The City of Vancouver announced that on Wednesday, Sept. 6 it launched a new website to replace its current website located at cityofvancouver.us.
“The domain may be the same but the site’s features and overall experience will be completely different,” said Communications Director Laura Shepard. “User experience and data drove every decision in the development of the new site.”
The new website was developed by putting the user experience first. Using analytics and data, the City learned that when users visit its website, they are primarily visiting to pay a bill or fee, apply for a job, get a permit or complete some other service-oriented activity. In response, the website now provides faster and more intuitive access to tasks and information searched for by site users. The new site will continue to feature information about City services, projects and initiatives, boards and commissions, volunteer opportunities and more. Some of the new features include:
- An accessibility menu that enables users to select how they want to consume the content. Features include adjustable font sizes, color contrast options, dyslexia-friendly text adjustments and other features to create an inclusive online experience for users.
- A translation tool that offers the option to instantly translate most content into 103 languages.
- Improved search, navigation and design to help users to find the information they need quickly and with minimal effort.
- An Open Data Hub that will provide easier access to publicly available data published by the City.
“Our current site, which averages more than 100,000 visitors a month, was built twelve years ago and lacks some of the functionality and accessibility features users expect and that meet the needs of our rapidly growing and diversifying community. It had a great run, but our current site is well past its useful life,” said Shepard.
Once the new site is live, visitors can use the site’s feedback form to tell us what they think. Feedback is invaluable as the City works to continuously improve access to information and services on its website.
