UT Dallas has launched a mobile version of its Web site. Faster-loading, streamlined versions of the University’s most popular Web pages have been optimized for viewing on the small screens found on many of today’s 3G mobile devices.
“It’s optimized for iPhone, Android, Opera Mini, or any advanced mobile browser,” said Web software developer Alex Volfson, who developed the pages for the University’s Web Services department after Isaac Murray in Marketing designed the layout.
“Almost 14,000 visits to the UT Dallas Web site in the last 30 days have been from users who are on iPhones,” he said. “It’s designed to make it easier for these users.”
Mobile users won’t have to deal with the bothersome task of downloading an app. They also won’t have to remember a new URL because they will automatically be redirected from www.utdallas.edu to www.utdallas.edu/mobile.
Other high-traffic pages are in development, but the following are up and running now:
Mobile News Center: With one click, mobile visitors to the 
UT Dallas site can read streamlined versions of the latest stories in News Center, or they can click on the headlines to read full versions of the stories. Images have been stripped from the stories for faster loading.
Mobile Course Lookup: The Course Lookup page allows users to search the current term by course, instructor, title and school. They can even search or narrow their results by start time and/or end time.
Mobile Directory: The Directory allows users to look up e-mail addresses and phone numbers of students, faculty or staff members. Some smartphones will even let users dial the phone number.
Mobile Comet Calendar: The Comet Calendar helps users plan their schedules by searching for today’s or tomorrow’s University events and activities. Users can even access the academic calendar.
Mobile Zmail: Students can send and receive emails while on-the-go by accessing the Zmail page.
The menu has been designed for the touch screens found on most smartphones and can accommodate big fingers. Users who want to experience the full range of options found on the regular Web site are also given that option on each page.