Merkur: Transcoding tool for adapting websites to mobile devices

Merkur's purpose was to solve, through content transcoding, the problem of displaying websites on mobile devices at a stage before responsive web design became widespread, a problem that the HTML5 standard and responsive design techniques would eventually solve natively years later. Unlike a separate mobile-specific development or a recoding of the existing portal, Merkur transparently transformed the already operational content of the desktop website (HTML, CSS, and images) to make it compatible with any mobile device, without duplicating maintenance or modifying the original code.

The project's objectives were:

• To adapt desktop websites, with or without a content management system, for correct display on mobile devices and tablets, without modifying the original website.
• To keep mobile content automatically updated based on changes made to the desktop website, avoiding duplicate maintenance.
• To make mobilization easy to configure through templates and a visual editor (WYSIWYG), allowing specific adaptations by device type.
• To optimize the content delivered to mobile devices, prioritizing information, speeding up downloads, and minimizing bandwidth consumption.
• To generate HTML5 markup that takes advantage of features specific to mobile devices, such as geolocation or making phone calls.

The core areas of Merkur were:

• Content transcoding: adaptation of the desktop website to different types of mobile devices and tablets, with control over the resulting appearance and functionality.
• Visual editor and templates: configuration of mobilization through a WYSIWYG editor and templates reusable across sections with similar structures.
• Optimization and accessibility: use of web accessibility standards to speed up adaptation and optimize the content delivered to mobile devices.

CTIC developed Merkur and deployed it, through transfer, deployment, and maintenance contracts, at more than a dozen public and private organizations across Spain, including the city councils of Avilés, Gijón, and Salou, the University of Oviedo, the Basque Government, the Junta de Castilla y León, the Government of Navarre, the Ministry of Justice, and private entities such as Caixa Galicia, MAPFRE, Mutua Madrileña, and Caja España, as well as a one-off deployment for the National Human Rights Commission (Mexico).