MedlinePlus Mobile Update: Full Access from Your Phone

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) released new versions of the MedlinePlus and MedlinePlus en español mobile sites in October 2014. The mobile sites can be accessed at //m.medlineplus.gov and //m.medlineplus.gov/spanish/, respectively (see Figure 1).

Like the original 2010 versions, these newly redesigned sites are optimized for mobile phones and tablets. Unlike the original mobile sites that contained only a subset of the information available on MedlinePlus, the new sites have all the content that you will find on MedlinePlus and MedlinePlus en español. They also have an improved design for easier use on mobile devices.

Features of the New Mobile Sites

The key features of the redesigned mobile sites are:

• Access to all the content available on MedlinePlus and MedlinePlus en español (see Figure 2)
• Improved navigation using menus to access search and major areas of the site (see Figures 2 and 3)
• Enhanced page navigation with the ability to open and close sections within pages (see Figure 4)
• Updated look and feel with a refreshed design

You can access the mobile version of any page on MedlinePlus by clicking the "Mobile version" ("Versión móvil") link in the page footer. The "Desktop version" ("Ver página no optimizada para móviles") link in each mobile page footer takes you to the same page on the current "desktop" site.

Responsive Design for MedlinePlus

The release of the new mobile version is the first phase in a plan to redesign MedlinePlus and MedlinePlus en español to behave responsively. Responsively-designed websites automatically change their layouts to fit the screen of the device on which they are viewed, whether that is a large desktop monitor or a small mobile touchscreen. A user viewing a responsive site on a mobile phone will be able to navigate and search with a minimum of scrolling or zooming.

In the next phase, the MedlinePlus team will launch a fully responsive design that will allow for a consistent user experience from any point of access, whether desktop, tablet, or phone. This will remove the need for separate mobile sites for MedlinePlus and MedlinePlus en español. NLM will release fully responsive versions of MedlinePlus and MedlinePlus en español in Spring 2015. Following that release, NLM will retire the mobile URLs (m.medlineplus.gov, m.medlineplus.gov/spanish). Users will then have one destination for MedlinePlus (www.medlineplus.gov or www.medlineplus.gov/spanish) when using any device.

Until then, try out the first offering of the MedlinePlus responsive design on your smartphone. Visit the latest versions of MedlinePlus Mobile in English and in Spanish.