Powering the Mobile Web with Sitecore

I was recently asked to contribute to Sitecore's Best Practice Blog. Below is an excerpt from my post Powering the Mobile Web with Sitecore. To read the full blog, please visit the Sitecore Community Blogs.

Virtually every project that comes through our door at Velir includes a mobile component; a mobile optimized site, a native app, or considerations for new mobile channels (iPad, Kindle, etc.). We recently worked on a project for the Brookings Institution, recognized by Sitecore as an Outstanding Solution, in which we were challenged to:

• Support every major mobile platform via a comprehensive `mobile optimized site.
• Build and stream content to native apps for the iPhone, Android, and Blackberry.
• Build a flexible content API that could be leveraged for future devices.
• Extend the “author once, publish everywhere” concept to social networks and other channels.

This post will briefly outline the business goals of the project, describe some of the implementation details, and provide some best-practice guidance for implementing a comprehensive, Sitecore-powered mobile solution.

Strict Separation of Content from Presentation

In our solution for Brookings there is a strict separation of content from presentation. Authors enter content, construct articles, assign appropriate taxonomy, and perform traditional authoring tasks. When the content is published, it is immediately rendered for the web, mobile optimized layouts, native apps, and a variety of diverse content formats (RSS, HTML Newsletters, etc.)

In this way, authors are never exposed to the complexities of varying display and interaction models across platforms and devices and never manage the mobile channels directly. From an author’s perspective, they simply construct, review, and publish content and it immediately becomes available on the web and across all mobile channels, automatically optimized and formatted for the appropriate device. Read the full article on the Sitecore Best Practice Blog.