10 Tools for Mobile Website Development

As the use of Smartphones is ever increasing, most websites build a mobile version. Fitting the desktop version in the smaller screen of phones is cumbersome and requires a lot of scrolling back and forth. So, having a version of your website that will fit snugly in any mobile browser will make it more accessible by Smartphone users. There are several tools that will help you create a mobile version. Of them, the following are most handy and easy to use.

Mobify

This tool has an extremely easy setup, which makes it top the list. Even users who have little knowledge in HTML can operate it and create a mobile version of their websites using the user friendly interface. It is very intuitive and if you run a business website, then the Mobify’s Mobile Commerce platform is an added bonus. Mobify has a free version that allows to do most of the tweaks of premium version, including choosing a custom domain. Paid subscriptions start at $249 per month which enables you to remove Mobify logo and add mobile analytics to your site.

The-M-Project

It is quite similar to setting up your blog because The-M-Project involves arranging your website in widget form. It has a large collection of widgets compiled through jQuery and the code follows the MVC pattern. So, you have to build a JSON structure to define the widgets in your website. The layout is managed by tool and you can create functions attached to events to define app behavior. The app behavior building and execution processes are integrated with Node.js.

Winksite

Winksite is a tool that generates a QR code, which is extremely useful if your website is community or business based. The 2D code can be read by mobile devices equipped with QR scanners and text and multimedia content can be drawn up from that. You can print the QR code and use it to promote your website in business cards or flyers as well.

Mippin Mobilizer

It is one of the simplest tools to use. You have to enter the website’s RSS feed address and tweak the options to create the mobile version. You have to sign up for an account on Mippin and install the generated code in your website and voila! A neat new mobile version of your website ready for use. The real time preview on the right keeps showing the changes each edit makes.

Wirenode

Nokia, Reebok, Ford and other such big companies testify this tool’s effectiveness as a mobile website development platform. It is one of the most popular picks with over half a million mobile websites in its repertoire. The editor has a user friendly graphical user interface (GUI) and allows free hosting of three websites. Upgrading to a paid plan (starting at 15 Euros per month) will allows you to remove Wirenode ads and create custom domains.

Onbile

It is another simple mobile website development tool that will get the mobile version of your mobile up and running in no time. It has a user-friendly and sensitive interface along with a custom-generated script you can paste on your website’s homepage; this will enable any mobile user to be redirected to the mobile version of the website. It has 13 templates to choose from.

iWebKit

It creates a quick design of your website in form of an iPhone app. It allows you to make an app version of your website (compatible with iPhone and iPad only) without knowledge of HTML. It requires a bit of fiddling after download and installation, but the iWebKit is a neat tool.

MobilePress

This is one of the many plug-ins WordPress provides to launch a mobile version of your WordPress-powered website. You can also try WordPress Mobile Edition. They are both easy to handle because of the presets offered.

MoFuse

It is another great tool to build and design your website’s mobile version from scratch. It is ideal for business or news broadcasting websites because of its analytics reporting, customer support, QR code generator and other such pro features. Paid subscriptions range from $7.95 to $199 per month.

Mobl

For those website developers who are still a little shaky in HTML, JavaScript and CSS, Mobl is the ideal app. It allows you to write the instructions in the tool and the Mobl servers turn it into legitimate code in the aforementioned languages. If you encounter any problems in JavaScript, you can run it by Mobl. It usually fixes the issues by replacing the complexities with declarative syntax. It also picks up minor syntax errors you may have committed in your code.

Apart from these, you may use jQuery if you are at ease with HTML, or you can use ChocolateChip-UI which has WAML, developed on HTML5, as the underlying code. For the simplicity of use and the clean interface, the reviewed ten tools are my favorites.