RF Cafe Now Has Google's 'Mobile-Friendly' Blessing

Many format changes to RF Cafe have occurred since its inception in 1999, primarily to optimize the layout and content for presentation to my targeted audience - engineers, technicians, hobbyists, managers, and salesmen who make a living and/or pastime of electronics.

Update: RF Cafe's format has been modified to have a fixed page width (~780 pixels) with the right page border always beneath the page header. Now the only difference when in Mobile mode is an increase in font size and line spacing - much easier and still Mobile-Friendly!

This latest format change, however, comes in response to Google deciding to penalize website search ranking for any page or pages that do not pass its Mobile-Friendly Test. With 2/3 of the world's search business, they set the rules. If a page is not deemed Mobile-Friendly, it will likely be demoted to a lower spot on the search result page compared to if it was compliant. In some cases a website that would have been displayed on the first page of search results might instead end up on the second, third page - or worse. Therefore, it was imperative for me to bring RFCafe.com into Mobile-Friendly compliance - not an easy task with pages as chock-full of information as are RF Cafe's pages.

Nonetheless, after many attempts I finally arrived at a solution I can live with in that it achieves an acceptable balance between presenting prime content while also giving fair visibility to advertiser's banners. The graphics below illustrate changes in format that occur when transitioning from the Desktop mode to the Mobile mode. A screen shot of the Mobile format can be seen to the right.

When the device (desktop or notebook computer, tablet, or smartphone) has a display pixel width of less than ~750 pixels, the entire web page resizes from a width of ~930 pixels to about ~730 pixels. In doing so, the main content width narrows from about ~730 pixels to ~560 pixels, and the font size and line spacing increases by ~25%. Also, the content in the right page border repositions itself to underneath the header.

In the Desktop world there is a concept of content being located 'above the fold,' meaning it is displayed when the page is scrolled all the way to the top, as it would be seen when first loaded in a browser. That area is considered to be highly valuable since every visitor will always see it. There is really no equivalent area in the mobile format, so instead value is ascribed vertically linear on the page.

One of the biggest obstacles for me was not wanting to use any sort of script code to achieve the 'responsive' format change, since even though it is the year 2016, there are still enough inconsistencies in how various browsers render web pages - especially things like drop-down menus - that I refuse to use anything other than strict HTML5 and CSS. All that additional JavaScript, PHP, ASP, or other code can significantly increase bandwidth, download time, and page rendering time. I hate waiting for a page's main content to load, and refuse to subject you, my visitor, to it. Take a look at my HTML and CSS code to see how it is probably some of the simplest and most efficient you will find on any website of RF Cafe's caliber.

Prior to bringing RF Cafe (and my personal hobby website, Airplanes and Rockets) into the realm of Mobile-Friendly-ness, Google posted notices of admonishment on my Webmaster space. The intimidation finally got to me. I wondered how many of the websites I frequent while looking for technical headlines, electronic components, etc., were Mobile-Friendly. Below is a short list of some of those sites and how the fared when their URL was submitted to the Google Mobile-Friendly Test page. The results surprised me.

...and now for the sales pitch. If your company can benefit from RF Cafe's typical page view count of 15,000-20,000 each weekday, please take a quick look at my Advertising Information page. You simply will not find a less expensive venue for the amount of exposure. You might also review the inexpensive software and other products I have created over the years. This is my sole source of income, so anything you can do to help is greatly appreciated. Thanks, as always, for reading.

Posted February 15, 2016