Second Site News #070

Second Site Version 6.1 Released

This release extends the mobile-friendly features included in the Second Site 6. In addition to the enhancements here, see the Change Log for a list of other minor changes.

Scaled Images

Second Site 6.1 will automatically reduce the size of some images that are wider than the browser window. To allow the site visitor to see the image at full size, clicking the image will open the image directly in the browser. The browser will allow the visitor to zoom the image to its full size.

Image scaling is supported for these images:

• Embedded Exhibit images
• Linked Exhibit images
• Picture User Item images

There are some factors that affect how the images behave. If an image is subject to Lightbox processing, clicking the image will open the Lightbox for it. If an image has an image map, Second Site will not scale the image. Scaling the image would invalidate the image map.

Multi-Column Layouts

Second Site now adjusts multi-column Layouts to drop the SideBar and Extra sections below the main content on narrow viewports. When those sections are dropped to the bottom of the page, their widths are set equal to the width of the viewport. This affects all multi-column Layouts except for the new Static Layouts described below.

Static Layout and Script

In the first release of Second Site 6, all the Layouts, even the fixed-width Layouts, reduce the content area to fit the browser window if necessary. That typically produces the best results. Some Second Site users, however, want their sites to stay at a fixed width even if the browser window is too narrow for the content. To accommodate those users, I have implemented several new Layouts. Their names include the "S" and "SL" codes, for "static centered" and "static left", to differentiate them from the "F" and "FL" fixed-width Layouts.

If you are currently using "1 Col F Con Side-Xtra", the static equivalent is "1 Col S Con Side-Xtra". For other Layouts change "F", or "FL", to "S", "SL", etc.

If you use one of the Layouts above, you must also change the Head Script to "Standard Static". Using "Standard Static" tells browser software on mobile devices that the content has a fixed width.

I do not recommend the use of these Layouts or the "Standard Static" Head Script. Pages using these options will be difficult to use on mobile devices. Use them as a last resort when you cannot make your site mobile friendly for some reason. As of early 2015, Google penalizes pages that are not mobile-friendly and lowers their position in search results when searches are performed on mobile devices.

Downloads

Second Site is available via download only. See the Downloads page.

Purchases

For purchasing information, see the Purchases page.