DS wordpress plugin released! December 30, 2006
“I’ve released the DS plugin for wordpress (and activated it here on my own wordpress blog). I hope you all like it. A big thank you to the original Nintendo Wii plugin team who made me want to do this and provided us with great source code of their plugin! A download linky + info can be found here;”
To see it in action go to Scorpei’s blog using your DS or using Firefox using the user agent switcher. A small image for those who do not have OperaDS (and don’t want to hassle around looking it up via FireFox’s user-agent switcher);
If you install both the original Wii plugin and this DS plugin your wordpress blog will show up correctly on both the DS and the Nintendo Wii! The theme for the DS was made so it fits fully on the top screen. That way you can use the “direct input” mode (pressing R when in overview mode with the top screen zoomed) to scroll easily without having to search for your information. More information on the page above.
“ If you don’t have a Nintendo DS you can still check out if the plugin was installed correctly. Firstly download Firefox. Then install the user agent switcher. Restart Firefox after installing the addon then go to “extra-user agent switcher-options-option”. Then to user agents in the left menu and press the add button. Now add a user agent (name/description doesn’t matter, I choose OperaDS) and fill in the “user agent” line with this; Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Nitro) Opera 8.50 [en]. Finish adding it and then select it in the “extra-user agent switcher-…” menu. Then go to your (or mine to test if the settings are correct) blog and see the magic ;).“
*UPDATE*:
“Already at update 2 :)? I’ve added a second skin for you to choose from. If the first skin wasn’t totally to your liking you can try out this new one. If you decide to make your own skin, please let me know.“
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Don’t use those plugins, they’re junk. They use user-agents to detect the Wii or the DS and it’s a really bad web design. Why use a hack when there’s already features out there for this kinda thing (http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/media.html#media-types).
Well thank you very much :). There is only one version of OperaDS, and as far as my knowlidge goes OperaDS is the only browser that uses Nitro in its user-agent string. Therefor this works perfectly for this cause. Normally I would agree with you that there are better options for checking what browser someone has, but in this case and in the case of the Nintendo Wii this works like a charm.
user-agents may be a “bad” thing for browsing on a computer, but I believe doing it on the Wii or DS is a lifesaver.
My point exactly. This website, which currently doesn’t use my plugin, for example loads & views incredibly slow on the DS (viewing it via the DS now). Although generally images in posts still are quite big, using my plugin and a special (can be one of the included ones) theme could make viewing websites with the DS so much more pleasant.
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Max.
Also posted to your blog.
…your tone suggests developers that use user agents are the minions of the devil.
In the case of the Wii with an Opera browser the only way to tell if the visitor is on a TV is by checking the User-agent and providing a Wii-optimized CSS based on that. From our testing media=�tv� didn’t cut it. Besides what about PSP, Sony mylo’s, DS/DS Lite - all these devices require differing templates to optimize the experience.
This is also the case in mobile devices where bloggers feel meda=�handheld� works. Let me tell you - that doesn’t work across all mobile devices either. Not to mention the diversity of multimedia support across devices and mobile browsers - user agent detection not only provides the information you need to deliver the best set of CSS templates but also the info you need to deliver media that’s digestable for that particular device.
…besides it’s up to the blog owner to decide for themselves if they want to provide this type of experience or not.
..and the Internet/Mobile Internet is customized for people all the time for good reason.
Listen - I respect your opinions you have every right to have them. From my perspective though handheld devices have a different set of circumstances then PCs that you need to take into account. You should remain open to that.
I am also a standards-based web developer that agrees with the goal of “Viewable With Any Browser�. I also encourage other developers to design webpages according to official standards, with the goal of not designing for any particular browser(s). I also accept that this isn’t always best - specifically in the case of devices with limited capabilities, processing powers, mulitmedia support or physical dimensions.
I agree with most of the frustration you expressed here: http://blog.brokenfunction.com/2006/12/18/user-agents-and-you/) but IMHO you have focused on the wrong cause to champion.
I’d be happy to discuss this further with you. Send me an email and we can set up a time to chat. It might be good for both of us.
Cheers and have a Happy New Year,
David Harper