Webdesign websites on mobile devices

[brianvic]

Hi

I'm new to Xara so please forgive my current lack of knowledge.

I have happily created a prototype of my website, which looks great on desktop browsers. However, when viewed on mobile devices (in particular on Android and iPhones) I notice a number of issues. While the website displays it always displays zoomed in when you first open it. This is in direct contrast to most other websites that display the whole website width zoomed out. You would then double tap the screen to zoom in or use gestures to zoom in.

This brings me to the next issue. Most other websites, although I do accept not all, will allow text to reflow when zoomed in so that users can still read the text without having to slide around the screen too much. XWD doesn't appear to do this and the text doesn't reflow at all. The website looks ok, to be fair, apart from all that, but it's a bit disconcerting when it doesn't behave as expected.

Is there any way of catering for this in Webdesigner apart from designing a mobile version as well? There seem to be many discussions about the pros and cons of having one web site versus a desktop version and a mobile version. My own feeling is that with the advancement of mobile devices and their ability to display regular websites there shouldn't be a need for a mobile version. But the current website created with XWD doesn't play well on mobile screens.

Have I missed something in the software? I'd be interested in others views and possible solutions.

Thank you

[pauland]

Xara designed websites are WYSIWYG design to a specific page size. Other website development technologies usually incorporate separate stylesheets that control a page differrently according to the device the web page is being viewed upon. These designs are not WYSIWYG and either hand-coded or template driven.

The WYSIWYG nature of Xara web generation means that these text reflows won't happen - you create your design and it won't change regardless of the device it is viewed upon. Some Xara users have built alternative versions of their sites for mobile and use redirection in one form or another when a mobile device is used on the site.

Xara gives design freedom at the cost of layout flexibility.

[brianvic]

Cheers pauland! I had an inkling that that might be the reason. I really appreciate the design freedom aspect so I guess I will have to design a mobile version that makes it easier to read. I've come from a Joomla background where I've been frustrated by the lack of design flexibility. Templates can be great, and certainly will always have their place, but I like the 'desktop publishing' feel of XWD which allows me to create a site that looks like no one else's!

It's still early days and I'm still finding my way around the software and I'm sure I will find more and more to like about Xara!

Thanks for your response.

[pauland]

I would say Joomla gives far more design flexibility than Xara - you just need a lot of skill in HTML/CSS and javascript, etc to be able to use it!

Xara does not play well with CMS - at least not without a lot of compromise or workarounds.

[brianvic]

I guess that depends on what we both mean by 'design flexibility'. I've used commercial templates for Joomla as well as hand modifying free ones to get the desired look and feel for a site. I've also used Artisteer for creating templates and it's a great piece of software.

But I'm wanting to create a website that doesn't conform to the column and module positions imposed by templates. CMS is not always a requirement.

It's not a huge issue and I'm not going to stop using Joomla, but Xara looked (looks) like it will give me some new tools to work with and give me the ability to have a more free format layout. For the money I felt it was worth a punt! I'm sure I will find many uses for it.

[pauland]

The Xara software is great, it will be a good investment, I'm sure.