WPtouch Pro Review: It’s A Great WordPress Mobile Theme. But Your Site Will Look Like Everyone Else’s

May 29, 2012 - Written By - Amit

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ipad-iphone-wordpress theme

I think WPtouch is an excellent WordPress mobile theme.

It’s very easy to install and setup – 30 minutes is all it took me. Also I did not face any conflicts with other plugins. This in itself is a big plus for me, since it’s very irritating when a plugin is a pain to install and maintain.

Here are some of the features of this WordPress mobile plugin:

It has options to customise the experience for both mobile and tablet users.
You can customise colors, fonts, images and logos.
It lets you enable/disable a variety of display options for things like author names, categories and tags.
Your visitors have an option to install an iPhone app on their phones, where they can view your site.
WPtouch Pro supports Custom Menus, so you can use an existing menu or create one specifically for mobile users.
You can also display advertisements (Adsense, Admob or custom) on your mobile site.

These are some screen shots of the options available:

Having said all that, I’m not using the plugin anymore. This is mainly because the design and other customisation options are not enough to make a website look distinctive. In the end, most websites using the WPtouch Pro plugin look the same. So for this website, I’m using the responsive design features of my WordPress theme framework (Headway), which lets me customise my website for mobile/tablet users.

To sum up my WPtouch Pro Review – It is a solid WordPress mobile plugin/theme and I recommend it especially if you are fine with how the theme looks, or, if you have the skills to do some custom design coding.

WPtouch Pro Review: It’s A Great WordPress Mobile Theme. But Your Site Will Look Like Everyone Else’s4.08333333333Amit2012-05-29 15:14:36I think WPtouch is an excellent WordPress mobile theme.

It’s very easy to install and setup – 30 minutes is all it took me. Also I did not fac…

Written By: Amit

Amit is an entrepreneur, online marketer and career advisor. In a previous life, he's worked with Bain, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup. Amit has masters degrees in Business, Finance and Organisational Psychology.

http://twitter.com/bravenewcode BraveNewCode

Thanks for the review! Sorry to hear you’re not using it anymore, there’s plenty of reasons why choosing a solution like WPtouch Pro is better than a responsive solution (better usability for visitors, faster loading, easier to maintain), especially for WordPress sites.

It’s true that it will look similar to other sites that use the plugin if you don’t customize it. The basic customizations are just a starting point— we hope that our users go a little further and create unique experiences with the product.

A similar (but effective) experience for mobile visitors has been shown to be more preferable to a uniquely branded one that is unfamiliar. It’s important for site authors to respect and design for users— it’s what we’ve done with WPtouch Pro and our customer/visitor surveys we’ve conducted say just that.
- http://www.kidnapcustomers.com/ Amit
  
  Thanks for dropping by and taking the time to comment & provide an additional perspective.
  
  I’ve been thinking of re-visiting the plugin and using it with some minor design customisations done by a professional coder/designer. Are there any people you recommend for this, who are very familiar with WPtouch Pro?
  - Chris
    
    Hi Amit,
    
    I have been working with WPTouch Pro for quite come time.
    
    If you drop me a line, I’ll send you some examples.
    
    It doesn’t take much to get a unique look going on.
    
    Cheers,
    
    Chris
    - susangilbert
      
      Chris, I’d love to see some examples of unique looks using WPTouch. Email susan @ susangilbert.com. Thank you!
    - http://www.kidnapcustomers.com/ Amit
      
      Thanks Chris.
      
      I’ll certainly be in touch, since I do plan on giving the plugin another shot soon
James

Did you revisit the plugin?
- http://www.kidnapcustomers.com/ Amit
  
  Not yet James