HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 163-10TO: HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL
FROM: CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT: ADMINISTRATIVE
SERVICES
DATE: March 8, 2010 CMR: 163:10
REPORT TYPE: Informational Report
SUBJECT: Update on the Website Advisory Committee
OVERVIEW
As part of the City's ongoing commitment to improve the City website, staff enlisted community
volunteers to serve on the Website Advisory Committee with the goal of producing a set of
recommendations to address citizens' concerns and to enhance the overall user -experience. The
Website Advisory Committee, comprised of a select group of dedicated community volunteers,
met regularly in 2009 to develop a list of approximately 70 recommended items to improve the
current City of Palo Alto website.
BACKGROUND
On May 18, 2009 the City Council approved a plan prepared with the Website Advisory
Committee to update the City's website (CMR:246:09). The first phase of the plan included
updating the website with the following:
• Website Color — The colors have been changed to work against a white background.
This improves the site's readability by providing more contrast.
• Font Size — The minimum font size on the Website has been increased to improve
readability.
• Home Page Revisions -- Featured content has been reorganized into four primary
lists: What's New, City Government, Other Resources, and This Month in Palo Alto
• 3 -Column Usage — Home page space is used more efficiently now with items of
importance available with less scrolling.
• Drop Down Menu — A drop down menu has been added to the top right portion of
the homepage. It is titled Quick Links and it gives users better access to key
CMR:163 ;10 Page 1 of 3
information. The list of links corresponds with the most popular pages viewed
according to our statistics.
• Index — The index pages have been substantially revised to provide users with more
efficient, accurate access to information on the site. The link can now be found at the
bottom of each page listed as A -Z Index.
• Search Box in Banner — The search box has been made more accessible by including
it in the top banner on all pages.
These updates were implemented in September 2009 (Attachment B). These changes,
particularly the background color, were generally well received.
The second phase of the plan is intended to address improvements to the website over the
medium and long-term. Staff intended to work with the Committee and bring this plan forward
to the City Council for discussion in late 2009. Due to priorities related to the City's budget and
staffing constraints, staff has been delayed in working with the Committee to develop the plan.
Since September staff has met with the Committee on two occasions and initial work has begun
on the plan for the second phase. Staff expects to resume meetings with the Committee in the
Spring and return to the Council in the Summer.
RESOURCE IMPACT
As part of developing the second phase of the plan staff will identify resource requirements and
present those to Council along with the plan.
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
This report adheres to existing policies regarding civic engagement.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This is not considered a project under California Public Resources Code Section 21065
(California Environmental Quality Act).
CMR:163:10 Page 2 of 3
PREPARED BY:
DAVID RAM : ERG
Assistant Director,
Administrative Ser ices
DEPARTMENT HEAD:
CITY MANAGER APPROVAL:
LALO
. Director, Administrative Services
JAMES I .E NE
City Mgr a,er
ATTACHMENT
Attachment A: CMR:246:09 Direction to Implement Recommendations of the Website Advisory
Committee
Attachment B: Press Release --- First Phase of City of Palo Alto Website Improvements is
Released
CMR:163:10 Page 3 of 3
ATTACHMENT A
City of Palo Alto
City Manager's Report
TO: HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL
FROM: CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT: ADMINISTRATIVE
SERVICES
DATE: May 18, 2009 CMR: 246:09
REPORT TYPE: Reports of Officials
SUBJECT: Direction to Implement Recommendations of the Website Advisory
Committee
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
As part of the City's ongoing commitment to improve the City website, staff has enlisted a group
of community volunteers to serve on the Website Advisory Committee with the goal of
producing a set of recommendations to address concerns raised by citizens and enhance the
overall website user -experience. The Website Advisory Committee, comprised of a select group
of dedicated community volunteers, has met regularly during the past four months to develop a
list of approximately 70 recommended items to improve the current City of Palo Alto website.
The recommendations focus on creating a more user-friendly and interactive site that is
compatible with rapidly changing technologies, such as Web 2.0 and mobile surfing. Some of the
suggested fixes can be addressed in the short-term, while others are longer -term solutions and
enhancements that require further analysis and additional resources to accomplish. The
recommendations encompass (but are not limited to) adding valuable content that citizens
frequently look for, as well as:
• providing information on schools, health organizations and facilities, and volunteer
opportunities
• modifying the design to include greater background/text contrast and larger fonts to
improve readability
• reorganizing information for better search -ability and easier access to content
Several members,,of the Committee have expressed a willingness to provide voluntary services to
take immediate action on the recommended changes. Some efforts have already begun and
changes ha been implemented. For example, the City switched from WebTrends to the free
Google Analytics tool for analysis of website metrics. This will save the City $5,000 annually.
The collaboration between staff and the Website Advisory Committee has been an example of
effective civic engagement.
CMR: 246:09
Page 1 of 5
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the Council direct staff to work with members of the Website Advisory
Committee to implement the recommendations. in bucket one and to develop a plan for
addressing the recommendations listed in buckets two and three.
BACKGROUND
The City of Palo Alto launched its new website in 2007 with all new features, structure and
design. Concerns were voiced by community members on the search capability and user -
friendliness of the new site. As part of its ongoing effort to enhance the City of Palo Alto
website and meet the Council's civic engagement priority, the City enlisted a Website Advisory
Committee, comprised of community volunteers, to provide recommendations to the Council on
how to improve the City website.
Since the October 29, 2009 initial meeting with potential committee members, the committee
membership (see Attachment B) has been finalized and 20 hours of general meetings have been
held since December. In addition to general committee meetings, subsets of the group have met
to discuss and prepare recommendations within specific categories. These subcommittees are as
follows:
■ Design -- The subcommittee reviewed the website from a graphic design and layout
perspective.
• Content — The subcommittee reviewed the relevance and substance of information
provided to users of the website.
• Information Architecture — The subcommittee evaluated the structure, organization and
search functionality of the information on the server.
■ Developer Coding & Technology — The subcommittee assessed the use of technology on
the website.
• Marketing & AnaIytics --- The subcommittee considered the website's user statistics and
future roadmap.
The Committee has met with Civica, the web development contractor, to discuss the structure of
the current website and to understand how the Committee's priorities and changes would need to
be incorporated into a work plan.
The entire Committee also reviewed the beta version of the upcoming utility customer billing
website which is part of the new utilities SAP system. Specific suggestions from the Committee,
where possible, have been incorporated into the beta version that will be launched to the public
in June,
DISCUSSION
The City of Palo Alto is committed to continuing improvements to its Internet presence as a vital
source of ,,riformation for those within the community, as well as the face of Palo Alto for
everyone. ?The Website Advisory Committee has been meeting over the past four months both to
evaluate the current City website and to evaluate potential solutions to user complaints and to
envision ways to further enhance the capabilities of the website to meet the needs of the
community.
CMR: 246:09 Page 2 of 5
The team has developed a set of recommended priorities. The recommendations have been
prioritized into three "buckets" and a "parking lot" —user feedback as well as existing web traffic
data has been taken into consideration in categorizing the recommendations.
The first bucket of recommendations contains high visibility, short-term items that can be
addressed by staff, volunteers, or are within the scope of the current Civica contract (which does
not require undergoing a new bidding process or contract revisions). These items add enhanced
functionality to the website and improve the user experience. Staff expects to accomplish the
recommendations in bucket one within three months with the assistance of members of the
website committee. A condensed list of the bucket one. recommendations is shown in the table
below. The full list of recommendations and current status is provided in Attachment A.
Item
Number
Area Addressed
Recommendation Description
Comments/Status
1
Release Roadmap
Need for a planning tool to map
out phases for long-term web
development
Initiated phase one with the website
committee plan; future phases will be
addressed in the IT Strategic Plan
2
Launch Plan
Need process for moving from
development to production
Initiated an incremental process for revising
the website; launch to be considered
3
Index/Site Map
Pages
Information is too hard to find;
need an enhanced index and
site map
1) The committee will provide a site map
design for 4 -column layout; 2) automating
the new site map may become a bucket 2
item, since Civica will need to be involved
4
Links Elevation
Elevate top viewed pages to
home page especially those in
"departments" and change to
drop down menu on home
page.
Will be addressed with additional input from
the website committee
5
Search Box in
Banner
Missing sophisticated search
capability
Initiated. Search within search capability
added; additional modifications will be
discussed with the website committee.
6
Color and
Contrast
Low color contrast between the
text and the background makes
it difficult to read
Final decision needed, but most likely the
direction will be to have black text on a
white background.
7
Font Size
Font size is too small
Final decision needed on specific font sizes,
but the goal is to increase font sizes
8
e -Government
tools (making
payments online,
filing police
reports online,
etc.)
Expand opportunities to create
online access to services and
facilitate transactions
Initiated. Utilities online bill pay added in
May. Additional changes are needed to
enhance the organization of online options
on the page. The IT Strategic Plan will
layout a plan for additional e -Government
tools.
9
/
Education
Information
Missing information on
schools, university, other
educational institutions
Initiated. Additional work w/Committee
needed. .
10
Health
organizations and
facilities
information
Missing information on health
organizations and facilities
Initiated. Additional work w/Committee
needed
CMR: 246:09
Page 3 of 5
11
Volunteer
Information
Potential opportunity to list
ongoing volunteer opportunities
in Palo Alto
Initiated. Additional work w/Committee
needed
12
Contact List
Phone directory on homepage
and contact us
Initiated. Phone directory link is on the
home page and the link will be added to the
contact us page
13
Council Page
Streamline access to bios with
direct link from pictures
To be completed.
The second bucket of recommendations, while important, requires further analysis and
discussion thereby necessitating more time to design and implement than the first group of
priorities. These include non -governmental content (e.g., entertainment, business, K-12
activities, organizations); nomenclature of uploaded documents; further data clean-up and
standardization; enhancing the use of user statistics; and improving layout and aesthetics.
The third bucket contains items that require more time or logically occur after other workflow
items; these create additional functionality such as Web 2.0 capabilities and better site tracking.
Some of these issues are tied to user feedback and data analysis, but are mentioned less
frequently and have less impact than some of the other items in the first two groups. These items
could incur further costs and resources.
The parking lot is a list of improvements that has less visible impact on the local community, but
would be beneficial in cleaning up data, tracking more detailed usage patterns on the website,
and reaching out to the extended web community.
Staff expects to return to the City Council in the fall or earlier with a timeline and plan for
addressing items contained in bucket two and three as well as with an update on the
implementation of bucket 1 recommendations.
RESOURCE IMPACT
Many of the recommendations for improving the website can be accomplished with current
resources. These items are in bucket one. Other recommendations contained in buckets two and
three may require funding commitments. As part of the Information Technology Strategic Plan,
due in 2009-10, staff will identify needed funding for website improvements along with other
City technology initiatives.
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
The recommendations included in this report will be incorporated into the upcoming information
technology strategic plan that is planned to be presented to Council in 2009-10.
1
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This is not' considered a project under California Public Resources Code Section 21065
(CaliforniiEnvironmental Quality Act).
CMR: 246:09 Page 4 of 5
PREPARED BY:
DAVID RAMBERG
Assistant Director,
Administrative Services
DEPARTMENT HEAD:
LALO PEREZ
Director, Administrative Services
CITY MANAGER APPROVAL:
JAMES NE
City Ma
LILA YOUN
Management Fellow
ATTACHMENT
Attachment A: Website Advisory Committee Recommendations, Full List
Attachment B: Website Advisory Committee Members
CMR: 246:09 Page 5 of 5
Attachment A
Website Advisory Committee
Full List of Recommendations
Bucket
Item
Number
Area Addressed
Recommendation Description
Comments/Status
Sub -Committee
'i. .
cs,
m
1
Release Roadma p
-
Need for a planning tool to map out
phases for long-term web development
Initiated phase one with the websile
committee plan; future phases will
be addressed in the IT Strategic
Plan
Marketing & Analytics
2
Launch Plan
Need process for moving from
development to production
Initiated an incremental process for
revising the website; launch to be
considered
Marketing & Analytics
3
Index✓Site Map Pages
Information is too hard to find; need an
enhanced index and site map
1) The committee will provide a site
map design for 4 -column layout; 2)
automating the new site map may
become a bucket 2 item, since
Civica will need to be involved
Design
4
Links elevation
Elevate top viewed pages to home page
especially those in "departments" and
change to drop down menu on home
page -
Will be addressed with additional .
Input from the_website committee
Marketing & Analytics
5
Search Box in Banner
Missing sophisticated search capability
Initiated.' Search within search
capability added; additional
modifications will be discussed with
the websile committee.
Design
6
Color and Contrast
Low color contrast between the text and
the background makes it difficult to read
Final decision needed, but most
likely the direction will be to have
black text on a white background.
Design
7
Font Size
Font size is too small
Final decision needed on specific
font sizes with the goal to increase
font sizes overall.
Design
8
e -Government tools
(making payments
online, filing police
reports online, etc.)
Expand opportunities 10 create online
access to services and facilitate
transactions
Initiated. Utilities online bill pay
added in May. Additional changes
are needed to enhance the
organization of online options on the
page. The IT Strategic Plan will
layout a plan for additional e -
Government tools.
Developer Coding &
Technology
9
Education information
Missing information on schools,
university, other educational Institutions
Initiated. Additional work
w/Committee needed.
Content
10
Health organizations
and facilities
andf
information
Missing information on health
organizations and facilities
Initiated. Additional work
w/Committee needed.
Content
11
Volunteer Information
Potential opportunity to list ongoing
volunteer opportunities in Palo Alto
Initiated. Additional work.
w/Committee needed
Content
12
Contact List
Phone directory on homepage and
contact us
Initiated. Phone directory link is on
the home page and the link will be
added to the contact us page
Full Committee
13
ouncil Page
Streamline access to bios with direct link
from pictures
Initiated. Phone directory link is on
the home page and the link will be
added to the contact us page
Content
14
Information Order
Information should be presented logically
dependent on its type
To be completed -
Design
15
Entertainment
Missing information on Restaurants,
Theaters, events etc.
Need to be evaluated for policy
considerations.
Content
16
Visitors
Add link from visitors section to the new
"Destination Palo Alto Visitor's Guide"
To be completed
Content
Page 1 of 4
Attachment A
Website Advisory Committee
Full List of Recommendations
Bucket
Item
Number
Area Addressed
Recommendation Description
Comments/Status
Sub -Committee
Bucket 2
17
PDF File Names
All PDF file names should use consistent
format for naming (descriptive title plus
date, etc.)
To be completed
Content
18
Usable PDFs
Searchable, smaller, accessible PDFs
To be completed
Information Architecture
19
• Enhanced
Parks
parks section — each park
listed, specific services/amenities
provided for each
To be initiated with coordinating
department
Content
20
Neighborhoods
Update Palo Alto neighborhoods -- need
page/section to highlight neighborhood
programs and maps, and content should
be enhanced.
To be evaluated
Content
21
Cost/Benefit Metrics
Perform cost/benefit analysis of switch,
from WebTrends to Google Analytics
Completed. The City now runs
Google Analytics.
Marketing & Analytics
22
Emergency
Preparedness
Enhance emergency preparedness
section
To be completed
Content
23
K-12 camp activities
Potential to list activities offered by
Stanford, local schools and 3rd parties
To be evaluated
Content
24
Business
Business in PA, click on available
property, get brought to white page with
white type on it (illegible), then must re-
type same. Information again on following
website
Completed
Content
25
Organization Chart
Add city org chart — hierarchical text with
links to department website pages
To be completed
Content
26
Trail Information
Enhance trail information with maps and
pictures.
To be initiated with coordinating
department
Content
27
Search Box
Search box should be on every page of
the site
Completed
Content
28
Content Organization
•
Need to organize content by user needs
rather than just city departmental
organization
To be completed
Design
29
Page Layout
Wasted and misused space on pages
To be completed
Design
30
Primary Navigation
Potential to use navigation tabs or items
with sticky drop down rnenus
To be completed
Design
31
Visual Element in
Banner
Need visual element representing the Cily
of Palo Alto in banner
To be completed
Design
32
Redo CPA in Banner
Wasted space by oversized "City of Palo
Alto" name, and no branding logo
To be completed
Design
33
Popular PDF Docs
Technical solution needed to Identify
which PDF documents are
viewed/downloaded
To be evaluated with vendor
- Marketing & Analytics
34
/
Inside/Outside
Clearly identify internal and external IP
addresses and develop monitoring
system
initiated
Marketing & Analytics
35
.a
f lice Redundancy
1
Combine police home and police
information pages
To be initialed with coordinating
department
Marketing & Analytics
36
What's Our Name
Consolidate 3 legacy home page URLs to
show up as main hornepage in Google
Analytics
Completed
Marketing & Analytics
37
Cookies
Analysis of how cookies are used on the
site and how Google Analytics identifies
new and returning visitors.
To be completed
Marketing & Analytics
38
High Interest Short Life
Design updateable area of home page for
high interest documents such as courses
which have short shelf life
Initiated
Marketing & Analytics
Page 2 of 4
Attachment A
Website Advisory Committee
Full List of Recommendations
Bucket
Item
Number
Area Addressed
Recommendation Description
Comments/Status
Sub -Committee
Buc�cef.3 .
39
Live webcam feeds
Potential use of webcams to bring
pertinent up-to-date visual information to
citizens
Initiated by department. Creek cam
and Fire Station 8 cam
Implemented. Need to evaluate
additional use of webcams.
Developer Coding &
Technology
40
Virtual meaningful
URLs
Allows useful bookmarks, and URLs for
virtual dynamic web pages
Initiated
Information Architecture
41
Public Works Projects
Add public works and utilities projects
update page — some sort of alert program
(or maintained webpage) to notify
residents of street closures/detours due to
construction projects
To be initiated with coordinating
department
Content
42
Metadata Content
Standards
Metadata standards needed for project
"Structured Metadata in Keywords field"
above
Initiated
Content
43
Search and Access
Encode existing webslte with metadata
according to content standards. Support
search and access of website content
created since launch of new website
Initiated
Content
44
Fix Download
Filenames
Need for easily -identifiable filenames;
Useful also for project "Virtual Meaningful
URLs" above
Initiated
Content
45
Minutes/Agendas
Minutes/agendas/reports links on City
Council pages should link directly to
Agendas page, not to interim
"minutes/agendas/reports" page that
doesn't include the actual documents
To be initiated with coordinating
department
Content
46
Employee Directory
Add employee directory — this used to be
on the old PA website (indexed by last
name and department)
To be evaluated
Content
47
Creek Monitor
Add creek monitor archived data to the
website
To be evaluated
Content
48
Selectable Font Size
No easy way to change font slze
To be completed
Design
49
Explore use of Web 2.0
technologies
Lack of interactivity and modern
technologies that epitomize Palo Alto
To be completed
Developer Coding &
Technology
50
Easy and quick page
access
Every page should be accessed within 2
seconds
To be completed
Developer Coding &
Technology
51
User login
Potential for Web 2.0, personalized
access with settings tailored to
individualized interests
Initiated with recent launch of new
utility customer account access and
bill pay. Additional applications to
be evaluated.
Developer Coding &
Technology
52
Structured Metadata in
Keywords`field
Improve Search by creating systematic
structured metadata
Initiated
Information Architecture
-
53
Search of structured
.a
r tadata
Adopt lexicon support to translate external
search terms to internal metadata
encodings
Initiated
Information Architecture
54
Virtual dynamic web
pages
Supports a web page listing all the reports
and attachments for a meeting, or a web
page listing all documents associated with
a property address across all bodies, or
all documents associated with a topic
across all bodies. Allows easier
repurposing of content for multiple uses
Initiated
Information Architecture
55
Links removal
Remove rarely used links on landing
To be completed
Marketing & Analytics
Page 3 of 4
Attachment A
Website Advisory Committee
Full List of Recommendations
Bucket
Item
Number
Area Addressed
Recommendation Description
Comments/Status
Sub -Committee
56
Business Practices
Ensure that timely updating of most
popular pages is standard operation
procedure in those departments
To be completed
Marketing & Analytics
57
Dashboard
Develop Dashboard [for websile "health"]
which Is shared across all departments
and Executive levels once/month
Initiated
Marketing & Analytics
58
Metrics Decision
Making
Metrics Based Design decision -making to
be able to explain to stakeholders
why/why not their page is not on landing
page or persistent links
To be evaluated
Marketing & Analytics
59
Google Search
Allow Internal Google search terms to be
ported to Web Trends
Not applicable now that the City is
no longer using Web Trends
Marketing & Analytics
60
Searchable PDFs
Key historical PDFs made searchable
To be completed
61
Marketing Plan
Need Strategy and Tactics for increasing
visibility and community/press acceptance
City coordination process
discussion needed
Marketing & Analytics
62
Revised Homepage
Revised homepage; (i.e. rotating pictures
in banner, etc,)
To be completed with other
homepage enhancements
Full Committee
o
-J
co
rt
63
important Police and
safety news
Amber Alerts should be placed on the first
page
Process established to allow for
amber alerts on home page
Content
64
Printable web pages
Make web pages formated for easy
printing,
To be completed
Developer Coding &
Technology
65
Breadcrumb trail
Add navigation trail/breadcrumb trall to
header
To be evaluated with vendor
Content
66
Data Clean Up
One Time Data Scrub to identify data
anomalies, orphan pages, inconsistent
nomenclature, technical Issues, tagging
Issues, etc.
To be evaluated
Marketing & Analytics
67 Voting
Council Member
Record
Provide table of motions and how each
council member voted
Summary table to be evaluated,
Voting results exist in minutes.
Content
68
Navigation consistency
and ease
Inconsistencies in font, justification
(alignment); highlight active menu item;
remove "previous page" ; make
menulsubmenu fixed place (freeze pane)
as user scrolls down
To be evaluated with other
navigation recommendations.
Marketing 8, Analytics
69
Famous Palo Altans
Potential to list famous Palo Altans from
Palo Alto or currently residing in Palo Alto
To be evaluated
Content
Page 4 of 4
Attachment 13
WEBSITE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Community Volunteers:
Philippe Alexis, Mark Eden, Sheri Furman, Carol Gilbert, Bob Harrington, Lori Heyman,
Arthur Keller, Gary Lindgren, Sean Momeny, John Raftrey, Joe Villareal, Dave Voelker
Council Liaison:
Sid Espinosa, Council Member (former Council Liaison: Pat Burt, Council Member)
Staff:
James Keene, City Manager; Lalo Perez, Director of Administrative Services; David Ramberg,
Assistant Director of Administrative Services; Glenn Loo, Chief Information Officer; Chris
Caravalho, Sr. Technologist; Kelly Morariu, Interim Deputy Manager; Linda CIerkson, Public
Communications Manager; Julia Pollard, Administrative Assistant; Lila Youn, Management
Fellow
rress iwiease
ATTACHMENT B
Page 1 of 2
C
T
09/10/2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ALO ALTO
Press
Release
The City of Palo Alto
Public Information Office
250 Hamilton Ave
Palo Alto, CA 94301
PRESS RELEASE #09/10/2009
Subject : First Phase of City of Palo Alto Website Improvements Is Released
Contact : David Ramberg, Assistant Director, Administrative Services Department 650-329-2634
Palo Alto, CA —Today, the City of Palo Alto Information Technology (IT) staff and the volunteer Website
Advisory Committee are pleased to announce the release of the first in a series of phased updates to the City
Website at http://www.citvofpaloalto.orci/
The joint venture between City staff and community volunteers began last Fall as part of the City's ongoing
commitment to improve the City Website, while meeting the City Council's priority for civic engagement. A
dozen volunteers with expertise in Web design, management, analysis, content and more rose to the
challenge. The primary goal was to address concerns raised bycitizens as well as enhance the overall Website
user experience. This committee reviewed input from the community, "best practices" established by leading
Web authorities, input from internal City providers and a myriad of ideas proposed from within the group.
"The collaboration between staff and the Website Advisory Committee has been an example of effective civic
engagement," said James Keene, City Manager. "Now the City needs to deliver. Today's release is the first of
many steps forward."
The list of recommendations, along with an implementation plan, was presented to the City Council by the
committee. The enhancements to the website include the changes approved by Council on May 18, known as
the "Bucket 1" changes (CMR:246:09). The process of turning on the updated site will have minimal, if any,
impact on site availability.
The recommendations focused on improving the user experience and ensuring that the site is compatible with
rapidly changing technologies. The seventy or more suggestions were organized into phases. This current
release is comprised of adjustments with high visibility that could be accomplished by the volunteers and City
staff. It is important that the work be compatible with the City's current contract with Civica so that there are
no additional charges to the City. The most notable among these improvements are the following:
• Website Color -- The colors have been changed to work against a white background. This improves the
site's readability by providing more contrast.
• Font Size -- The minimum font size on the Website has been increased to improve readability.
• Home Page Revisions -- Featured content has been reorganized into four primary lists: What's New, City
Government, Other Resources, and This Month in Palo Alto.
• 3 -Column Usage — Home page space is used more efficiently for items of importance available with less
scrolling.
• Drop Down Menu — A drop down menu has been added to the top right portion of the homepage. It is
titled Quick Links and it gives users better access to key information. The list of links corresponds with
the most popular pages viewed, according to our statistics.
• Index — The index pages have been substantially revised to provide users with more efficient, accurate
access to information on the site. The link can now be found at the bottom of each page, listed as A -Z
Index.
http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/civica/press/display.asp?layout=1 &Entry=467 2/25/2010
Press Release Page 2 of 2
• Search Box in Banner — The search box has been made more accessible by including it in the top
banner on all pages.
Some other accomplishments accrued during this period as well. The committee served to critique new on-line
Utility customer billing functions. The City followed the committee's recommendation to switch from
WebTrends to the free Google Analytics tool for analysis of Website metrics. This single act saves the City
$5,000 annually. A complete Site Map was plotted down through many levels. Many broken and stale links
were eliminated.
"1 would like to thankfully acknowledge the members of the Website Committee for their extended
commitment of time and energy to making improvements to the City's website, "said Lalo Perez, Director of
Administrative Services. "These dedicated volunteers gave willingly of their time and expertise to make
enhancements to the user experience with our website," he added.
The City staff and the volunteers continue to work on improving search functions and adding more information
on Family Resource pages. Plans for subsequent phases are currently being scoped out. These phases of
improvements include non -governmental content (e.g., entertainment; business; K-12 activities; and
organizations), nomenclature of uploaded documents, further data clean-up and standardization, enhancement
of the application of user statistics, and improvement of layout and aesthetics. The plan far the longer -term
changes, "Buckets 2-3," will be outlined in a report to Council in the Fail.
Volunteer Carol Gilbert looks at it this way, "A City whose residents have as much technical expertise as Palo
Alto should be tapping into. it. We've had a good time and given something back to the City. Active
participation is the best example of citizenship anyone can demonstrate."
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http://www.cityafpaloalto.org/civicalpress/display.asp?layout=l &Entry=467 2/25/2010