The Setup
Back on July 17, 2008, I had an inkling of an idea… why not make Javamancy more friendly to mobile devices that are able to access the site? The date is significant because I’d recently acquired the Palm [PALM] Centro, and as I was trying out the provided Web browser (Blazer, the NetFront variant used by Palm on its more recent smartphones, not the older separate Blazer codebase) and realized that Javamancy was not quite as snappy on loading and display as I’d prefer. At the time, we were experimenting with AdSense, which given its significant performance degradation and serious privacy concerns, was eventually removed… so it was difficult at the time to determine whether it was AdSense or the underlying blog software, or even our content, that was choking performance.
Couple that with the release of Apple’s [AAPL] iPhone 3G and iPod touch mobile devices, and the burning desire to rush out a mobile-access version of Javamancy was not terribly high. And, admittedly, there was the rush to prepare and head out to the annual medical conference, out in Hawai’i (which was certainly an adventure unto itself).
The Premise
It is a fairly straightforward concept: present an mobile device screen alternative to the traditional Web browser, but continue to present the appropriate content as the user navigates through the blog.
It sounded easy when first proposed during the requirements meeting, but it turned out to be something a bit trickier.
The biggest concern was the continuing proliferation of mobile devices that would hit Javamancy. Ultimately, we realized that we were getting all sort of devices that we had not originally anticipated, with all sorts of different user-driven browsers and automated agents hitting the site. Since the concern is now known to be quite warranted and valid, any sort of solution for Javamancy Mobile would have to allow for some level of flexibility, in terms of quickly and accurately flagging devices that should have access to the mobile-access display.
But we also need to allow people who have the luxury of flexibility to be able to use the traditional Javamancy UI if they prefer.
The Action
At first, last year, there was some investigation that had occurred to see if there were any suitable plugins that would provide the desired features. We had encountered quite a few, including Alex King‘s WordPress Mobile Edition. At the time, however, during testing, something always seemed to break between the plugins and themes we had injected in the test beds. So rather than struggle with multiple variables (which often ends up similar to herding cats) or spin up extra test servers in QA and hack away, it was decided to postpone further investigation until some newer developments would ease the selection process… or we’d get angry enough to begin Coding in Anger.
Alex had recently released several updates to the WordPress Mobile Edition plugin, along with an accompanying Carrington Mobile theme that drives the UI. For our purposes, this seems to make more sense, particularly with the separation of concerns between browser detection/access and the subsequent UI functionality. As a result, after testing, we’ve launched Javamancy Mobile, courtesy of Alex’s fantastic products.
Keep it going, Alex! 
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Wow! Luv the new mobile on my iPhone!
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