Using One or Separate Sites for Mobile and Desktop Development

Using One or Separate Sites for Mobile and Desktop Development.

Use responsive CSS if possible.

I've been spending time looking at the ongoing battles between developers over one of the fundamental headaches of web design, should you build separate sites for mobile devices and desktop computers. Some of the changes that Google have introduced like syncing your bookmarks for the IPhone and Chrome are really useful, this has led me to the single site conclusion, but a lot the code below could be used to redirect to a seperate site.

The site should be easy enough to use on either, while you can turn some things on or off with some simple detection.

There is also a cookie stored on the users device that remembers the last option selected.

This is what the detection does on this site. It is a simple dropdown with three options; Desktop, Apple and Mobile. There is also a dual menu system, which offers a simplified breadcrumb for the user as well.

HTML

<asp:DropDownList ID="SelDevice" runat="server" ClientIDMode="Static" Width="100px" AutoPostBack="True">
    <asp:ListItem>Desktop</asp:ListItem>
    <asp:ListItem>Apple</asp:ListItem>
    <asp:ListItem>Mobile</asp:ListItem>
</asp:DropDownList>
<div id="SubMenu">
    <div id="Current" runat="server" clientidmode="Static"></div>
    <div id="SubMenuList" runat="server" clientidmode="Static"></div>
</div>

Now this code is used in the Page Load event, setting the linked style sheet before rendering on the page. You could also for instance change the visibility of certain items within the If statement.

VBC#

VB

Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
    If Session("View") Is Nothing Then
        If Request.Cookies("ViewType") Is Nothing Then
            If Request.Browser.IsMobileDevice = True Then
Dim ua As String = Request.UserAgent.ToString().ToLower()
                If ua.Contains("iphone") Or ua.Contains("ipad") Or ua.Contains("ipod") Then
Session("View") = "Apple"
  Else
Session("View") = "Mobile"
  End If
  Else
Session("View") = "Desktop"
  End If
  Else
Session("View") = Request.Cookies("ViewType").Value.ToString
  End If
  End If
SelDevice.SelectedValue = Session("View").ToString
  If Session("View").ToString = "Apple" Then
cssLink.Href = "/gsclaytonmob.css"
  ElseIf Session("View").ToString = "Mobile" Then
cssLink.Href = "/gsclaytonmobold.css"
Else
cssLink.Href = "/gsclayton2.css"
End If
GetMenus()
End Sub

C#

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    if (Session("View") == null)
    {
        if (Request.Cookies("ViewType") == null)
        {
            if (Request.Browser.IsMobileDevice == true)
            {
                string ua = Request.UserAgent.ToString().ToLower();
                if (ua.Contains("iphone") | ua.Contains("ipad") | ua.Contains("ipod"))
                {
                    Session("View") = "Apple";
                }
                else
                {
                    Session("View") = "Mobile";
                }
            }
            else
            {
                Session("View") = "Desktop";
            }
        }
        else
        {
            Session("View") = Request.Cookies("ViewType").Value.ToString;
        }
    }
    SelDevice.SelectedValue = Session("View").ToString;
    if (Session("View").ToString == "Apple")
    {
        cssLink.Href = "/gsclaytonmob.css";
    }
    else if (Session("View").ToString == "Mobile")
    {
        cssLink.Href = "/gsclaytonmobold.css";
    }
    else
    {
        cssLink.Href = "/gsclayton2.css";
    }
    GetMenus();
}

In the code above you would replace the setting of CSS with a redirect.

We will need some code to recognise that the user has changed their view type. We will also stored a cookie here to remember the value next time they access the site.

VBC#

VB

Protected Sub SelDevice_SelectedIndexChanged(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles SelDevice.SelectedIndexChanged
Session("View") = SelDevice.SelectedValue
Response.Cookies("ViewType").Value = Session("View")
Response.Cookies("ViewType").Expires = DateTime.Now.AddDays(1000)
If Session("View").ToString = "Apple" Then
cssLink.Href = "/gsclaytonmob.css"
ElseIf Session("View").ToString = "Mobile" Then
cssLink.Href = "/gsclaytonmobold.css"
Else
cssLink.Href = "/gsclayton2.css"
End If
GetMenus()
End Sub

C#

protected void SelDevice_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    Session("View") = SelDevice.SelectedValue;
    Response.Cookies("ViewType").Value = Session("View");
    Response.Cookies("ViewType").Expires = DateTime.Now.AddDays(1000);
    if (Session("View").ToString == "Apple")
    {
        cssLink.Href = "/gsclaytonmob.css";
    }
    else if (Session("View").ToString == "Mobile")
    {
        cssLink.Href = "/gsclaytonmobold.css";
    }
    else
    {
        cssLink.Href = "/gsclayton2.css";
    }
    GetMenus();
}

Once the menu type has been set we can also populate the menu manually in code behind, adding the references dependant on the menu provided.

VBC#

VB

Protected Sub GetMenus()
  Dim m As String = Page.RouteData.Values("PageMenu")
    Select Case m
  Case "Home"
  'HomeSubMenu.Attributes.CssStyletyle = "Active"
Current.InnerHtml = "Home"
  Dim a As New HyperLink
a.NavigateUrl = "Home/"
a.Text = "Home"
SubMenuList.Controls.Add(a)
  Dim b As New HyperLink
b.NavigateUrl = "About/"
b.Text = "About"
SubMenuList.Controls.Add(b)
  Dim c As New HyperLink
c.NavigateUrl = "Login/"
c.Text = "Login"
SubMenuList.Controls.Add(c)
End Select
End Sub

C#

protected void GetMenus()
{
    string m = Page.RouteData.Values("PageMenu");
    switch (m)
    {
        case "Home":
            //HomeSubMenu.Attributes.CssStyletyle = "Active"
            Current.InnerHtml = "Home";
            HyperLink a = new HyperLink();
            a.NavigateUrl = "Home/";
            a.Text = "Home";
            SubMenuList.Controls.Add(a);
            HyperLink b = new HyperLink();
            b.NavigateUrl = "About/";
            b.Text = "About";
            SubMenuList.Controls.Add(b);
            HyperLink c = new HyperLink();
            c.NavigateUrl = "Login/";
            c.Text = "Login";
            SubMenuList.Controls.Add(c);
            break;
    }
}

You can then style each of the Menus differently in your CSS, for example each of the links in my Sub Menu area are styled differently. The first one is for mobile (full width), and the second for desktop.

CSS

#SubMenu a
{
color: #332700;
float: left;
width: 100%;
display: block;
text-decoration: none;
padding: 5px 0px 5px 0px;
font-size: large;
border-bottom: 1px solid Grey;
}
#SubMenu a
{
color: #45144D;
padding-left: 8px;
float: right;
text-decoration: none;
}

Website design by Claytabase

This is a section of code that has been modified from Ousia Content Management System code, one of the quickest and most optimised systems on the market, part of our website design services.

These are available with sites starting at around £500.

We recommend using responsive CSS as we do in our system.

more: Responsive and fast. Web Development, Design and Hosting with Content Management System