Officials: We Need A More User-Friendly Website

The city's website today has some good qualities, but definitely needs an upgrade.

That is the consensus of the City Council reached at last night's work session as they discussed the new content management system and website the city plans to buy.

Carrie Spates, a user experience manager for Siteworx, the Reston, VA-based company the city has hired to build the new system, asked the council what they like and don't like about the current website.

"We are in the research phase," she said. "We're trying to understand perceptions and opinions of the site."

All the council members agreed that while the current website was loaded with information, it is not very "user-friendly."

"We need to have less mouse-clicks to get some information," said Councilman Henry Marraffa Jr.

"Navigation isn't as intuitive as it might be on our site," Councilman Mike Sesma added. "The information is there, but it can be frustrating if you can't find it in two or three clicks."

Councilman Ryan Spiegel may have summed it up best when he said, "The pure content is there, somewhere."

Councilwoman Cathy Drzyzgula added that the current homepage seems cluttered, and the various font sized can make it diffucult to scan for information.

The new site should have a more streamlined homepage, possibly using drop-down menus or roll-over text, Spiegel and Sesma suggested.

Spates said Siteworx has not done work for a local government before, but after posting a resident survey about the city's current website, she was overwhelmed with the response.

"It's been very much more than I expected," she said. "And it's only been a week."

There have been about 175 responses to the survey so far, according to the city's Director of Communication Britta Monaco.

The current system—website and content management system that supports it—was created in-house in 1998.

The city has set aside for the new system and website, which is expected to be delivered after seven to 10 months.

The city received 13 bids for a new content management system (CMS) and website design work last October.

"The review committee narrowed the selection to 4 finalists and conducted product demonstrations. Based on the demonstrations, the committee determined that the Sitecore CMS was the best software to meet the City’s needs," staff reported to the Council.

But none of the finalists met the exact specifications of what the city was looking for, so City Manager Angel Jones told staff to end the request for proposals process and "direct negotiation in the best interest of the City was authorized."

The city ultimately chose Siteworx, Inc.