City Redesigns Website

BrocktonPost
BROCKTON--From the Mayor's Office:
If you have been on the City of Brockton's website lately, you'll see that it has been redesigned--a move that sprung from complaints by residents and a task force Mayor Linda Balzotti formed shortly after taking office.
“The redesign of the municipal web site will be an asset not only to residents of Brockton, but also those looking to learn about the community,” Balzotti said in a prepared statement.
Revamping the city’s web presence stemmed directly from a commitment made by Balzotti during the 2009 mayoral campaign, and recommendations made by the Economic Growth and Development Task Force Balzotti formed last winter.
The task force cited design standards, cumbersome navigation, and infrequent updating of content as key obstacles regarding the site.
Working from those comments, staff from the city’s Information Technology Department and mayor’s office worked to create a new design template, and organize and update information listed on the site.
“This was a collaborative process that has made the city’s web presence more effective,” said William Santos, director of information technology.
During the five-month development stage, input for what should be included on the site was sought from every city department.
Text was updated to reflect the current services provided by city departments and agencies and new content was added.
“Our goal was to redesign the site so that it was not only pleasant to look at, but easy to use and contained useful information,”Balzotti said.
The new site will also have an e-mail newsletter sign-up function that will allow the city to inform subscribers of important information regarding events or provide notifications in case of emergencies.