Title: Mobile version needed?
Last modified: February 25, 2026

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# Mobile version needed?

 *  Resolved [jhaber31](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jhaber31/)
 * (@jhaber31)
 * [1 year, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/mobile-version-needed/)
 * I hate to ask a matter of opinion or, conversely, what may be obvious. Here goes.
   I use WordPress for a blog on my home page. Its design is based on my site’s 
   older html pages, an archive of long, not very blog-like articles. That started
   almost 30 years ago, so naturally it’s built around a laptop user’s view.
 * That means I have never had a version of the design for mobile users. Should 
   I? To my eyes, the type looks way small on a phone, and a single column in such
   a mobile version but not in the laptop version (where the second column has not
   content but only a graphic menu) would be better as well. Am I right, or is it
   not worth the effort?
 * Naturally I’d have a learning curve, but in creating the new design and implementing
   it so that mobile users and only mobile users are sent to it. I’d probably need
   help with questions. But life is for learning.
    -  This topic was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by [jhaber31](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jhaber31/).
 * The page I need help with: _[[log in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwordpress.org%2Fsupport%2Ftopic%2Fmobile-version-needed%2Fpage%2F2%2F%3Foutput_format%3Dmd&locale=en_US)
   to see the link]_

Viewing 2 replies - 16 through 17 (of 17 total)

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 *  Moderator [bcworkz](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcworkz/)
 * (@bcworkz)
 * [1 year, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/mobile-version-needed/page/2/#post-17915534)
 * I wonder if your phone is caching old CSS so it does not reflect your latest 
   efforts. This can even happen on laptops. Clearing the browser cache should resolve
   any caching issues. It may not be so obvious (or possible ?) on how to flush 
   a mobile browser cache. Another way to avoid caching issues is to implement “
   cache busting” techniques. A general internet search will reveal several different
   techniques. One possibility is, after every CSS change, always alter the URL 
   query string of the stylesheet link tag’s href URL. For example, alter the `ver`
   URL parameter which can be done by altering the “version” value in the style.
   css comment header. How effective this is depends on how the theme enqueues its
   stylesheet. For some themes you may need to alter the `$ver` parameter of its`
   wp_enqueue_style()` call in functions.php.
 * The key to converting a large static .htm site to .php is in being able to use
   regex to search and replace text in all files in one go. With regex you can capture
   unique strings in each file (such as title and description) and use the captured
   text in the replacement text. For example, use each page’s title to define a 
   PHP constant that a single included file can use to output the title tag associated
   with any webpage’s main file. You can then replace the entire head section with
   a few `define()` calls and an `include` statement.
 * The included file could also output any standard body section content such as
   page header, nav menu, etc. Then if you want to update the nav menu for example,
   a single edit in one file will impact every webpage that includes that file. 
   A webpage’s main file might start out like this:
 *     ```
       <?php
       define('MY_TITLE', 'Example Title');
       define('MY_DESC', 'Example description');
       define('MY_KEYS', 'example,key,words');
       include head.php;
       ?>
       Main article text starts here. The head.php file handles all HTML before now using the above defined constants
       ```
   
 * How to do a regex search and replace varies by O/S. In Linux we can use the `
   find` command line utility to locate all .htm files and pipe the results through`
   sed` to do the search and replace on each file found. I’ve heard the same can
   be done in Windows with Notepad++. It’s also possible to accomplish this by writing
   a bespoke program to do it with your favorite scripting language (that is assuming
   you have one 🙂 ).
 * Apologies for pitching a concept that’s probably not worth the effort when a 
   CSS solution is feasible, but I think it’s such a cool concept and the idea of
   writing a script to do the conversion is a good learning to code project in of
   itself. IMO there’s nothing like a real world project for learning. Probably 
   only worth the effort if the learning experience is as important as getting the
   PHP conversion done.
 *  Thread Starter [jhaber31](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jhaber31/)
 * (@jhaber31)
 * [1 year, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/mobile-version-needed/page/2/#post-17915909)
 * Thanks. That really is interesting, and tempting. Meanwhile, I keep playing around,
   and results are sorta improving. I’ve got it to the point that the sidebar menu
   in WordPress pages really does vanish in both browsers, phone all the time and
   laptop after after I size the browser window down. Next, I added the viewport
   meta tag to other navigation pages, such as search by artist or period in history.
   Their type size properly improved, too.
 * I always had a in my blog just below the page header and before content, saying
   to “go beyond the blog,” with links to my search by artist, by history, and by
   what’s new. It occurred to me that, while it has fewer choices than my graphic
   menu, it could obviate the graphic menu in a pinch. So I added it to the single
   static html page I’d been using for a test of how to approach the bulk of my 
   site, apart from the home page in WordPress. And then I changed my style sheet
   for such pages to make that line show only in larger pages (a media statement
   with display: none but this time with min-width rather than max-width). Sure 
   enough, now just as the graphic menu vanishes, the new line appears.
 * I also tried to specify a width for the main column in Word-Press for smaller
   screens. This hasn’t worked. As I shrink the laptop window or go to the phone,
   I’m down to that single column (good), but it runs off-screen. Turning the phone
   sidways fits it just fine, but I’d like to do better. I did clear the cache a
   lot, as usual. But good guess that this was the problem; it was my instinct, 
   too.
 * It occurs to me that, again because I didn’t lay out my WordPress theme, I’m 
   not correctly identifying the class governing my main WordPress content. I guess
   I’ll just have to keep experimenting.
 * Last, if that last style issue can ever be fixed, applying the fix to all my 
   pages could take just two additions to all those pages, with or without php. 
   First, I’d have to add the meta tag for viewpoint to each. Second, I’d have to
   add the new substitute for a menu. Still daunting, but thanks for the mention
   of a search opportunity new to me.
    -  This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by [jhaber31](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jhaber31/).
    -  This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by [jhaber31](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jhaber31/).

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## Tags

 * [mobile version](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/mobile-version/)

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 17 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [jhaber31](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jhaber31/)
 * Last activity: [1 year, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/mobile-version-needed/page/2/#post-17915909)
 * Status: resolved

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