This Week's Picks - ArcGIS Online #7
For those new to this series, "This Week's Picks" is a (loosely) biweekly blog where I share some of my favorite ArcGIS Online content with you.
If you are interested in earlier posts, they’re archived here: This Week's Picks - ArcGIS Online: Archive
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I'll admit, I'm on my phone more than I would like to be - but I'm not just scrolling Instagram and taking selfies. I regularly read story maps (which I should mention are mobile-ready by default), and I checked public safety apps habitually during last year's California fire season. Straightforward observation of the world around us indicates that I'm not the only one making good use of their unlimited data contract. And like me, most people are probably doing a lot more than scrolling Instagram.
What if they were looking at an ArcGIS web app that you had built? What if you had configured it with mobile in mind and the UX/UI and functionality were excellent on a smaller screen?
The picks for this week may help change both of the above questions from rhetoric to reality.
***Note: this post covers web apps accessed in mobile browsers through a URL, not native apps. To build native apps for iOS and Android you will need AppStudio for ArcGIS***
ArcGIS Experience Builder: Build Apps for Multiple Screen Sizes
ArcGIS Experience Builder takes advantage of modern web technologies to amplify Web AppBuilder's out of the box mobile capabilities. Crucial functionality is the ability to configure the same app differently for mobile and desktop. The Esri YouTube user "GeoDev" goes through some crucial steps in this video, from customizing widget layouts to different elements on the page so that your app looks great and performs on multiple screen sizes. Creating links between different pages is shown as well. Though the video is for Beta 1 it is still very informative.
Additional References:
- ArcGIS Experience Builder | Build, Deploy, and Manage GIS Web Apps
- Frequently Asked Questions
- ArcGIS Experience Builder Beta
Configurable App Templates: Configure Apps with Mobile in Mind
Beth Romero recently posted this really helpful blog on how to create great apps for mobile with Esri's configurable app templates. Pop-ups, symbology and testing methods, among other ideas, are covered.
Additional References:
- Choose an ArcGIS Configurable Apps template—ArcGIS Online Help | Documentation
- Create apps from maps—ArcGIS Online Help | Documentation
Operations Dashboard: Configure Dashboards for Mobile
Derek Law published this in-depth blog on optimizing dashboards for mobile use. From general best practices to maps, legends and interactivity, this is a must-read before jumping into mobile dashboard configuration.
Additional References:
- Dashboards on your smartphone—Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS | Documentation
- Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS | Real-Time Data Visualization & Analytics
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I hope the above resources provided some helpful tips on configuring ArcGIS web apps with mobile in mind! Let me know in the comments below 
if there are any outstanding questions. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for This Week's Picks - ArcGIS Enterprise and This Week's Picks - ArcGIS Pro!
If you're interested, I'd love to connect on LinkedIn You can follow me on Twitter too. I regularly post / tweet GIS(ish) content to these platforms.
See you again in a couple weeks,
-Peter