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Mobile App or Mobile Site?

This GovGirl video explores the pros and cons of each, and covers the best practice of "Responsive Design."

What's better, a mobile app, or a mobile site? And what's the difference again? This GovGirl video explores the pros and cons of each, and covers the best practice of "Responsive Design."

Government agencies are trying to figure out how to adapt and thrive in a time where almost half of American adults have smartphones, 61 percent have a laptop and 18 percent have a tablet computer. When state and local government IT leaders were asked last spring, 39 percent said their agency plans on deploying a new mobile app for citizens within the year.



Quick Tip for Making Mobile Microsites

If you need a quick microsite (a separate site or area within your site with targeted content for a specific purpose -- like elections, open data, etc.), consider using a popular blogging platform. You can quickly make the blog look and function like a regular website. Then, use a pre-built, free plugin that gives you an instant mobile-friendly site. One of my faves for the WordPress platform is WPtouch, which you can find at WordPress.org.

Great sites to strengthen your mobile development vocabulary are A List Apart and Smashing Magazine.