Learn how the city of Syracuse is redesigning its website and digital content to better deliver information, city self-services, and engage the public.
Survey: We Need Your Input
Background
The City of Syracuse website at syrgov.net has been the city's primary tool for public communication for nearly 13 years. The City website is the most important tool for delivering information and services to residents and members of the community. As technology to communicate with residents and deliver City services is evolving, Mayor Walsh prioritized updating the city's premier public-facing engagement tool. The City’s public facing website and all 6,600 indexed pages were built on an outdated content management system that is incompatible with the best ways to deliver government services. The website was built in 2008 on the Ektron content management system and at the start of the project (2019) received approximately 34,000 visits per month with 35% of visitors accessing syrgov.net from a mobile phone although the site is not mobile responsive. The existing site uses deprecated HTML rules, cannot integrate with evolving web-based solutions, and is unable to assist the City in providing high-quality customer service that meets a city with elevated expectations from City government.
As the City sought out to reimagine syrgov.net for constituents and city staff, the Syracuse Common Council approved open Cities to be its partner in creating a website that is an improvement in design, functionality, user-navigation and user-experience. The new website, when completed, will help the City realize a true altitude of high-quality delivery of City services and digital citizen engagement.
The Process
The City's website redesign project has been a significant step in the city's overall digital transformation. The project is based on best practices for digital services, user input, research and testing. The goals of the project are to:
- improve the city's digital brand and online presence;
- be user-centered and service-driven;
- use intuitive design and be easier to use;
- be more efficient for staff to update;
- be modern and visually engaging; and
- utilize user research and input.