Monday, December 2, 2013

Agency to Debut New Mobile Website

When was the last time you went through a day and didn’t see someone using a smartphone or a tablet? We know – it’s been a long time! According to Digital Buzz, 56% of people own a smart phone and 50% of smartphone users use their phone as their primary Internet source. Wow! 

In response to this ever-growing population of mobile users, the Agency is pleased to debut its new mobile website. This website will automatically load on a web browser (Firefox, Safari, Chrome, etc.) when it is accessed on a smartphone or tablet device. It is specially designed to be mobile-friendly and features large buttons to tap with your fingers instead of small text-based links that you are accustomed to clicking when using a computer. 

The mobile site is not a full recreation of our main website—it features those items that we know our clients use most often: 
  • Professional Development Catalog 
  • Reserve Materials 
  • Online Resources 
  • News 
  • Calendar (coming soon!)
  • Careers 
  • Staff Directory 
  • Locations 
  • Contact Us 
There are also links to About Us, Services, Staff Links (Email, Employee Dashboard and PeopleBox) and View Full Site. Some of you may be wondering why we chose to do a mobile site over an app, since apps are so popular right now. Here are a few reasons why: 
  • The Agency didn’t need to go through Apple or Android to have the app approved, and we don’t need to go through them to have it updated, so we have control over and easy publishing rights to the content on the site. 
  • Mobile sites are easier to find than apps that have to be searched for on the App Store or Android Market. 
  • A mobile site doesn’t have to be downloaded to your device as an app would, so it does not take up valuable data on your phone or tablet. Updates don’t have to be downloaded, either. 
  • Mobile websites are always available for users to return to them. 
  • Mobile websites are accessible across platforms and can be easily shared among users and search engines. 
We encourage you to take the mobile site for a test drive and send your feedback to comms@heartlandaea.org. Please spread the word about the site to our educators, students and families!

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