Unorganized information leads to usability issues

Temple, Texas (December 6, 2007) “Our old website was going on seven years and it was starting to show,” said Shannon Gowan, Director of Communications for the City of Temple. “We had too much information on the homepage, which resulted in endless scrolling for our visitors.”

This method of organizing content isn’t necessarily wrong, but it does result in hard to find information and frustrated site visitors.

“We redesigned our website to make it less confusing and more user-friendly,” added Alan Deloera, Information Technology Director for the City of Temple, “And we ultimately chose CivicPlus to do so.”

New design funnels users to information

After partnering with CivicPlus, the nation’s leading authority on local government websites, the city went back to the basics and started with the site’s design.

“We had a specific design in mind and we were very adamant about what we wanted,” noted Gowan. “CivicPlus was able to produce

Studies have shown only 23% of website visitors’ scroll the first time they visit a homepage and only 17% scroll on interior pages.

Try to keep your landing pages short with all information and links “above the fold”.

“The CivicPlus content management system and abundance of modules has helped us better serve our citizens and keep our residents informed.”

Shannon Gowan

Director of Communications

City of Temple, Texas

the design we had envisioned and the results were a successful combination of design and functionality.”

Temple’s unique website design acts as a filter, quickly funneling visitors directly to the information they are looking for.

“The design has a specific purpose and that is to shorten the homepage while allowing visitors to easily navigate where they need to,” said Deloera.

Web-enabled features help to further organize content

Building upon the design and the city’s goal to better organize content, the city implemented numerous web-enabled features provided by CivicPlus. These include the Document Center, Online Forms and multiple Event Calendars. However, the feature that provides the most value to the city is their Notify Me feature.

“Notify Me offers a huge benefit to the city,” stated Gowan. “It allows us to keep in touch with our residents and keep them informed on city news.”

The Notify Me feature allows website visitors to subscribe to an unlimited number of e-mail lists and then automatically receive e-mails and updates from the city.

“Our new website’s design and structure better serves our citizens,” said Deloera. “Using the CivicPlus content management system we are now able to efficiently maintain the site. This keeps us on track to reaching our goal of consistently providing better service to our citizens.”

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To learn more about CivicPlus and how you can provide your community with a dynamic online resource, visit the CivicPlus website or contact:

Laura Munsch

Project Consultant
(Mid-West Region) munsch@civicplus.com

1-888-228-2233, ext. 216

April Hamilton

Project Consultant
(Eastern Region) hamilton@civicplus.com

1-888-228-2233, ext. 251

Ashley Fruechting

Project Consultant

(Western Region)

fruechting@civicplus.com

1-888-228-2233, ext. 266

CivicPlus is the industry leader in government websites, offering up-to-date technology and communication expertise to create easy-to-use, next-generation websites for organizations desiring to combine high-quality experience with non-stop online customer service.

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