Let's make this a useful experience ...
Name two specific changes you would like to see on the city web site.
Share links to two web sites (perhaps other city government web sites) that our city should emulate.
O where do I start?
Change 1: Most of the time I go to the city website it is to find out how to contact a specific department about a specific situation. There is no obvious link to a directory of city departments on the front page. There's no obvious clue as to where to find such a thing via another link.
Change 2: The next most often situation is wanting information about my neighborhood and council member. I am sorry all to heck that I just can't remember my ward NUMBER but I do know my CM's name. Do you think maybe the Ward Sites drop-down list could be a little more friendly?
Commentary:
What the devil do "Community," "Business," "City Hall," and "Leisure" mean in the context of a city web page? These vague titles with wildly varying interpretations are virtually useless for clueing the user into what might be found beneath them.
City Hall is particularly deceiving. In a city the size of Minneapolis, it's easy to assume they really mean THE City Hall building and whatever is in there. Lots of things are not located there. Even in small towns, usually the municiple utilities and street department are often located somewhere else.
If I'm a business, will I find everything I need under "Business?" What if I'm not a business, then where do I look? I'm certainly not a "Community" though I may be part of it, and I'm not a City Hall or a Leisure, either.
It's not the worst web site I've seen, not by far. I am almost always able to find what I want -- after pulling a few teeth. The appearance is pleasant enough and ten-thousand thanks for not making the page so wide that I have to maximize my browser or scroll horizonatlly to view it. I hate web sites like that.
Good web sites? I can list a few, but none are quite of the same function as a city web site, so it would be useless to directly emulate them.
Link 1: My-Cast is good at providing what you want, where you want it and staying otherwise out of the way. www.my-cast.com
Link 2: Yahoo is the grand-daddy of succinct, although lately they've pushed so much content onto their main page, it's no longer the model of efficiency and directness it once way. And it's slightly too wide (see what I hate above) although fortunately, nothing important is lost off the right side. There's a key guideline: put the important links on the left or top, never on the right or bottom where they may be hidden. www.yahoo.com
Link 3: Google is a model of succinctness, clarity and efficiency. However, not much other than those ideals crosses over to a municiple site. www.google.com
More opinions about web sites available for the asking.
Chris Johnson Fulton
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