iWPhone WordPress Plugin and Theme Version 0.1.2

We had to do a slight tweak of our plugin and theme to add support for the new iPod touch. (Thanks to everyone that wrote in to let us know!) Now both iPhone and iPod touch users will see the optimized theme, while others will continue to see your current WordPress theme.

You can read more about the iWPhone WordPress Plugin and Theme in our original post.

You can download the new version of the iWPhone WordPress Plugin and Theme here.

Upgrade Instructions

If you are currently using an older version of the iWPhone WordPress Plugin and Theme, simply deactivate the old plugin in the WordPress administration area, and then overwrite the older “iwphone.php” file in the wp-content/plugins/ directory and the “iwphone-by-contentrobot” folder in the wp-content/themes/ directory with the new ones. Activate the new version and you are now iPhone and iPod touch ready!

WordPress 2.5 Compatible

What Does the iWPhone WordPress Plugin and Theme Do?

The iWPhone WordPress Plugin and Theme automatically reformats your blog’s content for optimized viewing on Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch. It detects the iPhone/iPod touch’s User Agent and serves up the content with the special theme only to iPhone and iPod touch visitors, all other browsers will view your WordPress blog with your current theme.

Please keep in mind that this is an early beta release (v0.1.2) and provides basic WordPress functionality. We will be enhancing it quite a bit, so keep checking back for an updated version. If there is a feature that you want added, let us know in the comments below and we will do our best to implement it. Also, if you are using our plugin/theme on your site, add its URL to the comments.

Why Would I Want to Use This Plugin?

While the iPhone and iPod touch do an amazing job of displaying web pages the way they were designed to be seen, often visitors want quick access to your website’s content. The “iWPhone WordPress Plugin and Theme” displays an optimized version of your blog’s content, formatted perfectly to fit the iPhone/iPod touch’s screen - no zooming in to read the content is necessary.

Demo Sites

Our friends over at GrokDotCom and Bazaarvoice have graciously volunteered to beta test our plugin/theme. Point your iPhone’s Safari browser at http://www.grokdotcom.com/ or http://www.bazaarblog.com/ to see it in action.

Tip: If you want to preview a site that is using our plugin and do not have an iPhone/iPod touch, the program iPhoney gives a pretty good idea of how it will look. Make sure the option “iPhone User Agent” is selected under the iPhoney menu. You will get the best results with iPhoney if you have the Safari 3 beta installed. iPhoney is currently only available for the Mac.

Will it Work on My WordPress blog?

The current version (v0.1.2) has been tested with WordPress 2.0.4 - 2.5

Feature List

• Formats your blog content for optimized viewing on the iPhone and iPod touch.
• Automatically detects the iPhone/iPod touch’s Safari browser and only displays the custom theme to iPhone and iPod touch visitors, other visitors get your standard theme.
• Simple iPhone/iPod-like theme with common interface elements that compliments the iPhone/iPod touch’s internal applications.
• Images larger then 300 pixels wide are automatically scaled down to fit the iPhone/iPod touch optimized width.

Requirements

• WordPress 2.0.4 - 2.5
• An iPhone or iPod touch (for viewing)

Installation

1. Download the iWPhone WordPress Plugin and Theme zip file.
2. Extract the “iwphone-wordpress-plugin-and-theme” folder.
3. Locate the file “iwphone.php” inside the “iwphone-wordpress-plugin-and-theme” folder and upload it into your wp-content/plugins/ directory.
4. Locate and upload the entire folder named “iwphone-by-contentrobot” into your wp-content/themes/ directory.
5. Go to your WordPress administration area and click on Plugins and activate the plugin called “iWPhone”. Do NOT make the iWPhone-by-ContentRobot theme the current theme under Presentation.
6. Launch Safari on an iPhone or iPod touch and enter your blog’s URL, and you should now see your content in the iPhone/iPod touch-optimized theme.

Upgrade Instructions

If you are currently using an older version of the iWPhone WordPress Plugin and Theme, simply deactivate the old plugin in the WordPress administration area, and then overwrite the older “iwphone.php” file in the wp-content/plugins/ directory and the “iwphone-by-contentrobot” folder in the wp-content/themes/ directory with the new ones. Activate the new version and you are now iPhone and iPod touch ready!

Version History

• Version 0.1.2: (September 17, 2007) Update to support iPod touch
• Version 0.1.1: (July 6, 2007) Viewport update to allow zooming
• Version 0.1: (July 4, 2007) Initial Release

Known Issues

• Not compatible with wp-cache.
• Long URLs in posts will push pages wider then the iPhone/iPod touch optimized width.

To Do / Wish List

Here are some suggested enhancements that we are looking into for future releases.

• iPod touch support. ADDED!
• A clickable link or button that allows site visitors to switch between iPhone/iPod touch theme and normal site theme.
• Ability to show Categories and Pages
• Search functionality
• An admin configuration screen that allows easy changing of various settings like header, footer and link colors.
• A mechanism to gracefully remove/hide all content-types not currently supported on the iPhone/iPod touch (flash embeds and other non-supported formats/plugins)
• An admin version (wp-admin) that allows WordPress administration and posting within the iWPhone interface
• wp-cache compatibility

Bugs/Comments

Please post bugs or general comments in the comments section.

Donate

If you enjoy using this plugin or appreciate the hard work that goes into developing and maintaining it for the community, please consider donating. All funds will go into the support, maintenance, and development of future releases. Thanks for your support!

Note: This 3rd party plugin was not created by or is in any way affiliated with Apple Inc.