FBI Offers Smartphone-Ready 'Most Wanted' List

The FBI has developed a smartphone version of its website, FBI.gov, the latest in a series of efforts to make the agency's content more widely available to the public. Built with HTML5, AJAX, and JavaScript, the site features content from FBI.gov that has been optimized for mobile devices. Features include navigation menus that open with one click, a search bar, a rotating slider with news, and scrollable lists of fugitives and missing children.

No downloads or applications are required. Visitors using smartphones are redirected to the mobile site, and they can switch between the full and mobile versions through links in the footer of the respective sites. Tablet users still see the full version of FBI.gov.

Over the past two years, the agency has revamped its website and released its first smartphone app. In the fall of 2010, the FBI redesigned FBI.gov to make it more news oriented. That was followed by a refresh of both its "Most Wanted" site and a records archive called The Vault.

Last August, the FBI launched Child ID, an iPhone app to help parents respond quickly in the event of a child disappearance or possible abduction. Available for free from Apple's iTunes store, Child ID is used to store photos and vital information about children so that information can be retrieved quickly if needed. It also provides a link to emergency services as a way of alerting authorities.

The Vault's upgrade last year included more than 25 new files, access to more than 2,000 paper documents in the FBI's online digital repository, and documents frequently requested through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in an open-source, Web-based document viewer called FlexPaper. The Vault isn't available through the new mobile website, but can be viewed on smartphones in the full version.

Access to other sub sites such as FBIJobs.gov and to some of the FBI's other Web pages not easily viewable on mobile devices aren't part of the mobile site, but can be viewed on smartphones in the full version, the FBI said.

FBI.gov receives between five and 10 million visitors monthly. According to the FBI, its most popular pages include the Ten Most Wanted list, the sex offender registry, crime statistics, and background checks.

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