The much anticipated big news is released!

We are pleased to announce the official launch of DudaMobile direct! We are happy to be the first, free, easy-to-use web-based platform that allows even the most non-techie user to easily turn websites into mobile friendly sites.

What’s new?

Along with the attractive, new facelift we’ve given our homepage, we have revamped the dashboard and added new templates. You can still find the famed Duda features which include: one-click conversion of existing website to mobile, auto-syncing between a standard website and mobile site, compatibility with all major smartphones and, as always, professional-looking mobile sites.

What does this mean for Beta users?

If you participated in our private beta, your site(s) created during that period will remain free of charge until next year. We will contact you via email regarding the payment change. Any site created starting August 2, 2011 will be priced according to our payment plan.

We thank you for helping us achieve our mission

The DudaMobile team is fully dedicated to making all regular websites mobile. We would like to thank EVERYONE who has supported the Dudas as we have been working hard to optimize the web for mobile devices.

Through beta testing, we’ve noticed a few key features and cool things our users might have missed. Before you create a mobile website with Duda (or before you go back to edit your Duda-made site), take a look at these 10 things you may have passed over.

1. Your mobile site is auto-synced to your desktop website

After creating your mobile website, you don’t have to worry about updating it. Any changes you make to your regular website are automatically updated in your mobile site.

2. We constantly add new templates

Check our templates selection frequently.  We are always adding new mobile website templates with different themes, especially for small businesses.

3. There’s an advanced editor

No, we haven’t been keeping it a secret. The advanced editor can be accessed through the tab at the top of the screen. With the advanced editor you can do a wide range of enhancements to customize your site. Like edit the underlying HTML and CSS of your mobile site

4. Upload your own background image

Along with changing the background color of your mobile website, you can also add a background image. This feature can be found in step 2. Customize your site, in the general design options section under the background tab.

5. We auto-save your work as you go

Looking for the save button? Forget about it. Our software is designed to automatically save your work as you go.

6. You can add a custom sub-title underneath your header image

Supplement your header with a small caption. This can be done in step 2. Customize Your Site. In the Design Options menu, select Header and enter your desired sub-title in Title text field.

7. iPhone users can bookmark your mobile website.

A feature was added on the features page which allows iPhone visitors to bookmark your mobile website on their phone. This feature is free for all users.

8. Create unlimited sites under one account

Yes, you can create an unlimited number of  websites under one account. Statistics for individual sites are available under the Stats tab on the top of the dashboard.

9. There’s a “send business info” via SMS feature

Make it simple for mobile site visitors to text your business info to themselves or others. This function is located in the Components section of the advanced editor.

10. Made a mistake? Reset your entire mobile website to the state it was in right after the initial conversion.

This can be done in the advanced editor. On the top navigation bar, open the advanced drop down menu. Select Reset Page Design to put your site back to its original state.

The Human Touch

A mobile browser is an automated machine that only knows how to squeeze a websites into a small mobile screen. A good mobile solution will have to include some degree of configuration to select and prioritize the content. It requires someone who is intimately involved with the website and understands the business and can make such decisions. There is a lot of clutter in regular websites, usually created by large banners, jumping ads and promotions that just add to the noise and confusion in a mobile device.  Only a human can make the decision what content is relevant and should be “mobilized” and what not.

Now some people might say that the iPhone provides exceptional user experience. I agree that it is indeed an improvement compared to other mobile browsers, but it is far from being optimal. I like to compare the iPhone browsing experience to reading a newspaper in a dark room with a flash light. At any moment you can only see a limited part of the page, usually caused by the need to zoom-in and zoom-out in order to read the text. You wouldn’t agree to read your newspaper like that, so why accept it on your mobile device?

This is something that many businesses have understood and for the reason they have built dedicated iPhone websites (e.g. m.ebay.com, m.nbc.com, mobile.fandango.com) that are very different from their regular internet website. In addition business would like to add mobile specific features like mobile ads, location based services that use GPS functionality, click-to-call etc. All these features are not available on the PC website.

Creating an Optimized Site for Mobile

Creating a mobile optimized site can be a daunting task. You need to think about supporting multiple devices and multiple browsers. Then you get to the topic of maintenance, how do you keep your regular website and your mobile site in sync? And the biggest question is how do you achieve all this without getting into a heavy investment. This is exactly the pain we identified and solved at DudaMobile. Using our platform we are able to build mobile website that are based on your existing website. What that means is that you only have to maintain your regular website. Any changes you make will automatically be propagated into your mobile site. How do we do that? Well that’s the uniqueness of the technology we have developed. The good thing is that you don’t need to care about that. We take care of building, hosting, maintaining and supporting your mobile site. All you need to do is just promote it.