.mobi Dev.mobi newsletter - Good reading!

[movingconcierge]

I just got this today...enjoy!

Hi,

This is the first dev.mobi (http://dev.mobi) newsletter - the newsletter of the world's most exciting mobile development community. This particular issue is to update you on some of the things we've changed recently on dev.mobi


WORLD CLASS ARTICLES

We've been adding a lot of new content to the site. One of the main things we've added recently is an online version of our Mobile Web Developer’s Guide Part I (http://dev.mobi/node/197) - you can now browse the full contents of this book (in valid HTML!) here: http://dev.mobi/book

We hope that you can help us with Part II of this guide, which will be authored interactively on dev.mobi in the coming months. Check our blog for more details: http://dev.mobi/blog/1

You will also begin to see a lot more content from around the world. The mobile web is inherently more global in nature than the PC web so we're keen to get perspectives on this from as many places as possible (if you'd like to contribute, please let me know)

Some other examples of our content include mobilizing the key CMS
systems:

* Drupal (http://dev.mobi/node/153)
* Typo3 (http://dev.mobi/node/50)
* WordPress (http://dev.mobi/node/78)


WEB DEVELOPER CERTIFICATION

Prove what you know! Being a certified mobile web developer shows your clients and employers that you have specialized knowledge in mobile web development – not just for .mobi sites. Find out more at
http://dev.mobi/node/223

For a limited time, dotMobi and its certification partner, Prometric, are making certification available at an introductory price of US$195 (regular price $250). Visit http://prometric.com/dotMobi/ to sign up.


EASIER NAVIGATION

One of the big problems with the dev.mobi was finding the content on the site. Sure, if you knew what to look for you could find things but we needed a better discovery mechanism. Enter tag clouds: we now have two mechanisms to make the content easier to find.

* Article TOPICS cloud: this cloud lists some key topics that we think people will be looking for e.g. Content Adaptation, Tools, Device Detection etc. Think of this as a "file-under" designation for each piece of content
* Article TYPES cloud: this cloud is independent of the topic of the article and instead lets you look for content by type e.g. Feature Article, Reference Material etc.

The site search works as before, of course. We've also added some news rivers to the front page so that returning visitors can quickly get a feel for what is new on the site.


BETTER MARKUP

Here at dotMobi we endeavour to keep our markup clean -- HTML zealots may have noticed that dev.mobi is now fully valid HTML according to W3C's Tidy, except where the contents of embedded articles or snippets don't themselves validate (and we're working on cleaning these up.)


A NEW MOBILE INTERFACE

Previously we used to redirect the user off to a whole different server for the mobile UI. This was a bad practice. What we've now done is create a module for our own CMS engine (we use Drupal) which recognises a mobile device's request on every page and sends a different theme accordingly. Read more about it here: http://dev.mobi/node/280

We're also eating our own dog food: most of the pages seem to sail through ready.mobi with 5/5, but I'm sure a few don't yet.


CURVY CORNERS

We resisted initially but we gave up -- you can't re-skin a site these days without adding curvy corners!


NEW PROFILE INFORMATION

We have added some additional options to the profile section of dev.mobi to enable us to communicate better with our users and help our members promote their sites and services. Please take a moment to review your profile on dev.mobi and update any required details. You can view these changes by clicking on My Account -> Edit -> Your Subscriptions

One particular change that may be of interest to you is a new section that lists any mobile domains (websites) that you may be responsible for. By adding domains to this field you can ensure that your sites will be crawled by us as candidates for inclusion in our directory of mobile-friendly web sites, which is coming soon.

To help grow your business you can now also add information regarding services that you or your company offers. We will soon enable people to search the user database on these fields and communicate with you via a web form. This may help you promote your mobile business around the world, especially if you are a certified dotMobi developer
(http://dev.mobi/node/223)

This is a once-off email to tell you about this change -- if you do not wish to receive further emails like this, simply uncheck the the "Receive dotMobi newsletters" and "Receive dev.mobi newsletter" in your profile on dev.mobi.

We love to hear your feedback. You can email us any time or leave comments on http://dev.mobi/forum

--
Regards,
Ronan Cremin
dotMobi

 

[seanboy]

I got that email too. Good stuff..

 

[ajkula]

Thanks!

Rep added