It isn't really the same kind of site, but I love the Library of Congress:

http://www.loc.gov/

They have an attractive, well laid out site, and (true to the business of
being a librarian) they have spent a tremendous amount of time and energy on
the site taxonomy and usability. I am always impressed with how much
information they are able to present in a clean, concise interface.

Do you have a mandate to change the site architecture? My beef with
government sites is that they tend to publish information rather than
provide services, and they organize everything from a publisher's point of
view, not a consumer's point of view.

California used to have a terrible site, but it is getting a lot better.
They have embraced the idea of a services-oriented portal:

http://www.ca.gov/state/portal/myca_homepage.jsp

The question to ask your client is: what is the purpose of this site? Is it
a site for tourists? Locals? Individuals? Businesses? Are these all possible
users? What services and information does the city want to provide on the
site?

For example, while it may be politically nice to have multiple links to the
Mayor's Office, budget presentation, and other assorted mayor-stuff, I bet
hardly anyone clicks on those links. You would do well to study the traffic
patterns of the existing site to see what people are really using today (if
anything), and start with those bits as the core of the site. I will note
that California still has the governor's picture, link, budget, etc. on the
homepage, but at least it is over on the right in secondary navigation.

Rob


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Larry C. Lyons" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "CF-Community" <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, February 06, 2005 9:59 AM
Subject: Re: Site Redesign - Need Help


> Sorry about that its
> http://www.beiresources.org/
>
> larry
>
>
> On Sun, 6 Feb 2005 12:58:24 -0500, Larry C. Lyons <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
> > How abou thte George Washington Medical Center: http://www.gwumc.edu?
> >
> > my own sites American Type Culture Collection http://www.atcc.org
> > and
> > Bioterrorism and Emerging Infections Resource Repository:
> > http://beiresources.org
> >
> > hth,
> > larry
> >
> >
> > On Sun, 6 Feb 2005 12:30:34 -0500, Duane Boudreau <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
> > > Hi All,
> > >
> > > I've been tasked with redoing the web site @ work
(http://www.gonashua.com).
> > > The current site is gawd awful, so I've spent a couple of days
researching
> > > what other public sector web sites have been doing and low and behold
the
> > > ones I've looked at weren't much better. Does anyone know of an eye
catching
> > > public sector (federal, municipality, county, university, or hospital)
web
> > > site?
> > >
> > > Go Pats Go.
> > > Duane
> > >


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
Find out how CFTicket can increase your company's customer support 
efficiency by 100%
http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=49

Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:146390
Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5
Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5
Unsubscribe: 
http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54

Reply via email to