Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

I was investigating improving site performance by using the web page test tool at http://www.webpagetest.org/ when for our xMobile homepage the tool reported that a resource was not found (error 404). The resource in question is:

On 5 occassions the resource is called, on each occassion the call takes hundreds of milli seconds resulting in file not found.

Has any one here who uses this template come across this problem before? I have just this moment raised a ticket with thexcartstore and I'm sure I'll get a good explanation off them but until then I'd like to work this problem to resolve it asap.

B.t.w. what the heck is that resource anyway?

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

Hi DavyMac,

I believe we have a support ticket from you in our system relating to this issue - sent during the weekend.

We will have one our engineers looks into this for you now and respond immediately.
I will also update this thread with the response asap.

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

Hi David,

The SVG code in the css file is a technique that can be used to load a vector directly into the css file - without having to load an image from the server.
In our case, we are simply displaying the vector graphic as a background image (there is no external image - like in normal case).

So, the browser test you are using is expecting an image to be returned, when it doesn't get it, it thinks there is a 404 error.
But in this case, the image is built within the CSS code - not downloaded from the server.

Loading the SVG graphic should not cause any delay in your site loading, your browser testing tool is giving you the impression that the problem is here - when in fact it's not.
If you wish, we can update your CSS to call an image directly that we will upload to your server.

Try using YSlow and you will see that these errors do not appear.
Let me know what you want us to do?

regards
Will

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

Thanks Will,

I agree that this SVG code is not impacting page load timings, but I didn't understand what I was seeing, so thanks for the explantion.

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

Is there anyway to only load X-Mobile on smart phones? Ours seems to load on the iPad and Nexus 7. But not on the Asus tablet which is 10". It is coming off a responsive template if that makes any difference.

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

Hi Freakmode,

Yes, xmobile should only appear on smartphones.
If you could send a ticket through to our support helpdesk, we will have one of our enginners investigate your setup. Send your email through to support (at) thexcartstore.com.

Thanks again.

regards
W.

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

Has anyone else read this article http://www.internetretailer.com/2013/06/13/google-cracks-down-mobile-laggards?cid=2013 ?

It explains how Google will penalise mobile sites that don't comply with their vision of a "good mobile" site.

How well does our xMobile template fit with Google's vision? Will we get penalised or rewarded by Google? :?

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

Hi Davy,

Thanks for sharing the article.
The short answer is No, Google will not penalise your xmobile template/site.
In the case or xmobile - there are no "redirects" in place and you don't have a 2nd copy of your site that you redirect customers to. You only have 1 source for your content (as apposed to a 2nd mCommerce site, as its referred to in that article).

Hope that helps.

regards
W.

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

Hi Will,

The article identified three things our site must have to ensure our mobile content ranks well with Google:

1. a ⌠vary header■ to tell Google that the content at the URL varies by user agent
2. main site pages (not mobile) must have an ⌠alternate■ meta tag identifying the mobile version of the page
3. a canonical tag that identifies the desktop version of the page and the desktop URL

In our case we satisfy point #3 but our main site template (xTreme gear) does not satisfy point #2 and, to be honest, I▓ve no idea about point #1.
Since our mobile page URL is the same as our main site page URL it would not be a major task to add the ⌠alternate■ tag so that we satisfy point #2 but what would be involved in satisfying point #1?

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

Hi Will,

Can you shed some light on the "vary header"?

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

Hi Davy,

Yes, this looks like a good amendment to make to xmobile, we will discuss in more detail here today and let you (and other customers) know of the recommended changes. We've been researching the "official" word on this from Google and it seems to be good practice to include this response in the header, so we are happy to implement this:
https://developers.google.com/webmasters/smartphone-sites/details

we will keep you posted.

regards
W.

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

I installed xMobile last night and I am INCREDIBLY impressed!!! Very well done!!!
The css interface was effortless to use -- I colorized the entire xmb template to match my main template in minutes!!

I did stumble into a short shopping list of issues, and I did fire off 6 tickets to TXS on a weekend morning...

Just in case some of you have seen or lived through some of these issues, I will post here -- WIll, you know I am not afraid to open a ticket -- my posting here is also to help the community as well as hopefully find solutions for the next guy. With that said -- my first "challenges" integrating xMB:

1. javascript option validation does not appear work??? !!! - [SOLVED - see below]

If a product has js option validation (forcing the customer to select a product option(s) before adding to cart), as described here:

http://help.x-cart.com/index.php?title=X-Cart:Product_Options#How_to_prohibit_customers_fro m_adding_a_pr...select ion.3F

xMB is not respecting this. It will permit a product with options (and option validation js as described in the xcart documentation) to be added to the cart, WITHOUT ANY OPTIONS SELECTED!!! Yikes. That's a deal-breaker for me.

Anyone else experienced this?
This is mission critical for me - hopefully TXS support can solve this. If so, then I can move on to the rest of my short list...

2. X-Cart Banner System (bundled with GoldPlus) - [SOLVED - see below] -- I thought I was being smart - using the xcart "top" banners in my primary template, and the "bottom" banners in the banner div slot in xMobile's welcome.tpl - I am proud of myself for thinking of this solution! :-)

But there is something not working and the js appears to be busted. I have a ticket in with TXS on this. But in case anyone is reading over the weekend, has anyone successfully used X-Cart Banner System with xMobile? Can you share your solution to get this working?

3. Why is top logo only 245px wide ?
xMobile Logo - recommended dimensions 245px X 60px

Looks like there is much more width available on an iphone?
Surely more width on most Android devices too?

What is the logic here? What did YOU do for your store?

4. file, /skin/txs_xmobile/customer/home.tpl

In most xcart templates, there is http vs https {if} code in the <html xmlns code at the top.

this code was missing from xMB file,
/skin/txs_xmobile/customer/home.tpl
===============================


And there is no need to "if" the $active_modules.Socialize - especially if we are using addthis. Correct? SO I commented it out.

Did you guys use this code or are you approaching https differently?

5. Advanced Customer Reviews.
What did you do to integrate if you have GoldPlus? GoldPlus customers do not have the module installer in our file area... so to integrate ACR, we have to know which templates in the skin it needs to edit. Anyone been there/done that?

6. Altered Cart OnSale - [Works]
7. Altered Cart Checkout_One - [SOLVED - see below]
8. WCM RememberMe - [Works]

Rex, I was kinda reluctant to go with xMB reading your posts, but then I asked Bill Brewer what you did here -- and he said you (or your consultant) briefly contacted him, then never followed up, so Bill assumed you resolved it? Can you share what you had to do to make these modules work? Assuming you are also using x-payments?

9. WCM CDSEO - shouldn't require any template edits. Should just work, yes? - [YES]

If ANYONE has experience with this shopping list of issues, I'd sure appreciate you sharing here... or in private.

I am looking forward to resolving the issues and getting this template live.

Thanks for sharing.

Jeremy

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

10. Detailed Product Descriptions

What do you guys do if your detailed product descriptions are highly formatted for a desktop template?

i.e. two-columns, using divs with floats, negative margin, etc... ?

Is there a way to "blow out" the div formatting for the product descriptions and make it a bit more generic ONLY for the mobile template?

But I do need to account for images in the detailed product description -- they need to be resized to screen width, yes?

What's the solution?
The first person to tell me to use a responsive template will get slapped.

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

11. CloudSearch - [SOLVED - see below]

Hmm... not pretty... it returns results, but without any formatting or css.
Has anyone integrated CloudSearch with xMobile?

It looks like TXS has built an amazing product - but just about all of the GoldPlus features and bundled modules since 4.5.3 have not been integrated. Yet. And CloudSearch is not only for GoldPlus.

Is it reasonable to expect this to work out of the box with X-Cart's default modules (except as noted)?

Hopefully, these integrations are all minor includes.

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

Hi Jeremy,

You have this same ticket opened in our support Helpdesk - we will respond in detail to you there.
When we are done, you can update this thread on the forum.

regards
W.

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

Hi Will,
Although your support helpdesk is superb, I was also hoping to also hear from the community for some of the real-world "this is how I solved this" issues.

I see a few replies to the tickets now!

Thanks,

J

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

>> This is just a recommendation

Got it.
On my iPhone 5, there is substantial whitespace on the sides.
I will need to find a suite of mobile devices to test on!

Thx
J

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

is not compatible with xMobile
unfortunately this was not disclosed prior to purchase.
fortunately, xBanners is supposed to work, so I will purchase it now.

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

OK -- this is very simple.
xMobile works with javascript option validation, if you use the EXACT js as published by xcart.

BUT -- if you call any other js function in the validation js, we must deal with it.

I elected to use the xcart function, 'xAlert' - which is in the common.js library (as opposed to default function 'alert') for the validation to make the alerts look like my skin, and not default grey.

This does not work in xMobile.

Working on a solution - will share when I have it.

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

Unfortunately, my solution is to revert to generic alert messages.

http://forum.x-cart.com/showthread.php?t=67353

BUT - xMobile is working PERFECTLY, right out of the box. I don't fault xMobile for this issue -- this was my own crazy idea (to make the alert dialogs prettier) and I will need to find another way for the desktop template.

I am LOVING xMobile.

Will, thanks for the great support on all of my issues -- only a few more left to go! :-)

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

I bought xBanners (TXS allowed me to "add" it to my bundle) - and it works perfectly!
Very easy installation.
Very comprehensive module.

If you don't already own xcart banner system (even if you do) there are some great features in xBanners, and it's a good value too.

If you are going to purchase xMobile, and you want a banner module, I can't recommend xBanners enough - it's a great match.

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

TXS is fixing this right now. CloudSearch works on their demo site -- very happy with TXS support addressing all of these issues asap.

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

Need advice re: images location...

I have built many, many static pages... and I used the {$AltImagesDir}/custom/ to serve these many images... for my primary skin.

Now that I have a skin dedicated to mobile... whoops...

Images in {$AltImagesDir}/custom/ are not happy.

I can clone the {$AltImagesDir}/custom/ to the xMobile skin? But that's duplicate content, right?

Short of moving the images <somewhere else> (such as $ImagesDir/custom/ and fixing the links on all static pages, any other ideas?

Thx
J

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

Roll Call:
WHO has xMobile working with Altered Cart Checkout_One?

What did you do to get C1 as primary checkout for customers not yet logged in?
I have C1 loading for registered customers -- but for anons or $login eq "", C1 doesn't load, and instead I see the 1st (ugly) page of FLC.

If you integrated Altered Cart Checkout One with xMobile, please let me know.

PS -- TXS states that xMobile doesn't work with "One Page Checkout" -- I am NOT talking about the crappy ajax OPC bundled with xcart. I am talking about Altered Cart Checkout_One

Anyone?

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

I dug deep into the code and variables and learned the following:

1. IF not logged in, xMobile set the variable of $checkout_step = 0, which then bypassed Checkout_One

2. IF logged in, xMobile sets the $checkout_step = 3, so Checkout_One loads.

This was the key to solving this...
in file:
/common_files/modules/Fast_Lane_Checkout/home_main.tpl

Checkout_One requires an edit, inserting the C1 include... it always came AFTER
{elseif $checkout_step eq 0}
{include file="modules/Fast_Lane_Checkout/checkout_0_enter.tpl"}

BUT -- since xMobile sets $checkout_step=0 for $login eq "", this busted checkout one's ability to load if not logged in!

Solution is to call Checkout_One include BEFORE the {elseif $checkout_step eq 0}

Works fine in both desktop and xMobile.

I'm counting on all of you xMobile users to start sharing some tips -- it's a wonderful template, but there are many variables-- let's keep sharing our solutions and results, ok?

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

TXS support solved CloudSearch integration.

1. changed jQuery version from 1.7.2 to 1.7.1 (google api)
2. added two includes to cloud search in file: /skin/txs_xmobile/customer/service_js.tpl
3. added {if !$active_modules.Cloud_Search} to the search.tpl (javascript) form
4. added cloud search css to altskin.css file

My challenge now is to format the xMobile cloudsearch to work best (visually) on a phone.
Anyone have any ideas how to make a great customer experience? The display is a bit wide to show the product page or image -- thinking...

If you've integrated cloudsearch on a phone, what did YOU do visually? Please share!!!

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

BE CERTAIN to install and evaluate the settings of the xbanners_demo.sql
Load the sql and look at the demo xbanners settings --

xbanners in xmobile need to be set to the opposite orientation... that is, if you want a horizontal banner across the top, set the banner to vertical.

Isn't that obvious? ;-)

The presence of the xbanners_demo.sql could be missed, as it's not documented. And if you buy xBanners after xMobile is installed, you'll miss it. As I did.

I hope this helps someone.
J

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

Absolutely agree. Thanks for sharing your experience/thoughts - you are ahead of me with integrating checkout one so I've no doubt that you've saved me an enormous amount of time and effort with that :D/

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

I have been testing xBanners with Xmobile, and I am noticing something that is terrifying me...

xBanners reports 3000+ impressions in less than 2 days, but only 11 clicks. OK, the 11 clicks are me. But 3000+ impressions? no way. Maybe 300 -- I look at the page long enough to decide if the edit is good, then I move on. I NEVER leave the homepage on mobile jurt running. The template is disabled, only accessed via Browser Preview Access code.

I fear that google or another bot has been crawling the mobile site, before we're done.

BUT i'm even more concerned that xMobile is not yet using the "Vary header"

Now, I believe in what's best for the customer is what I should do... this is very clear with xMobile:

1. customer uses a tablet or full size browser - they see my lovely desktop template;
2. customer uses a smart phone, they see xMobile template;
Same URLs. Same product content (for the most part ), formatted differently - slight differences in home page -- not much else differnet. Maybe less pages available to mobile vs. desktop.

I am happy with this -- but I am not happy if google thinks I have 2 sites and/or is confused as to which site is default or preferred.

I read about the "Vary" header...
https://developers.google.com/webmasters/smartphone-sites/details

Yikes -- we needed this yesterday.

Am I correct in assuming the 3000+ banner impressions could be a bot?
WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING to keep search engines happy with dueling templates???

Until the vary header is in place, can we robots.txt the entire skin? I don't think so, because the URLs are identical. Especially with CDSEO.

So what's the short term fix until we get the Vary header going?

WHO ELSE IS RUNNING xMobile and what does your indexing look like? Please share!

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

There's the problem with a small thumbnails under the main picture, the click to thumbnail change the main image in Firefox (Android), but doesn't change it in Chrome and Opera.
Little tracing shows that function $('.thumbnails li a').bind('click',function(e){ never executes.
Probably bind() doesn't work here.
Anu suggestions?


Is Cloud Zoom used in xMobile? I switched it off and don't see any difference.

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

Will, you said in post #51 that you guys were looking in to the "vary" header. Any chance we could have an implementation soon?

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

I was thinking out loud in the xMenus thread...

I wanted to provide more content for my customers (static pages, reviews, etc. but the "quick links" was not sufficient.

My first thought was to use xMenus, but the interface was kludgy for mobile, and it introduced yet another navigation method -- usability experts would say that's bad.

Then I thought, "can I use the existing collapsible class but make a menu of static links?"

Here ya go...

============================
COLLAPSIBLE STATIC MENU for xMobile
============================

1. NAME your new collapsible menu - make a new language entry. In language entires, make a language label (you can call it anything you want):

txs_xmb_static_page_title

Call the 'title' whatever works best for your store.

2. Make a new file:

/skin/txs_xmobile/customer/main/static-pages-list-menu.tpl

(don't forget to set permissions as appropriate)



3. In file,
/skin/txs_xmobile/customer/main/welcome.tpl

FIND:

AFTER, insert:


I am probably NOT going to use xMenus in xMobile with this solution.

THE ONLY THING that I am not sure of (from the user experience perspective) -- do I want to put the static page menu on ALL pages, or just home page? The include will need to be adjusted if we want to place this menu on product pages... I will think about that. Forum input is not only welcome, I am asking for it!!!

Would YOU do this differently?

And of course, no pressure to TXS - but this would be a welcome addition to the template module interface in the future -- instead of hard coding the links, idiot-proof the links in the xMobile interface -- but hey, a list of links is not rocket science.

I hope this helps someone.

Jeremy

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

I think I do.

This is very easy. This will take you 3 minutes...

1. In file,
/skin/txs_xmobile/customer/main/welcome.tpl

FIND:

CUT/COPY everything below this to a new file. (obviously, you are working on a clone or backups -- common sense, folks)

2. name the new file,

/skin/txs_xmobile/customer/main/collapsible-menus.tpl

and paste the content from #1

3. In file,
/skin/txs_xmobile/customer/content.tpl

FIND:
BELOW, insert:

That's it.
We now have the collapsible menus on all pages, not only home page. I'm gonna play with this and see if my testers like this better.

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

My favorite just-discovered feature of xMobile template:

in file,
/skin/txs_xmobile/customer/quick-links.tpl

FREAKING BRILLIANT!!!

A phone number, on a phone, should be clickable, to call the number.
DUH!
Pretty obvious stuff... but not to all mobile designers.
Thanks TXS!
I may be able to take this template live very soon now.

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

I have successfully integrated AlteredCart Checkout_One into xMobile, by cloning 2 templates, 1 css file and busting the table from
/skin/txs_xmobile/modules/Checkout_One/checkout_one.tpl
into 1 column -- also adjusted the image paths in the css. Very easy...

Now that checkout works perfectly... I realized the radio buttons in the checkout are not mobile-friendly. At all.

http://www.carpeperdiem.us/xcartforum/uglyradiobuttons.png

I want to do this for the radio buttons:

http://jquerymobile.com/demos/1.2.1/docs/forms/radiobuttons/

http://jquerymobile.com/ ???

1. jquerymobile looks very powerful -- is it worth the overhead, or could we do this with existing jquery?
2. Has anyone made their forms or buttons "pretty" and not using default forms?

I could turn Checkout_One radio buttons off in the admin (or just in the mobile template) - but that's not "pretty" or mobile savvy either. We need mobile-friendly radio buttons.

I'm gonna do some digging. If anyone can save me 10 minutes of reading, I'd sure appreciate it if you can share what your solution is/was/will be.

Thx
Jeremy

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

Definitely use label to enlarge the target area, then you can apply styles to it if you want it to look more like a button.

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

I should have tested on more devices before I took my template live...

xMobile is serving to smartphones as it should, but it's also serving to tablets, such as iPad and Kindle Fire. Yikes. That's not the intended behavior, is it?

I opened a ticket with TXS, but it's after hours.
Anyone experienced this and have a fix or workaround?

What file performs the "device test"?

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

TXS support replied right away this morning (very fast response, thank you!)

The file is
/modules/TXS_XMobile/init.php
and it is an encrypted file -- so I couldn't have edited it if I wanted to.

xMobile now works ONLY on smartphones, but tablets load to the primary skin if using the edited init.php

That's how I thought this module was originally set up? I guess I misunderstood the specs. "smartphone" is mentioned over and over, and "tablet", never. SO I assumed. Silly me.

ROLL CALL: xMobile users - how many of you WANT tablets to be served xMobile pages vs. ONLY smartphones?

Thank you again to TXS support for solving this quickly.

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

Not me! We need the xmobile template to appear only on smartphones. Tablets should be served by the desktop template.

Re: xMobile - Smartphone mobile template
 

This may be useful to xMobile users:

http://mobitest.akamai.com/

HTH
J