On June 11, the City of Tualatin unveiled an updated city website emphasizing enhanced accessibility.
“While no large technology project is ever completely finished on launch day, we’re excited to provide a more accessible, user-friendly experience for our community,” Tualatin Creative Communications and Marketing Programmer Heidi Stanely told Tualatin Life..
The new site includes various updates and a revamped look. Stanley explained that the redesign was designed with users in mind and said that the new features were intended to make navigation easier.
Key upgrades that Stanley mentioned were, “Improved search functionality, a more intuitive navigation structure, better accessibility features that support a wider range of users, improved service and department pages, faster access to frequently requested information and a modern platform that allows us to continue improving the website over time.”
While the most obvious alteration is the website’s new look, users will find that many pages have been relocated and compiled into different layouts. Stanley told Tualatin Life that “lost pages” that are still receiving traffic from web browsers should be antiquated as search engines adapt to the new website’s geography.
“When a website undergoes a major redesign, page locations often change as content is reorganized to improve navigation and usability,” Stanley said. “Although we’ve implemented redirects and worked to preserve access to existing content, some older links may no longer point directly to the correct page. Search engines also need time to crawl, index, and understand the new website structure.”
Tualatin originally launched its first website in 2007, which was updated in 2012 and then again in 2015.
“A new, more robust website was launched in 2012, and a substantial refresh of content occurred in 2015,” Stanley said. “With this month’s launch, we are updating the design for the first time since 2012 and substantially updating content for the first time since 2015.”
Tualatin worked with website design company Juicebox Interactive, and over the course of two years, according to Stanely, city staff collaborated with the hired designers on the ideas that would power the new site.
“The website redesign was a multi-phase project that took about two years of planning, content review, design, development, testing, and training,” Stanley said. “A significant amount of time was spent reviewing existing content, reorganizing information, improving accessibility, and ensuring the new site would better serve residents and businesses. Staff from across the organization contributed throughout the process.”
To browse the new city website and check out updates, visit tualatinoregon.gov.
