In our daily life, as we deal with the use of the web, there are many websites that we visit on a daily basis. When opening such websites using any mobile device, smaller size and smaller versions of the website will usually be automatically returned. This is because the page can load faster for all mobile devices and therefore reduce consumer data usage. FYI, the bootstrap concept is used behind this. Using a mobile-friendly website in a desktop browser comes in handy when you have a slower internet connection and want to load any web page urgently. Now, opening any website in the mobile version not only allows you to access the website more quickly, but also helps save data usage.
This feature of viewing the mobile version of the website in your desktop browser also helps developers to check and test mobile websites. In case you are looking for an approach to open and access any website as a mobile version from your desktop browser, then this article is for you.
Access mobile websites using desktop browser (PC)
Make sure to create a restore point in case something goes wrong.
Method 1: Open mobile websites using Google Chrome
To access the mobile version of any website from your PC browser, you must use the User Agent Switching extension. It is available for the Chrome web browser. Here you have to follow some steps to access the mobile version of any website in the Chrome browser on your desktop.
Step 1: First, you have to install the User Agent Switcher extension in your Chrome browser from this link.
Step 2: From the link, click "Add to Chrome" to install the extension in your browser.
Step 3: A pop-up will appear, click Add extension and restart Chrome.
Step 4: Next, from your browser's easy access bar, you have to select the shortcut for the "User Agent Switcher" extension.
Step 5: From there you have to select the web engine of your mobile, for example, if you want to open a web page optimized for Android, then you have to select "Android". You can choose any device according to your preference.
Step 6: Now simply visit any web page and that web page will be in the mobile compatible format you selected earlier.
TIP: 12 Ways to Make Google Chrome Faster
Method 2: Open mobile websites using Mozilla Firefox
Another very popular web browser is Mozilla Firefox, in which a browser add-on must be added to access mobile-friendly websites. To do this, you must perform the following steps:
Step 1: If your desktop has a Mozilla Firefox web browser installed, then you need to install an add-on in your browser. To do this, you must click on the Settings button on your browser and choose "Add-ons".
Step 2: Find the User Agent Switcher.
Step 3: Now click on the first search result for the User-Agent Switcher extension.
Step 4: On the User Agent Switch page click Add to Firefox to install the plugin.
Step 5: Once the plugin is installed, make sure to restart Firefox.
Step 6: The next time you open your browser, you will see a shortcut for the User-Agent Switcher extension.
Step 7: Click on the shortcut icon and choose the default user agent changer. You have the option to choose any mobile device, desktop browser, and operating system.
Step 8: Now open any website and that will open in the mobile version of the website in your desktop browser.
Method 3: Using Opera Mini (Deprecated) simulator
Note: This method no longer works, please use the following.
If you don't like the above two methods of using the user agent switch option, you still have another way to view the mobile optimized version of any website in your desktop browser using another popular simulator - Opera Mini Mobile Website Simulator. Here are the steps to access the mobile version of any website on your PC browser using Opera Mini Simulator:
- You can start any web browser of your choice.
- In the address bar type and navigate to the Opera Mini Mobile website simulator web page.
- To start using the simulator you need to give some permissions, just click OK.
- The next time you open any site in your browser, it will be in a mobile optimized version.
Method 4: Use Developer Tools: Inspect Element
1.Open Google Chrome.
2.Now right click on any page (that you want to load as mobile friendly) and choose Inspect Item / Inspect.
3. This will open the Developer Tool window.
4.Press Ctrl + Shift + M, and you will see a toolbar appear.
5.From the drop-down list select any device, for example iPhone X.
6.Enjoy the mobile version of the website in your desktop browser.
I hope this article has been helpful and that you can now easily access mobile websites using your computer's browser, but if you still have any questions regarding this tutorial, feel free to ask them in the comment section.
