Mobile interfaces for client websites: worth it?

Written by Robin Morris

Having implemented a number of mobile specific interfaces for client websites, I wondered if they had actually been successful.

sitefinder-mobile-homeMobile version of Caravan Sitefinder

So what would constitute success?

Basically, the main question would be:

Have mobile users been more engaged with a mobile version of the website?

Which analytics year-on-year statistics to use to see if the mobile version has been successful?

As a quick assessment visitor numbers can't really be a valid gauge as mobile traffic is rising so dramatically.

TEA-HTC-homepageMobile version of The Edinburgh Address

Average visit duration is probably out too, as a good mobile site will more quickly get users around your site and mobile visitors tend to be on a site for a shorter period.

Page views / visit

The one that seems to fit the bill is page views / visit.  If you are achieving a higher number of page views / visit you are broadly allowing users to navigate more easily through your content.

So, looking only at visitors using a mobile device, I took a recent month when the mobile site existed and the same period in a previous year when it did not exist and compared the two.

Here were the results:

before mobile interfaces with mobile interfaces % increase
Site 1 3.77 4.87 29%
Site 2 2.68 5.80 116%
Site 3 5.58 8.18 69%
 Average 71%

Not really a surprising result, but it looks like users will be far more engaged with a specifically designed mobile interface than a traditional desktop one.

independentschoolparent.com goes live

Written by Robin Morris

Tribalogic are really excited to see the launch of Chelsea Magazine's independentschoolparent.com website.

Independent School Parent logo chelsea magazines logo

The site is going to be a fabulous resource for parents researching independent schools in the UK.

independentschoolparent.com fully utilises the Tribalogic Platform and contains:

See also:

Management Toolkit update

Written by Robin Morris

We have released a couple of neat little updates to the Management Toolkit.

management tools-logo

Add items to bookings

If you have the Management Toolkit bolt-on, you can now add an extra or discount to existing bookings.

This is a great step forward, allowing managers to alter booking value after they have been placed online or via the Admin Console.

Balance payments

Balance payments automate the process of collecting payments for your holiday rental.

Management Toolkit subscribers can now disable balance payment emails for any given booking.

If for any reason you would like to stop the emails that are sent requesting additional payments from your guest, you can now toggle this on or off in the Admin Console.

Really helpful if, for example, someone pays over the phone and you want to immediately ensure they are not asked for more money.

More details on other updates to the Platform in v2.117.

Platform Update (v2.117)

Written by Robin Morris

Major updates

  • Booking: added pre-set values to the calculator when creating a booking in the Admin Console. Set the deposit to 10%, 25%, 50%, 100% in a single click
  • Booking: emails now show the current values for total, balance, charges, i.e. now reflects changes made by adding extras or recording payments
  • Directory: awards can now have ratings 1/2 to 5, e.g. half star increments
  • Management Toolkit: balance request emails can be turned on/off for a booking
  • Management Toolkit: add items to a booking after the booking has been made

Minor updates and bug fixes

  • Booking: fixed a bug when adding a booking in the Admin Console that sometimes prevented a booking being made
  • Booking: allow the Bookster calendar to be used on client websites
  • Booking: fixed a bug that allowed users to proceed to extras on booking screens even when bookings were not set up
  • Booking: fixed a problem where the final page of booking screens could be illegible
  • Directory: can now show the 3rd party review count in entry links
  • Directory: fixed a bug that prevented Proprietors from being displayed
  • Directory: fixed caching bug that affected Address, RatedList, and 3rdPartyReview fields
  • Directory: allow radius filter to be adjusted using a slider
  • Directory: store original images in media collections
  • Directory: convert the ajax text search to use jQuery UI

Joomla: image manager enhanced

Written by Robin Morris

We have upgraded the image manager in Joomla and also added the ability to add captions to images.

jce images and captions buttons in the editor interfaceThe image and captions buttons in the JCE interface

Image Manager Extended

  • Resize and thumbnail images on upload
  • Create thumbnail of any part of an image with the Thumbnail Editor
  • Insert multiple images
  • View images as a file list or thumbnail list
  • Resize, crop, rotate and apply effects to images in the Image Editor
  • Create image popups in a few clicks

Captions

  • Create captions on images
  • Style caption text with options for colour, background, alignment, margin and padding
  • Style the caption container with options for background colour, alignment, margin and padding

JCE logoTribalogic provide JCE as standard in all their Joomla! websites

Bootswatch themes for Property Portfolio

Written by Robin Morris

We ship the holiday property website service the "Property Portfolio" with our standard Bootstrap Template.

The great news is that becuase we have built the template with Bootstrap, we can easily change the look and feel using off-the-peg Bootstrap themes and give you an instant template.

property portfolio with bootswatch

Check it out for yourself!

Simply click on the "Theme Switcher" to see the website change before your very eyes!

Coming soon... new look for our Admin Console

Written by Robin Morris

Soon we will be changing the look and feel of our secure Admin Console.

Why are we doing this?

  • usability: clearer and simpler to use
  • an improved basis for moving forward technically
  • faster
  • full width responsive design for use in different screen sizes

booking-actionsNew Admin Console: booking actions

Why are we telling you?

It is always nice to know about things in advance, and this might affect your clients if they are logging into our secure Admin Console.  You will be able to respond to their questions about the new look with more confidence.

tag-in-column-editorNew Admin Console: Tags editor

When will this happen?

We are working hard to get the new console up to scratch and are hoping to get it live in the next few weeks.... watch this space - we will let you know!

Platform Update (v2.115 & v2.116)

Written by Robin Morris

Major updates

  • Admin Console: make it possible to filter bookings by multiple states or Syndicates.
  • Admin Console: add ability to edit 3rd party reviews
  • Directory: update postcode lookup to use Royal Mail and Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database under the terms of the OS OpenData licence.
  • Joomla: update to latest version of JoomSEF (search engine friendly URLs)
  • Joomla: update to latest version of the JCE WYSIWYG content editor
  • Joomla: make plugin "Modules Anywhere" available to all clients - allow modules to be placed in content
  • Joomla: make module "Latest News Enhanced" available to all clients
  • Management Toolkit: improve how balance payments handle historic bookings

Minor updates and bug fixes

  • Admin Console: provide a simple Entry export for some admin users
  • Admin Console: fix a styling problem arising in a new version of Google Chrome
  • Admin Console: fix a bug that caused the UI to hang if the crop failed when uploading images
  • Bookster Self Catering: fix a problem that would stop users being able to reset their payment details from their Bookster account
  • Booking: do not send the cancelled email when payment is not received (usually due to a time out)
  • Directory: support more ways of linking to Hoseasons booking service
  • Directory: move "Opening Times" to new Element structure
  • Directory: move "Manufacturers" to new Element structure
  • Directory: ensure cache tags are cleared when updating Listing Subscriptions
  • Directory: minor tweaks to the range filter display
  • Directory, Admin Console: update to newer YUI compressor
  • Drupal: apply security update
  • Management Toolkit: fix to promo codes in the Admin Console
  • Management Toolkit: display a warning message when enabling balance payments

Joomla: update to editor

Written by Robin Morris

Tribalogic deploy and manage Joomla content management installations - keeping them up to date with the latest security patches and adding new functionality where appropriate.

We have just updated the article editor (JCE) in Joomla! content management system for all our clients.

jce-logo

Tribalogic clients using Joomla! will now have access to JCE 2.2.7.2.

Some of the areas to be improved are:

  • look and feel
  • image uploading
  • source code editor
  • HTML5 improvements

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