This is a post that I wrote in November of last year. I didn’t publish it at the time as I wasn’t 100% sure about my convictions. At the moment I feel pretty convinced of my thoughts, but having said that, I’m not a professional web developer by any means. My thoughts on mobile websites are just that, my thoughts. Let me know what you think about mobile websites in the comments below. In the meantime, read my thoughts from last year.

Let me just get this out there, mobile versions of websites frustrate me.

As someone who regularly views websites on either his iPhone or iPad, I’m used to browsing the web on the go. And I really like it, I like the ability to have the internet in my pocket. But I find it frustrating when I come across this.

Mobile Version of ProBlogger.net

6.4% of all internet usage is now on a mobile device (via Net Market Share), which may not seem like a lot at the moment. But some people are predicting that by 2015, mobile web usage will outweigh computer web usage (via Mashable).

A lot of websites are taking this to mean that they should care about mobile websites, which I whole-heartedly agree with. What I don’t agree with is their method of doing so.

Most websites think that the best way to appeal to mobile web users is to create a separate look for their website, just for mobile users, such as the above skin that many WordPress based blogs sport.

However mobile devices these days come with large touch-screen displays, that have the ability to display full webpages. When I’m browsing, I want to see the whole website, not some cut down version. For example, look at all that I’m missing out on from ProBlogger.net.

I would much prefer for this whole site to come up when I view it on my iPhone.

So I’ve disagreed with the current method of making a mobile “skin” for your website, a cut down version for mobile browsers. But what do I think the solution is?
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When Apple announced iBooks Author, I knew that I wanted to have a play with it.

I’ve been interested in writing an eBook for a while, but I’ve never known the right tools to use. I’ve thought about using Keynote, and exporting as a PDF, and I’ve thought about using Pages, and exporting as an epub file. But neither of those seemed to allow for easy integration of interactive features. Then came iBooks Author.

iBooks Author is a free program for Mac (available on the Mac App Store) that allows for easy creation of interactive books for iPad. The program is really easy to use, especially if you’ve had experience with Apple’s iWork suite of apps. The program is a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor and not only allows for easy manipulation of text and graphics, but videos and animations too! Watch this video to find out more.

The downside to iBooks Author is that it’s creations can only be viewed on an iPad, and if you want to sell your creation, then you must go through the iBookstore. Now for an Australian this is an absolute pain. If I wanted to sell something myself (i.e. not through an aggregator or publisher), then I would need to get a US tax ID. To get a US tax ID I would need to physically mail paperwork to the US and work out quite complex international taxation laws. I would also need an ISBN for every book that I sold. Quite complicated compared to the simple process of selling something from my own website.

In the end, instead of creating something that I would sell, I decided to make something I would give away for free. This way I could still put it on the iBookstore, without having to worry about all the complicated stuff.

The final creation is the iBook pictured above, “The How and Why of Video Countdowns”. It’s a compilation of rewritten blog posts combined with some original videos and animations. It’s written to help people think through why they are using video countdowns, and how they can best use them. At the end, there is also a tutorial to help someone create their own video countdown.

If you would like to download the iBook, search for it on the iBookstore or click here. You can also learn more about it via the link below (Also click the link below if you don’t have an iPad and would like to download a PDF version).

~The How and Why of Video Countdowns~

I have once again had the privilege of writing a guest post, this time for the blog over at WorshipHouse Media. This post was titled ”4 Important Tips For Using Video Countdowns“.

Incase you haven’t noticed, I really like video countdowns and I reckon they’re great. But far too often I’ve seen people use them badly. Number 1 mistake, having a video countdown that leads into someone speaking. This just doesn’t live up to the anticipation. Anyway, here are the 4 tips I gave.

1. Make sure the stage is clear
2. Use music
3. Start with a bang
4. Embed in the presentation

Ok, so I may be making stuff up here. There is no such thing as microgging (yet…), but there is microblogging.

Let me spell it out for you. As the social internet currently stands, I see three tiers of content sharing.

1. Public Social Networking: Involves sharing short pieces of primarily text and links, which may show as pictures or videos on some sites (think Twitter, Google+, Facebook with the new subscribe feature).
2. Microblogging: Involves sharing short pieces of information. Examples include a photo, a video, a paragraph of text, a quote (think Posterous, Tumblr).
3. Blogging: Involves sharing large pieces of information that may include multiple media forms, i.e. a blog post could have text, photos and a video embedded all in the one post (think WordPress, Blogger).

So each tier of content sharing is defined by the amount that you share in a single post. Some people may choose to just use one (eg. only use Twitter), or some may choose to use two. Myself, I choose to use three. I use Twitter to share short updates and communicate links and blog updates with followers, I use my blog to share longer posts about topics. Now microblogging (for me) fits nicely between these two, kind of like an iPad fits between a smartphone and a laptop.

I’ve been microblogging for a while now over at Posterous (You can read about when I started using it here), and I thought it was time to spruce things up. So I’ve done a little redesign.

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Today is a sad day as Apple announced the death of Steve Jobs. This is the statement Apple has posted on their website.

Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.

Today I’ll be praying for his family and friends that God will comfort them is this hard time. And I’ll also be praying for other families who have lost loved ones today. Death really does suck.

Come Lord Jesus.

Today Apple announced the next iteration of the iPhone, the iPhone 4S (S is for Shiny). There has been mixed reaction to the release, with some people flaming about the lack of a redesign, and some people content with the incremental upgrade. I myself fall into the second camp, I don’t expect Apple to reinvent the wheel each time they announce a new product. And as a side, it doesn’t tempt me to upgrade from my iPhone 4.

Even though the upgrade wasn’t as groundbreaking as some were hoping for, there definitely were some new features that will help in various ministries. I already find my iPhone 4 helping me out with a bunch of stuff, and I’m sure owners of the new iPhone 4S will find it to be helpful for them. So here are 5 features of the iPhone 4S (and new iOS5 software) that I think will help with ministry.

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When Steve Jobs announced the original iPad back at the start of 2010, he showed a quote that said something like “there hasn’t been so much hype around a tablet since the 10 commandments” (that made me laugh). Anyway, Apple’s next upcoming product is of course the new iPhone, and although it probably doesn’t have as much hype surrounding it as the original iPad announcement, it sure has a lot of people getting excited about what it may be. The announcement is scheduled to be announced early Wednesday morning (for us in Australia), and at this event we can also expect some more information about iOS5, the next iteration of Apple’s mobile operating system.

We have heard a lot about what will be included in iOS5, but not everything. Jan-Michael Cart has created a number of concept videos about what iOS5 will look like. These are not videos of the actual new iPhone, just ideas about what it could be. I reckon these are really cool, check a few out below. Of special note is the second video, which demonstrates the possible new assistant feature that the new iPhone could have. If you want to read more about the assistant feature, check out this post over at 9to5Mac.

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