100764
yeah i'm running 3.6.2 and it doesnt seem to allow an upload due to it being for an older version.

[dartho]

Have you tried the one by Zachary I mentioned?

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=92071

[ktp101]

Have you tried the one by Zachary I mentioned?

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=92071
not tried that one i altered the xml from the 3.5.1 style to say 3.6.2 and got it uploaded although its still untested whether it works yet.

[rolliet]

worked great, thanks. Just what I was looking for to help when using my PDA

[dartho]

not tried that one i altered the xml from the 3.5.1 style to say 3.6.2 and got it uploaded although its still untested whether it works yet.

Let me know the URL and I can at least test from a PDA....

[MotoUp]

Worked great for me, thanks! I created a wap.*.com subdomain, and pointed it to my forums directory so it didn't load my portal. I love it!

[jajones]

sweet.
/me installs

[KenDude]

Dartho,

There are some problems.

First here is my site where you can test for yourself: http://www.caymanclub.net

Problem 1: With my Cingular BlackJack phone (running Windows Mobile 5 - MS Smartphone) it does not detect and use the mobile style.

Problem 2: If I manually choose the mobile style from the style drop-down box at the bottom of my home page and select Mobile Device Style I will get Zachary's style but there is a problem with it. Whenever I load the style it asks me to log in again so I do. I can go to the forum home page and see the forums and drill down until I find topics but once I display the topics page and choose a topic to read, it asks me to log in again and there is no way to reply to a topic. I log in and it reloads the page and asks me to log in again, the login isn't sticking.

I'm going to go off and try it with my Blackberry next...

[da420]

Problem 1: With my Cingular BlackJack phone (running Windows Mobile 5 - MS Smartphone) it does not detect and use the mobile style.

I think what is going on here is the Blackjack uses an HTML browser rather than a WAP one.

I work with this device everyday for a job. Hate it with a passion, almost as much as Treo's and Nokia Symbian based devices.


I'm going to go off and try it with my Blackberry next...

Much better device, but the Blackberry Browser is an HTML browser too. If you use the Cingular browser it will work though.

[dartho]

KenDude, could you log on with your BlackJack and then check "Whos Online" and select "Yes" to disaply UserAgent.

If you post the full user agent here (see attached) , I should be able to include it in the add-on

For you second issue, I'm not real sure. I get this on my site sometimes too from my desktop PC, I've found that if I log on and then go to the home page again it will save my log on deatails. This has only happened since installing VBAdvanced.

You could also try the skin which is in THIS (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=100764) product (I didn't find this till after I wrote the hack, I think the product only supports WAP browsers, but the skin should work on anybrowser)

[KenDude]

Here is the user agent:

SAMSUNG-SGH-I607/I607FG1 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.01; Windows CE; Smartphone; 320x240) UP.Lin

The weird thing is that I went to the forum home and it suddenly showed the mobile style. So I clicked on a specific forum and then it went back to the "normal" default style. I drilled into some messages and still it was the default style, not the mobile style (although I did stay logged in).

Not sure what to make of it, do you mind browsing my site to see what sort of effect it has on your client? I went to your site Dartho on my BlackJack and the mobile skin came right up. It almost seems as if something isn't installed correctly, but I did follow the directions. :)

[dartho]

Hi KenDude,

When connecting to your site, I get the full version ("Cayman Default") on my PDA. I checked in a browser and changed the style to "Cayman Small" (is this your mobile style?) and its display was identical to "Cayman Default" If this is the mobile style, then it would appear it is an issue with either your install of the style or the style itself.

Is the mobile style you have user selectable? It doesn;t have to be for this plug in to work, but I can check the style itself works.

The style I have on my site is a very modified version of "Alabama" from HERE (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=108640) which was written originally for 3.0.x I haven't moved to 3.6 yet (still on 3.5.x) but when I do I will port my skin over and release it also.

[KenDude]

No the style is called "Mobile Device Style" and is the last one on the list, but I may have made it not user selectable as according to the install instructions. One of the things that confused me in the install instructions was something about changing the ID of the style to "Mobile Device Style" I didn't see how to change the ID so I changed the name. I have a feeling that something isn't set right for that style in the admin panel but I didn't fully understand the instructions can you walk me through it please? Thanks!

[dartho]

If you go to Style Manager in your adminCP and click on your mobile style there, it should open up your site using that style. Now if you look at the URL it has opened, you will see it is something like http://caymanclub.net/forum.php?styleid=9 - that last number on the URL is the style ID - enter that number where it asks in Mobile Device Detection in your AdminCP and all should work!

I've made a minor update to the product file to make it a full 3.6.x product and included version checking and product URL (you can now check for version updates in your adminCP) and made the instructions included in the zip hopefully a little clearer.

[dartho]

*** If you are updating from pre 1.0.2, you will need to uninstall the product first and then reinstall! no need to re-upload files! ***

This is because I changed the product ID from mobile_enabled to mobile_enabled36

[tuanluu]

kool I will get it a try

[MotoUp]

I uninstalled 1.0.0, and uploaded the file, then installed the product again, and it would not force to my mobile style. I reinstalled the previous version, and it works just fine. Any ideas?

[dartho]

damn - I'll check through it all again... did you edit the StyleID in the admincp - it would have lost your existing setting?

[Garyk]

will this detect psp's

[dartho]

Not at the moment - but it will as at my next release (probably tonight). For reference, the User Agent string of the PSP browser is:

"Mozilla/4.0 (PSP (PlayStation Portable); 2.00)"

Anyone able to confim this?

[dartho]

Added PSP detection and fixed 1.0.2 issue... new version 1.0.3, uninstall, reinstall, re-upload file and reconfigture StyleID of Mobile Skin

[Garyk]

ohh thank you im installing this now

[MotoUp]

Works great now, thanks!

[dartho]

Just added Sony Erricson W800 and other Opera mini device support. If upgrading from 1.0.3 - over write product and reset the styleid in your admincp.

Other previous versions should uninstall, then install, re-upload files and then reset styleid of mobile skin in admincp

[MotoUp]

Ya broke something! :) Forum won't even load now on the regular style.

EDIT: I completely uninstalled, and replaced the file, and still doesn't work. I have to uninstall to get my forum to load.

[dartho]

Oopps.... Fixed!

Was an errant Back Slash '\' causing the issue

[MotoUp]

Nope, still broke. I completely uninstalled, and deleted and reuploaded the xml file.

[dartho]

It shouldn't - all looks good on my test board - and it was a such minimal update that basic functionality shouldn't have chnaged at all.

I've changed the version number in the XML to be 1.0.4a so you can double check that it's the latest - perhaps some caching may have happened with the download?

[MotoUp]

Very strange. It is still happening, but it doesn't show 1.0.4a. Any idea how it may be caching? I completely deleted xml file, uninstalled, and reinstalled the plugin...I don't know what else to do...

[dartho]

BTW for anyone that is modifying a skin to work on their site, using firefox with the User Agent Switcher Extension (http://chrispederick.com/work/useragentswitcher/) works a treat. You will need to add a new Mobile UserAgent - once installed, Click Tools, User Agent Swtcher, Options, Options..., then click 'User Agents' on the Left and the Add button. Give it a description of "Mobile" and a User Agent "Mobile" - OK your way out and then you can switch between you default User Agent and a Mobile one and test out your mobile skin

Another tip is to enter the following URL javascript:resizeTo(340,420); which will resize your browser window to a similar size as a PDA - you need to add extra height and width for the toolbars and frames etc that are in Firefox - but it gives you a good idea of how things will look on a mobile device

[dartho]

Try with the attached XML

[MotoUp]

Well, That worked, so I redownloaded, and tried from another machine, and it shows 1.0.4a now, and it worked. Thanks for your time and help. I really appreciate it. I love this product! Thanks for your hard work on it.

[dartho]

No worries MotoUp - glad to help. One of these days I'll make the mobile skin I use 3.6 compatible and remove all my hard coded links etc and release it with this too... one day...

[AMG021]

Hey Dartho. So in order for me to get access to my forums from my phone I will just need to install this ? Or i have to install you hack and someone else's hack in order for this hack to function right. I'm lost, help me out please :)

Thanks In Advance

[MotoUp]

This forces a mobile device to a certain style installed on your forum. So if you have a mobile style installed on your boards, when someone logs into your forum from a mobile device, they automatically get the mobile style....

[dartho]

Yep - like MotoUp says - check the 2 links in the description above for 2 mobile device skins you can use. You need to install a Skin, and then this hack to get functionality

[da420]

On my Blackberry wap browser it does not work. It worked up until a couple of updates ago, but now it shows the default skin. I did re-upload the files, completely uninstall the product, and reset the style ID in the admin cp but still brings me to the default style.

[dartho]

Could you double check the version number of this addon as 1.0.4 and if so, would you be able to log on with your Blackberry and then check "Whos Online" and select "Yes" to disaply UserAgent.

If you post the full user agent here (see attached) , I will double check the code. If you PM me a link to your site or put it here, I'll logon with my PDA and check if it works with other devices.

[sNator]

This mod only works when I'am logged in with administrator rights. If I make the style user selectable it works fine but that can't be right? I don't want my ordinary users to browse my site without the banners.

Do you know of any styles that allows posting and posting files? I have tried the WAP style but it have some bugs.

[dartho]

sNator - I've not encountered that problem - got me stumped.... I will investoigate further, but it may not be a quick response.

As for other skins - theres bound to be some out there andI have been working on my own, but I'm yet to make the leap to 3.6.x beyond my test board soits only good for 3.5.x at the moment, and there is a lot of hard coded stuff for my site - not for for public release as yet. I was thining of paying a pro to write a skin, but then I'd have to sell the skin to recoup costs - if anyone is up for this (or wants to do it them self!) they should post here!

[dartho]

sNator - I can't recreate this on my test site - a fresh 3.6.4 install using this hack and Zachary's style - from my PDA. As a guest, and logged in as a user and as an Admin all give me the mobile style expected...

Any other plugins in the GLobal Start section which might be interfereing?

[sNator]

I works fine now, it could have been my phone who caused the problem.
I use the Alabama Mobile skin http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1085230&postcount=202 which is really fast.

Is it possible to prevent vbadvanced to be loaded somehow?

[dartho]

cool! I use a very modified version of teh 3.0.x alabama skin on 3.5.4 - it is VERY good, but I didn't think all the functions woked on 3.6.x... I didn't realise there was a 3.5.x version released also!

I'll integrate this with my customisations and post up here

I'll post some stuff later (its midnight here) on how to make vbadvanced play nice.

[dartho]

for vbadvanced - I just edited the adv_portal template and removed the side columns - I still show my centre vbadvanced column under the mobile style - here's my adv_portal template:

$stylevar[htmldoctype]
<html dir="$stylevar[textdirection]" lang="$stylevar[languagecode]">
<head>
<title>$vboptions[hometitle] <if condition="$pagetitle">- $pagetitle</if></title>

$headinclude

</head>
<body>

$header

$navbar

<table align="center" class="page" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
<tr valign="top">
<if condition="$show['center_column']">
<td valign="top">
$home[centerblocks]
</td>
</if>
</tr>
</table>
$footer
</body>
</html>


You could alternatively overwrite the adv_portal template with a copy of the FORUMHOME template?

[hotrodbiker]

Works like a champ, just tested it with my cell. :D

[Silver_2000_)!]

Nice Mod
Quick question

How can I move it in Admin CP so its below the Vbulletin options ?
Ive tried changing the xml but every time I do it breaks it
Thanks
Doug

[dartho]

Edit the "includes/xml/cpnav_mobile_enabled.xml" file, and change the "dispalyorder=25" in
<navgroup text="Mobile Device Style" permissions="canadminsettings" hr="true" displayorder="25">
to be a larger number. Alternatively, you could just delete this fiule from your server altogether, and then the options for this mod will only show up in the vBulletin Options menu - it will no longer have its own menu in the left column of your AdminCP.

Hope this helps

[Devil Woman]

Thanks for this works a treat :)

[brvheart]

this works great if I am using a PALM OS treo...but anything running windows mobile it picks up as html....any thoughts?

[da420]

Here is a browser this does not work on. Works fine on Opera Mini, and the Cingular WAP browser, but the regular blackberry browser it brings up the forum default.

Mozilla/2.0 (compatible, MSIE 3.02, Windows CE, PPC, 240x320) Blackberry8700/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0

[dartho]

** Updated **
da420 - Should be OK for your Blackberry now and most of not all others
brvheart - I'm not sure, I exclusively use a Windows Mobile device, I did just add a little more support in this latest release which might fix you up. try installing the latest one. If you still have issues, have a look at my site - www.thewholeforce.com with you mobile device as a and let me knwo if that works.

Thanks

[brvheart]

ok, got it installed getting new Treo 700w tomorrow so will post back with results :) thanks Dartho ;)

[punchbowl]

is there a way to prevent users picking(or seeing) the style when not on a mobile device?

nice work

[dartho]

Yes - simply don't make it user selectable!

*fredtissue clicks install ?

[MotoUp]

I tried that too, but then the handheld wouldn't detect it.

[dartho]

Wow - you're right!

I've always forced a single style and not allowed users to select their own - it works OK then.

I'll look into 'hiding' a style.

[Eq4bits]

has the problem with it detecting Mozilla browser as a mobile device been cleared up? *Most* of my users use Mozilla as their browser .....

[dartho]

I don;t think anyone has reported this as being a problem? By Mozilla, you mean Firefox? That is the only browser I use and I have had no issues....

[Eq4bits]

Mozilla is Mozilla, similar to firefox and by the same peeps... it's essentially the old netscape 4.0. I installed and used the mobile_alabama style/skin, but when i reloaded the forum here on my desktop comp it auto detected it as a mobile device. In my vb options i have it set to where the default overides users choice.. whatever... they can't 'choose' any style other than the default.

[dartho]

OK - download, installed and tested Mozilla 1.7.13 - no issues for me using this version. The user agent string I get is "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.13) Gecko/20060414"

Would you be able to check your useragent string and let me know so I can ensure compatibility with thnis mod?

Thanks

[Eq4bits]

I used to have that turned on, but it's not now.... can't seem to find it in vb options....

[dartho]

WHen you view"Who's Online" you should have an option at the bottom of the list to view teh user agent string

[Lizard King]

This is really a good modification. Thanks for this.

[ymy]

Installed thanks and working nice

[dartho]

Glad you like it. I'm the only person on my site making use of it, but I guess I'm the most important ;)

Here's a template mod which I really like on my site for navigation.

Delete everything in your Mobile skin navbar template, and replace your header template with the following (edit red bits to suit your site/requirements):


<table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<TD width="100%" class="alt1">
<center>
<a href="http://www.yousite.com"><img src="your_sites_small_logo.jpg" border=0></a>
</center>
</TD>
</tr>
</table>

<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
<td width="100%" height="15" bgcolor="#ffffff">
<div align="center">
<select name="jump" onchange="menu_jump(this);">
<option selected>Mobile Navigation</option>
<option value="search.php?do=getnew">New Posts</option>
<option value="search.php?do=getdaily">Todays Posts</option>
<option value="private.php?">Private Messages</option>
<option value>----------------</option>
<option value="http://yoursite.com">Home Page</option>
<option value="forum.php">Forums</option>
<option value="search.php?">Search</option>
<option value="online.php">Who's Online</option>
<option value="sendmessage.php">Contact Us</option>
</select>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
$spacer_open
$_phpinclude_output


You can see how easy it is to add other options - I've modified most of mine to be PDA suitable...

Enjoy

[tekstylez]

great hack... just one thing..

I have a few users who are saying they are getting the mobile skin displayed on thier MAC OS... Is this plugin detecting MAC's as mobile devices? Is there a fix for this??

[dartho]

Should be easy to fix... - are you able to let me know the user agent string for the people who are having issues?

[dartho]

Never mind - I think I found the issue, new version released.

[brvheart]

are you going to release the modded style that you use for 3.6.x? :D

[tekstylez]

Never mind - I think I found the issue, new version released.

worked... thank you!

[Eq4bits]

OK - download, installed and tested Mozilla 1.7.13 - no issues for me using this version. The user agent string I get is "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.13) Gecko/20060414"

Would you be able to check your useragent string and let me know so I can ensure compatibility with thnis mod?

Thanks

This is what is 'current' in the Who's Online, I had to uninstall this mod and the skin to have my regular style show up instead of the mobile one
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727)
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.13) Gecko/20060414
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; AOL 9.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.0.3705; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; Me
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)

[dartho]

None of those useragents should trigger this hack to select the mobile skin.

If you had to uninstall the skin as well as the mod, I would think that the mobile skin you installed was being selected as default? Also be aware that as an admin, if you manually select the mobile skin you will ALWAYS get the mobile skin until you select another.

To test this mod, fully, it would be best to make sure you arelogged off logoff so that you are viewing the site as a guest, and perhaps use a dummy user account also to test.

Did you test on my site at www.thewholeforce.com ?

Sorry I can;t offer a solution, but as yet I am unable to find the cause of your problems...

[Spinball]

Tested www.avforums.com/forums/index.php with this hack, but this hack doesn't work.
Your site works fine. I'm usinga Nokia N73.
Any ideas before I give up?

[aceofspades]

I really need a hack that will allow me to force users using IE6 to use one style and everyone else to use a different style.

Could this be used for that?

James

[dartho]

Try the attached. This WILL NOT work in conjunction with the Mobile Detect hack - I should be able to integrate though - let me know how it goes

[Tralala]

Thanks for a wonderful hack, dartho... that older "WAP detector (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=100764)" was unsupported and never really worked right for me.

I ended up putting manual links in subscription emails (with "?styleid=9" appended) saying, "To view this thread more easily on a smartphone or PDA, click here."

Your mod is much nicer and cleaner, obviously. So thanks for sharing. :up:

I have a few users who are saying they are getting the mobile skin displayed on thier MAC OS... Is this plugin detecting MAC's as mobile devices? Is there a fix for this??

Never mind - I think I found the issue, new version released.

Can anyone confirm that this does NOT affect users logging in from Safari? FWIW:

The complete Safari user-agent string running on a PPC processor is:
Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/XX (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/YY
and on an Intel processor is:
Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/XX (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/YY

[dartho]

I tested those useragent strings and both worked as normal (ie. NOT detected as a mobile device)

[dartho]

oops - also need to add this:

<script language="JavaScript">
function menu_jump(path) {
window.location.href = path.options[path.selectedIndex].value;
}
</script>

in the headinclude template for the nav template below to work...

Glad you like it. I'm the only person on my site making use of it, but I guess I'm the most important ;)

Here's a template mod which I really like on my site for navigation.

Delete everything in your Mobile skin navbar template, and replace your header template with the following (edit red bits to suit your site/requirements):


<table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<TD width="100%" class="alt1">
<center>
<a href="http://www.yousite.com"><img src="your_sites_small_logo.jpg" border=0></a>
</center>
</TD>
</tr>
</table>

<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
<td width="100%" height="15" bgcolor="#ffffff">
<div align="center">
<select name="jump" onchange="menu_jump(this);">
<option selected>Mobile Navigation</option>
<option value="search.php?do=getnew">New Posts</option>
<option value="search.php?do=getdaily">Todays Posts</option>
<option value="private.php?">Private Messages</option>
<option value>----------------</option>
<option value="http://yoursite.com">Home Page</option>
<option value="forum.php">Forums</option>
<option value="search.php?">Search</option>
<option value="online.php">Who's Online</option>
<option value="sendmessage.php">Contact Us</option>
</select>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
$spacer_open
$_phpinclude_output


You can see how easy it is to add other options - I've modified most of mine to be PDA suitable...

Enjoy

[Tralala]

I tested those useragent strings and both worked as normal (ie. NOT detected as a mobile device)



k, thanks very much dartho!

/clicks INSTALL

[ArAb4NoKiA]

Hello,

it's not working on Nokia N70 ??!!

Regards,

[dartho]

New version release with more compatibility - should be good for the N70 now. If it isn't, are you able to get a copy of the user agent string and post here?

[da420]

Getting this error at the top of my pages with the hack enabled when updated to the latest version.

Did complete uninstall/reinstall, and updated my settings...

Warning: preg_match(): Unknown modifier 'M' in /global.php(237) : eval()'d code on line 64

[dartho]

Sorry - Fixed!

I will now save the previous version when adding a new one to make it easy to roll back should such issues happen again...

[ABeautifulBrown]

I installed this and it made all my templates look like the mobile one?

[ArAb4NoKiA]

it worked fine

thanks :)

[dartho]

ArAb4NoKiA: Thanks for the feedback - feel free to click MARK AS INSTALLED (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/vborg_miscactions.php?do=installhack&threadid=130983)

I installed this and it made all my templates look like the mobile one?

The only case I thonk this could happen due to this hack would be if you are using a browser which is being detected as a mobile device browser... What OS/Browser are you using?

If you log off your site - is it still the mobile skin? How about if you disable this hack?
thanks

[punch]

I installed this tonight on my board and it worked great! Used the Mobile Alabama style.

Thanks so much, surfing my board on my motorola Q + evdo is awesome. Marked installed!

[paramorefans]

hey thanks for the hack!

Iam having some issues though, I dont own any blackberrys or PDAs
but some of my users do, all i have is a Sony Ericsson 300i, which has an internet browser, but it always displays me my default skin, it must be the phone right?
http://www.mobilealmanac.com/p_391-Sony-Ericsson-W300i.html


The W300i allows for HTTP internet browsing via Cingular's MEdia Net. The browser supports HTML 4.01, xHTML 1.0, CSS and Java script (ECMA script), and WAP 2.

would any of you be so kind and try to access my website with a PDS?
www.paramorefans.com/boards

[dartho]

The W300i allows for HTTP internet browsing via Cingular's MEdia Net. The browser supports HTML 4.01, xHTML 1.0, CSS and Java script (ECMA script), and WAP 2.

Sounds like it is going via a proxy/gateway which could intefere with browser detection??

I visited your site with my PDA and got your normal site also, so you may have more than one issue - have you installed a mobile friendly skin and configured the plugin? I'd recomend this one http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1085230&postcount=202 - just choose to ignore the version when importing it.

[paramorefans]

<a href="http://paramorefans.com/boards/index.php?styleid=30" target="_blank">http://paramorefans.com/boards/index.php?styleid=30</a>

yeah the skin is already uplaoded and i configured the plug in.

[dartho]

:confused: still not working for me from my PDA - I get your standard skin with that URL (page source says styleid 29) ...

My host crashed yesterday, so my site is offline - should be back in 12 hours :mad: when it is, I'll do some more testing, but I'm a little stumped at the moment....

[paramorefans]

Well in the source it shows id= 30

http://www.paramorefans.com/boards/?styleid=30

style type="text/css" id="vbulletin_css">
<!--
/* vBulletin 3 CSS For Style 'Mobille Skin' (styleid: 30) */
body
{

One question and sorry if it sounds stupid; do i have to check the mobile style?
if its checked a normal user can select it from the quick template change
if its not only admins can manually select it.

thanks.

[punch]

dartho, I've been using your software for a week now and I love it. But I'm not a big fan of the mobile alabama style, when using PM's it's formatting is horrible. I've tried a few other "lite" styles but Mobile is the best looking, however it's got problems under IE in windows mobile 5 when you go into the usercp.

I know you have nothing to do with that style but I was wondering if you still working on a 3.6.x mobile friendly style like you said in an ealier post? I've searched on vb.org and vb.com and can't find anyone who's developed a nice clean "Defacto" lite mobile style that works with 3.6.x. Mobile_alabama works fine in anything outside of the usercp.

I just wish there was a great style out there that works with 3.6.x and the latest palm/windows mobile browsers.

[dartho]

@paramorefans - sorry, yes - the style must be user selectable

@punch - I actually lost my mobile skin a whle back, and had to go back to the standard Alabama with only a few changes i've added :( If you want - try the attached - it may need some work which I am willing to do as I get time which is at a premium at the moment.

It's been tested only a little under 3.6.4 - (I haven't upgraded from 3.5 yet) It will also add a few extra templates for vBAdvanced - this shouldn't hurt if you don't use VBA. I would suggest installing it with no parent.

[dartho]

Punch - how'd that modded alabama style work out? I'm gonna upgrade to 3.66 in coming weeks and am wondering if you've had any issues?

[v12kid]

Punch - how'd that modded alabama style work out? I'm gonna upgrade to 3.66 in coming weeks and am wondering if you've had any issues?

same question :)

[tekguru]

Ditto on the query!

[dartho]

I've checked his (Punch's) website with my PDA and he appears to be using the skin attached above with this hack, so I would assume that it works OK for him!

[tekguru]

Looks that way - working well for me as well too :)

[dartho]

Good stuff! Feel free to come back with suggestions on the skin also (click Install too ;) )...

[tekguru]

Good stuff! Feel free to come back with suggestions on the skin also (click Install too ;) )...

Not a problem, will do. Which skin in particular? Using VbLite at the moment. Oh and yes I've clicked :)

[dartho]

I meant the skin attached to Post #108 (about 8 posts above this one) - I think it is better than the VB Lite skin, and I will work on it as I get the time and have the need.

Members who have released hacks can see who have clicked "installed" their on their hacks in the thread - you're not showing up as one of them?

[tekguru]

Alabama Mod we did try but the test team advises there were a few problems with it liek nop Quick Reply box working and some sort of problem with the unread posts.

Honest I've clicked on the button for all mods I've installed this is under IE7 though and nothing ever seems to happen.

[dartho]

Really? I'll look into it and post here when I have it tested (and working) properly under 3.6.7.

BTW - not that it really accounts for much anyway, but "Installed" is showing now - cheers!

[tekguru]

So the guys tell me :( Not using it myself!

If you can update it I for one would apprecaite it as according to the control panel it is out of date and needss updating quite a lot to work with 3.6.7PL1.

Yep I finally got the status to change :)

[dartho]

Ah OK - that'll be because all the templates state they are for older versions of vb - doesn't affect how it works.

I will test functionality fully under 3.6.7PL1 and update the version numbers of the templates.

[dartho]

Try this skin on for size - seems to work well on a PDA screen on 3.6.7..

If one or 2 can test it (or double check as teh case may be) I'll add it into the product.

I've added 3 image files which need uploading to yourserver - one of which you should replace with a 120x40 ( you could go up to 240px wide for most contemporary mobile devices and as high as you want really) pixel logo for your site (mobile_logo.jpg)

I welcome any ideas/suggestions, but can;t guarantee I will be able to apply them :up:

[tekguru]

Looking at thetemplate comparator it does show a heck of a lot of differences though in the actual templates...... and warms that functionality may be affected.

[dartho]

functionality is limited on a small screen device, esp with browsers such as pocket IE and the like.

I've tested all the main functions and they all work as they are meant to.

BTW - where is the template comparator.

[tekguru]

Hmm one or my guys is still having problem, but not sure which style he was actually testing at the time.

The compatator I was referring to is the bit at the top part of the control panel where it warns of and shows template discrepancies.

[dartho]

Oh, OK - I know the one.

I've installed the skin fresh on a 3.6.7PL1 test board with no parent - no complaints from vBulletin (the comparator only pops up when there is an issue) and as I mentioned, things all tested OK with a quick test of each of the main functions.

[tekguru]

Right :) I'd missed the modified theme above but have now downloaded and will install. Will change the default mobile theme over and see what reaction I get.

I know the guys are looking for three things which they keep on commenting on:

- Remember Me option
- Use of posting a new thread
- Ease of finding new posts

If it works well and supports those options we should be cooking :)

[tekguru]

Well I've had go go back to VBLite again as the guys are reporting:

I can't log in at all on the Vox as the only login box visible is the central one and I have the same old problem on there that only the icon and title are visible

I can't reply to anything in the mobile portal, and it does display better in PIE than it does Opera...

since the mobile theme change, I cannot post any replies as the quickreply button does not work. I also just saw the handler error on the current mobile theme, but couldn't post on it until I got back to my PC...


Any ideas?

[JustJon]

This mod is great and my users are loving it, but I have two questions, if anyone can help me with altering tmplates.

I'm running a copy of mobile alabama, but there are two things that don't work for us in it.

1) There's no reply to pm link. How can I add that link in?

2) Signatures do not show up when posting. I think it's fine that users can't see the sigs on the posts on the mobile devices, but I want it added to the posts for people who view the posts on the regular board.

Thanks.

[dartho]

@Tekguru: Have added Login, Logout and quick reply on threads but can't test with mobile device till after work so won;t upload till then
@Jon - try the skin I post tonight

[gg_luna128]

This doesn't work with Opera Mini?

[dartho]

The hack works with Opera mini, someone just questioned how well the alabama skin looks under Opera...

BTW, attached is the latest incarnation of the alambama skin I've been messing with. I've tested it using Pocket Internet Explorer under Wiundows Mobile 5 on a PDA connecting to a 3.6.7PL1 site. All looks fine, it needs more refining as far as it's look goes, but is functional. I've got opera around here somewhere and will test with that when I get a chance. Let me know of any issues and I'll try and fix. Otherwise it might be a couple weeks before I do anything else with it...

[tekguru]

Sounds good - grabbing it now - feedback tonight hopefully!

[JustJon]

That works just groovy for my Treo. Thanks.

[MotoUp]

I am using a Blackberry, and the theme loads great. The only problem I'm having is that the pulldown menu with options will pull down, but when I click, or hit enter, it doesn't take me anywhere. Is this just blackberry related? I don't see a go button or anything next to the drop down...any ideas?

[MotoUp]

Nevermind, I figured it out. Had to enable Javascript support in my browser options.

[MotoUp]

Okay, small problem now. I just tried to post. LOL, it says, this forum is not accepting new posts at this time.

Hmmmm

[tekguru]

Okay theme loaded today, good comments from teh test team, but......

Ok, this is strange... This morning, I was on my device, and browsing thru the mobile portal! (BTW: Much better theme with 'remember-me!)

Well I tried to post here in this thread, not once, but twice, and both times the post appeared in a totally different thread. Caught me by surprise the first time, and I thought I just tapped a wrong button somewhere! I deleted, and tried again about a half hour later, and same exact thing...

So as you can see there are a few posting issues, other testers have reported the same.

One weird error everyone seems to be getting which ties in to the time I started playing with these thmes is:

http://www.4winmobile.com/news/handler.jpg

Any ideas what may be causing it?

[dartho]

that is odd! And this doesn't happen with the "VB Lite" skin?

I'll have a dig through and see what I can find.

[MotoUp]

First of all dartho, I would like to say, this style rocks! You are doing an amazing job with it, and only today did I realize it was different than the original vbLite style. I was not getting these same errors with vbLite, but there is so much potential here I would love to help get it working.

I did some more testing, and found that the error I was getting about the forum not accepting new posts was when people were posting with the quick reply. If we were to click on the actual "reply" link and submit the post, it worked fine, and if we created a new topic it worked fine.

I hope that helps, and I will be more than happy to help you test it more thoroughly, feel free to PM me and I can give you more contact info.

One other thing we noticed is if we log in to the forum, then go to the drop down menu and say go to new posts ( or any other option), once that page loads we are forced to log in again, from there, the browsing is flawless.

[dartho]

@Motoup, thanks for the extra feedback - those issues should be reasoably easy to fix - the log in and quick reply options were only added in that last version. I'll have a go at that this evening and get a new version to you to test before posting up here again.

@tekguru, that script error is a little odder, I think there may be some issues with a hack or addon you have installed - I'll contact privately to discuss that possibility further

[MotoUp]

@Motoup, thanks for the extra feedback - those issues should be reasoably easy to fix - the log in and quick reply options were only added in that last version. I'll have a go at that this evening and get a new version to you to test before posting up here again.I can't wait! I'll keep an eye out for the update and let you know how it goes.

[fly]

Hmmm, the detection seemed to fail on my Tmobile Dash (its WM6)

edit: I found this: http://blogs.msdn.com/iemobile/archive/2006/08/03/Detecting_IE_Mobile.aspx

I tried adding "IEMobile" to the plugin, but the detection still didn't work. I also had someone test this out on a crackberry, and he was getting a mixture of this theme and the default theme.

[MotoUp]

I know of 3 Crackberry's including mine that see the style just fine...I wonder why you're getting a mix.

[gg_luna128]

A request:

I have a forum open to guests, and to stop Spammers, I use NoSpam! (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=124828) product. Your skin (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost.php?p=1266144&postcount=131) seems that doesn't support that product. Can you tell me where to change the skin to add support for that plugin?

[tekguru]

I think I sorted out the handle error with removing the WAP product I had installed. Two other issues / requests:

- When posting back (I think using quick reply) the guys are finding the posts all being added to one thead, and not the one being replied to.

- Will you be adding things like the forum and post dates to the search results in the mobile forums?

Oh and you may want to note in the last version posted it had the logo graphic with the incorrect extention on it and the archive also included a versino of the older XML file :)

[tekguru]

Still experiencing wirdness here with the theme. Some of us but not all are getting the handle error and posts are always going back to the same thread on fourm, if they actualy are registered.

[dartho]

OK - Yet another version :)

@tekguru - still can;t track down the error messages you are getting. If you are able to consistently reproduce, try disabling so plugins and see if you can track it down?

@gg_luna - there are some instructions in teh No Spam thread - integration.txt - try and follow these to add the no spam questions. Chances are that bots won;t see the mobile skin anyway.

@motoup - this will hopefully resolve all your issues

@flypaper - Mobile6 should get detected as it still uses "Windows CE" in it's useragent string, double check your settings with the hack and the styleid of your mobile skin.

Sorry for the wait, been busy - let me know how it all goes!

There are a few more status icon images and the old statusicons have been reduced in size so you should re-upload these too.

If this version works well, I'll bundle it with this hack

BTW - if you use this skin with vbAdvanced, I suggest you edit the "adv_portal_welcomeblock" template and remove all its contents so you don't have a double log in screen on your front page.

[tekguru]

Okay will install shortly and see how it goes.

- Further investigation shows the handler problem is not just native to this theme but applies to vBlite as well. However it looks like it only occurs with early WM6 versions of Pocket Internet Explorer - newer versions of PIE or Opera Mobile do not suffer the problem.

- With the prior version (and not VbLite) we get problems where posts show as posted via the theme but do not make it into the database, or if they do get through they end up in one specific thread.

So the first may be a vBulletin issue but the second is definitely this theme. Do you think the later may be addressed in the new version?

[dartho]

the quick replies all ending up in the same thread has be fixed...

[tekguru]

Great that is good news indeed.

Will feedback any further issues / reports from the team as I get them.

[MotoUp]

Thanks for the update dartho. Not sure where my post went, so here it is again. The same thing is still happening for me even after updating. When I first go to my site and log in, then choose say New Posts, it says I'm not logged in and must log in to continue. So I log in again from there, then everything works fine. The first time I just over wrote the style, and when that didn't work, I deleted the style then re-uploaded it, and still no go.

[MotoUp]

I also forgot to add that the quick reply is working now. Thanks!

[dartho]

Just to clarify - the first thing you do when viewing your site via mobile device is login. Then you browse around and it thinks you are still logged in (no username/password boxes up top of screen) until you attempt to do something which requires registered user pemissions, at which point it asks you to log in again?

[sR Craig]

Dartho, great template brother! Working perfectly on the Blackberry 8300 (Curve) in all aspects. Tested all menus, ect in Opera Mini and it's all goooood!

www.straferight.com/forums (if you're checking with a mobile device it should come right up)

otherwise see here: http://www.straferight.com/forums/index.php?styleid=9

[dartho]

Thanks Craig - just had a look at your site, nice work!

I suggest you use the skin from this post: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost.php?p=1269479&postcount=147 as it fixed a couple bugs - most notably and issue with quick reply being posted to the same, incorrect thread!

[MotoUp]

Just to clarify - the first thing you do when viewing your site via mobile device is login. Then you browse around and it thinks you are still logged in (no username/password boxes up top of screen) until you attempt to do something which requires registered user pemissions, at which point it asks you to log in again?
Yep, that is correct. I made the change you suggested and PM'd you.

Thanks for the fixes dartho. My users are loving it.

[dartho]

I've released the skin with this mod now as a separate attachment.

[MotoUp]

Did you make any more changes since your last upload this weekend?

[dartho]

Only the one small one to enable remember me which you got via PM

[Robru]

very nice, thanks :)

[sR Craig]

which is the new style? there's two in the .zip

[MotoUp]

Upload the dartho-mobile-vbulletin-style.xml.

[dartho]

which is the new style? there's two in the .zip

oops - only one in it now :)

[brvheart]

oops - only one in it now :)

First off THANK YOU!!!!!! The best mobile style yet! One small favor to ask.....the navigation area at the top...when I use my treo and click on it, it does nothing...if I get the stylus out it is a drop down....is there a way to make it understand Windows Mobile on the Treo 700wx and that the center button on the 5 way navigation should drop down the options?

[MotoUp]

I ran into the same problem on the Blackberry....Once I enabled Java support, it worked great.

[dartho]

Same happens with me on my PDA, but I use my stylus, so never noticed it before. I think once you enter the drop down, clicking the centre button on your pda should made the drop down active, then if you click down on your dpad, it should scroll through the menu options. Problem here is that it will try and jump directly to the link as you scroll through them, so you have to do it quick. I admit that I didn;t put much thought into non-touch screen devices... I'll see what I can do

[VietPirates]

Doesn't the Alabama style come with buttons (eg. /images/buttons/arrow.gif ?)

[dartho]

No - it uses default vbulletin buttons if required - most button images have been removed from the templates

[MotoUp]

Same happens with me on my PDA, but I use my stylus, so never noticed it before. I think once you enter the drop down, clicking the centre button on your pda should made the drop down active, then if you click down on your dpad, it should scroll through the menu options. Problem here is that it will try and jump directly to the link as you scroll through them, so you have to do it quick. I admit that I didn;t put much thought into non-touch screen devices... I'll see what I can doOnce I figured out just to enable Java Support on the Blackberry, it works great. I just let all my users know about it. Since the Blackberry is not touch screen, it's actually quite nice that the drop down activates the link when it is selected...one less step for us not having to click a "Go" button.

[brvheart]

Doesn't the Alabama style come with buttons (eg. /images/buttons/arrow.gif ?)

I saw this issue also, go to your templates and search the Dartho Alabama style for "arrow.gif" should come up in one template (I can not remember which one) find it in that template and change it to "lastpost.gif" and you will not see that red x ;)

[dartho]

oops, sorry vietpirate :o

Zip file updated with a buttons folder and arrow.gif

arrow.gif = 65862

Upload to your images/buttons directory

[sR Craig]

new opera mini beta came out today...

www.operamini.com/beta

view it in that...nice!

[sR Craig]

although...i'm still not getting a 'Go to last post' image...anyone else?

[VietPirates]

Thank you, dartho & brvheart :)

[dartho]

although...i'm still not getting a 'Go to last post' image...anyone else?

How does it show if you view via your desktop? You can then also check the properties of the broken image to make sure it's looking for the correct file and that it exists

[Derek_Trotter]

Hi Dartho,
can you tell me why Mobile detection is not working on my forum?
This is link to the style:
http://www.madeinmontenegro.com/vbforum/index.php?styleid=5

On the Mobile device detection settings, Mobile Skin StyleID=5 (see screenshot)

[dartho]

Hi Derek, I just visited your forum via my PDA and it appears to be working. What device are you using to test it - there could be an issue there? Although it supports a LOT of devices, there are some which may not be included yet - these are easy for me to add if I know what they are though.
Thanks

[Derek_Trotter]

Hi Dartho, I tested with Nokia 7260. Now it work detection of mobile device and it select right skin, but it not sending variables properly. For example, I could not log in, but I can see forum as guest.
Now I tested with Nokia N70 and it work just fine. Can you make it work for older mobile devices?
One more suggestion. Is there any style with minor data transfer? This is for practical reason. Older phones will open pages faster and forum surfing will be cheaper for visitors.

[dartho]

I think the issue with older mobile devices is that the browser doesn't accept cookies which I think is required by vBulletin to keep track of who is logged on.

This style/plugin https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=100764 was written a while back with WAP devices in mind, you could give the style a try and see if it works with your 7260 better - if so I could lookinto it and see how to make it work.

Would be good if someone in the know could confirm this?

I could possibly trim the style right back to reduce page size more, but it's possibly a lot of work - not a straight forward thing.

Thanks for the feedback - remember to click "Mark as Installed" if you continue to use it :)

[Derek_Trotter]

@dartho
I try with that style with my Nokia 7260 and still nothing. Only can log in on forum as guest.
I see that lot of people using similar mobile phones and that is realy problem.

P.S. I click on "Mark as Installed" and I nominate you for "Modification of the Month"

[subnet_rx]

How can you tell if this is working if you don't have a data plan on your phone?

[MotoUp]

Post your link and I'll check it out for you.

[brvheart]

I can check as well...

[aggiefan]

i made my own theme customized for a smartphone and would release it but i have no idea how to export it.... i did alot of hacking to keep it looking as much like my forums as possible on a 320x240 screen.

http://www.aggiefans.com/forums if you want to test it.

Also is there a way to get your script to work with vbadvanced? I would like to detect browsers and kick them into the forums directly (dont want to mess with writing a vbadvanced theme since it wont be that useful for us to have that info available on a phone)

[dartho]

Wow! That is a VERY neat skin!

To export, go into "Download / Upload Styles" in the "Styles & Templates" section in your admincp. THen pick the style name from the first drop down and download.

In regards to vbadvanced, all I did for my site was to only dispaly the centre vBadvanced column - just edit teh adv_portal template and remove the
"<if condition="$show['left_column']">" block and the "<if condition="$show['right_column']">" If you just want to go straight to your forums, you could clear out the whole adv_portal template and just have a redirect to the Forum page

[Andres Kello]

Hi Dartho,

Great Mod, thanks a lot for this, it saved me from having to switch to SMF (http://www.simplemachines.org/).

Is there any chance you could make it fully 5/5 mobile compliant like SMF? Right now it scores about a 2/5 or fails altogether.

Check out Ready.mobi (http://ready.mobi) to see what I mean.

Big thanks!
Andres

[tekguru]

aggiefan - that is an awesome skin indeed, maybe you and Dartho need to work together to produce the A1 skin we all crave :)

[tekguru]

Dartho - what is your site BTW?

[dartho]

Hi Andres,
I possibly could start from scratch and come up with a more mobile compatible skin in a similar vein to SMF (which by the way would definately the forum software I'd use for a free forum only based site - almost wen t with it myself) but it wouldn;t happen soon. The skin I released with this hack came about from modifying the Alabama skin which vbMechanic wrote. On my small site I am one of only a couple users that access it with a PDA (rather than mobile phone) so the need to make it 100% compliant hasn;t really been there.

Aggiefans site seems to disaply well on on the http://ready.mobi site - He's obviously put a lot of work into it - I'd like to get my hands on it!

As I get time I'll have a go at a skin similar to SMF.

tekguru - I've updated my profile with my sites address - http://thewholeforce.com - it's a Rugby supporters site for the Western Australian Super14 rugby team "Western Force"

[MotoUp]

Aggiefan's looks great, however the problem I have with it is that it loads a lot slower. I'm not so keen on all the separation (could possibly be my Blackberry). For instance, on the first line, you see forum name, next, posts, next, views, next line icon.

So it creates a lot of scrolling.

I have to say I really like your theme dartho. It's nice and simple, yet gives plenty of options, even with me being the owner and admin of my site. Yeah, there's a few things I can't do, but I can manage quite a bit.

For whatever it's worth, there's my $.02

[tekguru]

tekguru - I've updated my profile with my sites address - http://thewholeforce.com - it's a Rugby supporters site for the Western Australian Super14 rugby team "Western Force"

Nice looking site, strange that for some reason I thought you were a fellow Brit :)

Be cool if you and Aggie could work together to produce anawesome generic PDA theme though.

Ref Adv where you say in the mobile theme you kill the left and right hand columns does this not cause any issues?

[dartho]

no probs at all, it just doesn;t disaply left and right columns and is more likely to fit on a small screen - here's my adv_portal template:

$stylevar[htmldoctype]
<html dir="$stylevar[textdirection]" lang="$stylevar[languagecode]">
<head>
<if condition="$pages['name'] == 'home'">
<meta http-equiv="Cache-Control" content="no-cache" />
<meta http-equiv="Pragma" content="no-cache" />
<meta http-equiv="Expires" content="0" />
</if>

<title>$vboptions[hometitle] <if condition="$pagetitle">- $pagetitle</if></title>

$headinclude
<if condition="$show['inlinemod']">
<script type="text/javascript" src="clientscript/vbulletin_inlinemod.js"></script>
</if>
</head>
<body>

$header

$navbar

<table align="center" class="page" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
<tr valign="top">
<if condition="$show['center_column']">
<td valign="top">
$home[centerblocks]
</td>
</if>
</tr>
</table>

$footer

</body>
</html>

[tekguru]

BTW - if you use this skin with vbAdvanced, I suggest you edit the "adv_portal_welcomeblock" template and remove all its contents so you don't have a double log in screen on your front page.

BTW should this be instant as I've just cleaned those two templates and accessed via the mobile device and I still see two login prompts.

[dartho]

Back a week ago I suggested

BTW - if you use this skin with vbAdvanced, I suggest you edit the "adv_portal_welcomeblock" template and remove all its contents so you don't have a double log in screen on your front page.

under cmps 3.0 - there are 2 temapltes, adv_portal_welcomeblock_lean and adv_portal_welcomeblock_expanded - you could clear the entire contents of both of these or if you still want the basic userinformation, edit these tempaltes, search for <else /> and delete everything (including "<else />") down to but NOT including the last </if>statement just a few lines from the bottom


On another note - I've been having a look and dig around tonight, and I think I can come up with a 5/5 mobile phone compliant skin - very basic but should be compatible with older mobiles - similar to the SMF mobile style. It's just a matter of finding the time to do it - a few long nights and a case of beer should be enough, but not sure when I can get around to it.

[tekguru]

Back a week ago I suggested under cmps 3.0 - there are 2 temapltes, adv_portal_welcomeblock_lean and adv_portal_welcomeblock_expanded - you could clear the entire contents of both of these or if you still want the basic userinformation, edit these tempaltes, search for <else /> and delete everything (including "<else />") down to but NOT including the last </if>statement just a few lines from the bottom

Yep already cleared both of those so I think it may be a caching issue as for me at least I still get the two login prompts.

On another note - I've been having a look and dig around tonight, and I think I can come up with a 5/5 mobile phone compliant skin - very basic but should be compatible with older mobiles - similar to the SMF mobile style. It's just a matter of finding the time to do it - a few long nights and a case of beer should be enough, but not sure when I can get around to it.

Sounds perfect to me if you can come up with one expect a donatin from me at least! :)

[dartho]

I have an alpha VERY lite skin if anyone wants to test? Only has forums/threads and replying to posts - everything else is same as existing released mobile skin. page sizes are greatly reduced - forum home is like only 6 kilobytes (I've learnt a bit and should be able to greatly reduced the 'dartho mobile alabama' bandwidth requirements too)

Please leave feedback on this one!

Now I need to work on the mobile detect hack and try and discern low res devices which can use this skin, and higher res devices that can use the alabama skin...

[MotoUp]

I actually really like the functionality of the dartho alabama skin, even if the load times are a bit longer, so if you do work on making it smaller, my only request is that you don't remove any of that functionality. I love being able to read and send PM's, edit posts, create new threads, etc. which wasn't available in the previous style.

[dartho]

no loss in functionality - just a significant reduction in size - probably over 80% smaller.

I will in the coming weeks modify the mobile device detection so that you can specify one skin for Windows CE devices and blackberrys and a different skin for "other" mobile devices.

Any suggestions for what devices/browers should be lumped into teh WIndows CE (high res, high functionality) category would be helpful.

[MotoUp]

Okay, so the mobil-phone-skin that you just released above is not the dartho skin reduced, it's completely different, am I understanding that correctly?

[Derek_Trotter]

@Dartho
Excellent! This is better solution! My browser still not alow me to log in, but surfing forum is much faster. This is very important for my members. Can you add to this skin P.M. ?

[tekguru]

Grabbing it now and will instsall later - watch out for any feedback!

[tekguru]

Silly queson but where does one throw the CSS file to?

[dartho]

yep - totally new, although any templates I didn't redo are alabama templates.

CSS goes in forum root.

@Derek Trotter - I'm suprised you can't log in, I'm pretty sure I had that all sorted, although I only tested on emulators. I intend on doing the PM section also - just wanted some feedback before I put the time in

[Amenadiel]

Hi. I'm looking forward to enable a special style for the users visiting my forum with Internet Explorer. It seems that when using Firefox, Opera or Safari my default style (CA EVO) works fine, but it's too slow to load on IE, so I want IE visitors to be presented a lighter style.

I've seen that this mod has a browser detection array

$browsers = array(
"Windows CE",
"WebTV",
"AvantGo",
"Blazer",
"PalmOS",
"lynx",
"Go.Web",
"Elaine",
"ProxiNet",
"ChaiFarer",
"Digital Paths",
"UP.Browser",
"Mazingo",
"Mobile",
"T68",
"Syncalot",
"NetFront",
"Danger",
"Symbian",
"Symbian OS",
"SymbianOS",
"Maemo",
"Opera Mini",
"Nokia",
"Xiino",
"AU-MIC",
"EPOC",
"BlackBerry",
"Wireless",
"Handheld",
"Smartphone",
"SAMSUNG",
"320x240",
"240x320",
"PSP",
"J2ME",
"MIDP",
"MIDP-2.0",
"Opera Mini",
"Blackberry8700"
);

So I guess I could use something like

$browsers = array(

"Internet Explorer 6",
"Internet Explorer 7",
"Maxthon"
);

but I'm not sure of which browser strings to use.

Besides: does this mod disallow for users to choose another style if they wish to? will they be forced to use lighter style when browsing with IE?

[dartho]

It would be possible to extend or alter this mod to detect different desktop browsers and present with different styles, but this mod does force a style - it can't be changed by the user...

[Spika]

Hello!
I´ve a problem, from mobiles devices works fine, but If ahythig choose dartho Mobile alabama style in a PC, after cannot back to default style, even turn off the browser (IE7 or Firefox), Mobile Style is not default style in ACP. And isn´t possible choose style in dartho mobile alabama skin, I can not view this option.
Thanks in advanced
(sorry for my english)

[Derek_Trotter]

@Dartho
No, I definitely can't log in. Here is link to my phone specifications http://cellular.co.za/phones/nokia/2004/nokia_7260.htm
Maybe that can help you to find out why my browser can't work properly.
I have one suggestion. It would be very nice if you can disable all images in post except
smilies. It would speed up forum and it would be cheaper for some visitors.

[dartho]

@ Derek_Trotter - Not sure if I can help you - I'll look around for an emulator and test further. I can however change how images are displayed - simple matter of replacing IMG tags with URL tags.

@Spika - if you just go to your sites home page and add "?styleid=xx" where "xx" is your default styleID you'll be ok. I'll add an option in the footer of the next release to change styles - but this won;t work if you use the "mobile detection" hack as it forces a mobile style when it detects a mobile device.

Might be a while before I can apply these changes - gotta get some sleep sometime!

[tekguru]

Installed it here nad it runs fine, I can log in with no problems. NO way I could see to post a new message though. A good start indeed.

[Derek_Trotter]

OK. Is better to replace IMG with URL tags. If someone want to see image let he just click on link.

[cash7c3]

Hey, I am looking to use a product like this to display a specific style for ONLY ONE User Agent... anything else I want to show the regular style. Its for the iPhone (modmyiphone.com), and I want the iPhone to show one style, and any other browser to show the regular skin. Any chance we could get it so I could set a specific UA to change to a specific skin?

[dartho]

That shouldn't be too hard to do if you have the useragent strings ...

[Spika]

@Spika - if you just go to your sites home page and add "?styleid=xx" where "xx" is your default styleID you'll be ok. I'll add an option in the footer of the next release to change styles - but this won;t work if you use the "mobile detection" hack as it forces a mobile style when it detects a mobile device.

Might be a while before I can apply these changes - gotta get some sleep sometime!
Thank you very much for you support.:up:

[JustJon]

I'm still digging this mod, but when my users post from their cell phones, their signatures are not attached to the post. How do I fix this?

[Andres Kello]

Hi Andres,
I possibly could start from scratch and come up with a more mobile compatible skin in a similar vein to SMF (which by the way would definately the forum software I'd use for a free forum only based site - almost wen t with it myself) but it wouldn;t happen soon. The skin I released with this hack came about from modifying the Alabama skin which vbMechanic wrote. On my small site I am one of only a couple users that access it with a PDA (rather than mobile phone) so the need to make it 100% compliant hasn;t really been there.

As I get time I'll have a go at a skin similar to SMF.

That would be absolutely great to meet the growing demand for mobile websites. The .mobi (http://mtld.mobi) domain extension was launched 9 months ago and it's fueling a rush to build mobile websites. The problem is, vBulletin won't be meeting that demand at least until version 4.0 (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=233722), and who knows how long away that is.

Also, my users seem to be having a problem using the Quick Reply button on your mobile mod. All it does is apparently "refresh" the page. You can follow the discussion here (http://mobility.mobi/showthread.php?t=227). Any ideas on how to fix this?

Cheers!
Andres
Mobility.mobi (http://mobility.mobi)

P.S. By the way, are you in Australia? I'm in Sydney. :)

[dartho]

Andres - check the attachment in this post: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?p=1276682#post1276682

It's still a work in progress, but that skin gets 4/5 on ready.mobi and will allow reading forums/threads and replying. I'm still adding in more functionality and will have a next version released by the end of weekend hopefully. I've also modded the mobile detect hack to allow specifying one skin for Windows CE devices / Blackberrys and another skin for all other detected mobile devices - I haven't uploaded this one yet though

I'm in Perth!

[Tralala]

Hey, I am looking to use a product like this to display a specific style for ONLY ONE User Agent... anything else I want to show the regular style. Its for the iPhone (modmyiphone.com), and I want the iPhone to show one style, and any other browser to show the regular skin. Any chance we could get it so I could set a specific UA to change to a specific skin?

Along these lines, I have a forum member using an iPhone and he reports that he's unable to switch away from the mobile skin (I suspect it's because of this product being installed.) How can I add the iPhone browser to the list of exceptions so that he may browse my forum using the "full" skin?

[dartho]

Are you able to find the exact user agent string sent by the iPhone?

I mentioned I had a version on teh boil which would deliver one specified style to "Windows CE" devices, and another to all others - I guess I could allow the user to specify an exceptions list also - I'll look at it when you reply (and I get time)

When using this hack, the style is forced - there is no getting away from it.

[dartho]

Update will be out tonight (5 hours?) with a user configurable exceptions list, and choice of applying a different skin to Windows CE devices - ie. Pocket PC's in addition to applying a specified skin to all other detected mobile devices. Just testing now.

[tekguru]

Update downloaded will feedback later!

[BadgerDog]

What would be a good skin option for a RIM Blackberry device?

Thanks... :)

Regards,
Badger

[sR Craig]

for some reason I cannot login or post with OperaMini...

and on my Blackberry browser (using the Curve 8300) I can login but cannot post (and it does not show me as logged in...I can just see private forums so I know I am logged in somehow)

Loving it...just wish it worked for my device

[Tralala]

Are you able to find the exact user agent string sent by the iPhone?


Checked http://www.zytrax.com/tech/web/browser_id.shtml

and got this:

Mozila/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en)
AppleWebKit/420+ (KHTML, like Gecko)
Version/3.0 Mobile/1A543a Safari/419.3

[dartho]

The update to this mod just released (product mobile enabled36 2.1.2.xml) will exclude "iPhone" from being detected as a mobile device out of the box :up:

[dartho]

for some reason I cannot login or post with OperaMini...

and on my Blackberry browser (using the Curve 8300) I can login but cannot post (and it does not show me as logged in...I can just see private forums so I know I am logged in somehow)

Loving it...just wish it worked for my device

Are you running with this skin: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=151186 or the "alabama mod" mod skin?

I suggest you try the first. The Alabama mod needs more work - esp on devices that don't support cookies

[MotoUp]

What would be a good skin option for a RIM Blackberry device?

Thanks... :)

Regards,
Badger

The dartho alabama skin works like a champ. :)

[Tralala]

Thanks for the iPhone fix... works great!

[JustJon]

I'm still a big fan of this mod and all the work you've done on it, but when posting from the phone, the user's signature is not being attached to the post. Is there any way to fix this?

[dartho]

Sorry JustJon - I'll look into that. What skin are you using?

[egyptsons]

nice work ;)

[aggiefan]

Wow! That is a VERY neat skin!

To export, go into "Download / Upload Styles" in the "Styles & Templates" section in your admincp. THen pick the style name from the first drop down and download.

In regards to vbadvanced, all I did for my site was to only dispaly the centre vBadvanced column - just edit teh adv_portal template and remove the
"<if condition="$show['left_column']">" block and the "<if condition="$show['right_column']">" If you just want to go straight to your forums, you could clear out the whole adv_portal template and just have a redirect to the Forum page

Ok I get it now... what was confusing me about this is I completely forgot about the vbadvanced stuff was installed in the templates (i was thinking it was only in the vbadvanced section in admincp).

Anyways I am going to attach our smartphone theme here.... It will need some work. I got it close but as others have stated it needs more work because there is still alot of fluff in the theme but I think I have a good place to start from. I also inadvertently created some errors that show up in IE (probably removing a bit of code I shouldnt have)

[tekguru]

Feedback from one of my teamn members:

Finally got round to trying mobile and ..... er ... what's with the garish colours? All negative from me I'm afraid!

The portal weighed in at about 150k and non of the images loaded.

I have to load another page to reply to a post

Oh and those colours!!

Agie will try your style next if you and Dartho can work on one together it should be awesome!

[dartho]

@tekguru - thats all about the mobile skin as opposed to this add-on. It's written for vBulletin not any portals, so not much I can really do there as everyones portal is different. To fix up the images though, you will need to set the image paths in the style options. The mobile style itself uses no images.

As for the colours, I just went with a few of the 216 web safe colours knowing that these would easier enough to change by people who use the skin by editing the CSS file.

I should be able to add a "quick reply" box.

I'm in the process of revamping this skin specifically for Windows Mobile type devices.

@Aggiefans - thanks for sharing!

[Rickeo]

Thank you great just what I needed.

~Rick~

[tekguru]

@tekguru - thats all about the mobile skin as opposed to this add-on. It's written for vBulletin not any portals, so not much I can really do there as everyones portal is different. To fix up the images though, you will need to set the image paths in the style options. The mobile style itself uses no images.

As for the colours, I just went with a few of the 216 web safe colours knowing that these would easier enough to change by people who use the skin by editing the CSS file.

I should be able to add a "quick reply" box.

I'm in the process of revamping this skin specifically for Windows Mobile type devices.

@Aggiefans - thanks for sharing!

Argh sorry about that serves me right for replying mid-migraine :) Looking forward to the updates to both Mods :) Understand about the CSS - can you give a guide to editing that in the relevant thread?

I'll investigate the image paths.

[ShackMaster]

Super nice! Installed!

Just wondering... when I go to the Alabama style on my laptop... how do you change the style again since there is no option for another style? I know I can logout and it will take me back to the original default style. Am I missing something... I'm easily at the top of the "duh" list.

[ShackMaster]

Another question...

I noticed you have the Mobile/Cell Phone style here at vB.org as well. Should I use it for mobile and cell and use the Alabama style for PDA? What is best for which?

Thanks!

[dartho]

G'day Shackmaster,

easiest way to get back to your default skin is to go to "http://domainname.com/?styleid=xx" where xx is your default style ID. I haven;t added a style chooser to the alabama skin as I made it for use with this hack on my site which does not allow users to change skins. A future release will probably have a style chooser option for those that wish to give users more control...

[dartho]

Another question...

I noticed you have the Mobile/Cell Phone style here at vB.org as well. Should I use it for mobile and cell and use the Alabama style for PDA? What is best for which?

Thanks!

Yep - that skin would be more compatible with more devices - I use that one for all devices persoanly because of its low bandwidth use. The Alabama one is good, but needs to be re-done from the ground up - I am in the process of writing a new 'PDA' skin from scratch, but it may take a little while....

[ShackMaster]

Okay... thanks.... it makes sense that when members are on a regular computer they don't need to have the option of that style.

[Dannyloski]

holy freaking crap! This hack is freaking awesome! I did not know this was possible :up: I will definately install this, just need to get a Wireless Device that has Internet Connection first so I can test it (My Cellphone, doesnt have Internet Enabled) ... I'll borrow my cousin's phone one day and when I do, I'll install this :D

[JustJon]

Sorry JustJon - I'll look into that. What skin are you using?

The Dartho version of Alabama

[tteal]

Works GREAT thanks!

[Sebulba]

I would like mobile users to be able to get back the "normal" skin of the site if they want to. I added a link on the footer with "index.php?styleid=normalstyleID" but it always comes back to the mobile one (I guess because I'm on a mobile platform).
Is there an easy solution ?

[slmoney]

DUDE! This ROCKS!

[txspaderz]

Heck yea it does. Great freakin hack!

[txspaderz]

A feature I would love to see. I way to add our own Agent Strings.

[dartho]

@sebulba - Sorry - this hack forces the style, so a link won't work. If you want to give the users ability to choose mobile style or not, best not to use this hack at all and just let them choose via the style chooser. It may be possible to write another add-on which rather than Force a style, just sets the styleid only once - allowing it to be changed...

@txspaderz - you could edit the :'Detect Mobile Device' plugin vi athe PLugin Manager and add your own - it shouldn't be too hard to follow - you'll see a big list, just add your own UA in teh middle somewhere.

[dartho]

Someone asked about logging mobile page usage - the following may help...

Edit the Detect Mobile Device plugin - in the following section:

if ($mobile==1)
{
// echo "<!-- Mobile Device -->";
$styleid=$vbulletin->options['mobile_skin'];
}
else if ($pda==1)
{
// echo "<!-- PDA Device -->";
$styleid=$vbulletin->options['pda_skin'];
}
else if ($except_browser==1)
{
// echo "<!-- Excepted Device -->";
}
else
{
// echo "<!-- No Mobile Device-->";
}


and add code directly below the "// echo "<!-- Mobile Device -->";" line to do what ever logging you you wanted. An example may be:


{
$logfile = "mobilelog.txt";
$ipaddr = $_SERVER["REMOTE_ADDR"];
$pagevisited = $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"];
$newent = date('r')." (".$ipaddr.") ".$pagevisited." ".$buffer."\n";
$fd = fopen($logfile,"a+") or die("ERROR: Can't open file $logfile for append");
$fout = fwrite($fd, $newent);
fclose($fd);
}




Warning!! Make sure the log file (in this example - mobilelog.txt) exists and is writable first!

[alfaowner]

For some reason I cannot stay logged in? I have cleared all cookies several times too... Seems to happen on the newest upgrade version for me

I am using a black berry