There are a great many sites around the web that went to the extra effort of putting together a mobile version. It makes plenty of sense, with the dramatic rise in mobile access to the web – as high as 10% of all web traffic for some regions. Having a mobile version gives plenty of advantages, including attractive formatting and faster loading. Now, Google Sites – the Google service that lets users easily put together a website – has added an automatic mobile version rendering option.
Users can enable mobile rendering on their site by following these steps:
- Log into Google Sites at sites.google.com.
- Go to “General settings.”
- Go to “More actions.”
- Go to “Manage site.”
- Click the check-box next to “Automatically adjust site for mobile phones.”
- Save the settings.
Your site will now render a mobile version for any Android 2.2+ OS or iOS 3+ device that logs into it. The automatically rendered version will resize the site to fit the size of the screen, align the header appropriately, and put the various navigation elements of the page into easy-access positions for mobile users. You can make additional adjustments to conserve space as well, such as disabling certain navigation elements or bottom-bar links for the mobile version.
Once implemented, site creators can easily access their mobile version of sites in their standard dashboard, site search, or through a mobile preview option in the “More actions” menu.
This isn’t the first Google service to offer automatic mobile versions. Blogger recently added mobile versions of all its templates from the template designer, as well as one additional template that custom templates can default to when accessed by mobile. Google’s services are setting a precedent on the automatic creation of a more mobile-friendly site.
[Sources include: the Google Docs Blog]
