Unusable – Sad for what was essential plugin

There was a time when WPTouch was an essential plugin until you could get a mobile design, some even stuck with their desktop sites.

Sadly this has all changed, the promise of a few clicks is just not true. I installed it and got a convoluted message saying it was does not work because of W3 Total Cache, it gives a link to get directions, that link brings up a PAGE NOT FOUND error. So I go to the WPTOUCH website and find a generic page for cache plugins that has a section for W3 Total Cache

SO THIS IS THE NAGWARE THAT I GOT AND OF COURSE WPTOUCH WOULD NOT WORK WHILE IT WAS DISPLAYED

WPtouch: W3 Total Cache needs to be configured to work correctly with WPtouch.

Fixing this issue prevents cached desktop pages being served to mobile devices and vice-versa.

Once fixed, this message will be dismissed automatically. Until fixed, WPtouch will not be shown to mobile visitors, and cannot be previewed.

To fix the issue, follow our step-by-step setup guide on support.wptouch.com

None of the prescribed actions seem to be available and it is not apparent how to turn WPTouch on or rather stop it and the nagware at the top of every page

SO LET ME WALK YOU THROUGH THE INSTRUCTIONS – I WILL WRITE IN CAPS TO MAKE IT EASIER

“If “Browser Cache” enabled, disable “Set expires header” in the Browser Cache settings to prevent desktop/mobile switch link issues.”

WHY ARE YOU ASKING THIS, WHY NOT DETECT IT AND SET YOUR PLUGIN TO WORK OR TO TAKE THE USER TO THE SECTION. I WENT TO BROWSER CACHE ON PERFORMANCE PAGE OF W3 BECAUSE THAT IT WHERE IT TAKES YOU BUT THERE IS NO OPTION TO SET EXPIRES HEADER. JUST AN OPTION TO DISABLE BROWSER CACHE WHICH IS A BIT OF AN OVERKILL. EVENTUALLY I FOUND ANOTHER BROWSER CACHE ON LEFT MENU AND OF COURSE IT WAS NOT EVEN ENABLED. THANKS FOR ALL THAT TIME I WILL NOT GET BACK.

NEXT

“Add the list of user agents below to the “Rejected User Agents” area of the Page Cache, Minify, and CDN settings.”

SAME THING, ON THE DEFAULT PERFORMANCE PAGE THAT W3 TAKES YOU TO THE WORD REJECTED IS NOWHERE, AFTER FIGURING OUT YOU MEANT A DIFFERENT BUT IDENTICAL NAME IN BROWSER CACHE I FOUND THE PAGE CACHE SECTION, FROM THE MENU ON LEFT AND I EVEN FOUND REJECTED USER AGENTS. WHEN I SAW THE LIST I ASKED MYSELF, WILL THIS NOT JUST DISABLE W3 CACHE FOR EVERY DEVICE ON THE MARKET?

iPhone
iPod
Android
BB10
BlackBerry
webOS
IEMobile/7.0
IEMobile/9.0
IEMobile/10.0
MSIE 10.0
iPad
PlayBook
Xoom 
P160U
SCH-I800
Nexus 7
Touch

TO BE CLEAR, UNDER THE BOX IT SAYS

“Never send cache pages for these user agents”

SO IN OTHER WORDS DO NOT WORK FASTER BY USING CACHED PAGES FOR ALL OF THE ABOVE DEVICES (THAT LIST COVERS MOST ON THE PLANET AND W3 CACHE NOW DISPLAYS A MESSAGE IN RED SAYING

“Browser caching is currently disabled”

NEXT

If you have added support for additional mobile devices in WPtouch Pro’s Settings > Devices > Additional User Agents field, you must also include those user agents in the “Rejected User Agents” area in W3 Total Cache.

WHY WOULD I BUY THE PRO VERSION OF A PLUG THAT DOES NOT WORK?

Save the changes.

OK THAT SOUND SIMPLE ENOUGH EXCEPT IT REALLY NEEDED TO BE DONE ON EVERY PAGE WHERE CHANGES WERE MADE ABOVE

Go to the W3 Total Cache “Dashboard” and select “Empty All Caches”.

WELL ON THE PAGES I CHANGED ABOVE THERE IS AN OPTION TO SAVE ALL CHANGES AND PURGE THE CACHE, BUT NEVER ARGUE WITH SUPPORT SO I WENT TO W3 DASHBOARD AND DID AS I WAS TOLD.

Ensure that W3 Total Cache is selected in the plugins list in the Settings > Site Compatibility > Active Plugins section of the WPtouch Pro admin panel. (Pro only, enabled by default in WPtouch (free))

SO A COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY DIRECTION BECAUSE I DO NOT HAVE PRO, HOW ABOUT YOU DETECT IF I HAVE PRO, HOW ABOUT YOU EMBED THESE INSTRUCTION IN YOUR PLUG IN, HOW ABOUT YOU GROUP THE TWO QUESTIONS THAT ONLY APPLY TO PRO VERSION AND PUT “if you are a pro user please also do the following”.

SO AFTER DOING THAT CHANGING, SAVING, PURGING I STILL GET THE NAGWARE AND WPTOUCH STILL DOES NOT DO WHAT IS SAYS ON THE TIN

“Make a beautiful mobile-friendly version of your website with just a few clicks.”

ARE YOU KIDDING?

I CAN CONFIGURE SERVERS ROUTERS SWTCHES VLANS SQL SERVER MYSQL HARDWARE SERVER CLUSTER VIRTUAL SERVERS RAIDS AND A WHOLE LOT MORE BUT THIS PLUGIN GIVES INSTRUCTIONS THAT DO NOT SEEM TO MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE AND IT STILL NAGS YOU.

WHY NOT JUST SAY “This plugin is incompatible with S3 TOTAL CACHE and other cache plugins so please disable them or delete wptouch.

BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT I HAD TO DO, NOW I WILL SEE WHETHER I NEED TO FIND AN ALTERNATIVE TO WPTOUCH.

IT WOULD HAVE SAVED ME 2 HOURS OF TRYING TO GET WPTOUCH TO WORK.