TO: Mayor and City Council
THROUGH: Steve Powers, City Manager
FROM: Krishna Namburi, IT Department Director/CIO
SUBJECT:
title
Community-Focused Website Redesign
Ward(s): All Wards
Councilor(s): All Councilors
Neighborhood(s): All Neighborhoods
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ISSUE:
Information and update on the status of the current effort to create a community-focused City of Salem website.
RECOMMENDATION:
recommendation
Information only.
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SUMMARY AND BACKGROUND:
The City of Salem is undertaking a project to build a web presence that is more user-friendly and community-focused in its content and navigation. The work will use existing staff and software resources. To build this community-focused site in a way that best connects people to the issues they care about and resources they need, the City is incorporating community member input into the design of the website's content, functions, site structure, and overall look and feel of the new web presence.
FACTS AND FINDINGS:
Based on an assessment of best practice and award-winning websites, staff have built a framework for the new website. In October, community members were invited to test and provide input on a proposed website category structure. Based on community feedback, staff shortened the lists in site-wide menus, used more specific and relevant wording, and consolidated some categories to simplify the user experience. New written and visual content has been developed, and work is underway to publish the content. Additional user testing by community members is currently in progress. The intent is to create an up-to-date web environment that is easy to browse with many paths to reach the information of interest using simple, intuitive, and interactive icons and images to help the website visitor find the information they are seeking.
Next Steps:
Staff will gather feedback from ongoing user testing to make further site improvements. Staff anticipate making the new website available to the community through a "soft launch" as early as March of 2017. During the soft launch the existing website will feature a prominent link to the new website. Staff will be maintaining content on both sites during this period. A community survey will be available for feedback to fine tune the site’s overall appearance and functions. By April, the new website will be the primary source of information about the City. The information from the previous website will still be available through a link from the new website.
Krishna Namburi
IT Department Director/CIO
01/9/2017