City Website Redesigned with Mobile Devices in Mind

A revamped website for the City of Annapolis launched this week, offering speedy access to city information for those on mobile devices.

City spokeswoman Rhonda Wardlaw said a growing contingent of the website's visitors aren't sitting behind a desk, they're on their phones.

"We did analytics of our visitors and learned that one in every four people visiting our site were from a mobile device," Wardlaw said. "So we knew we needed a site that would look good on mobile devices."

The city's webmaster Inna Young had been working on the redesign project for well over a year before unveiling the design online Monday. The new site boasts a "responsive Web design," which means that whatever device you're viewing the city's website from, the pages will be formatted for your screen.

To facilitate mobile users, large icons on the site now give thumbs a bigger target to click on, instead of having to hunt down a text link, Wardlaw said. The links take visitors to major hubs of activity on the site, including information on parking downtown, reporting a codes violation, access to the city's videos and more.

Wardlaw also hinted at new features being worked on at City Hall that will be added to the site in the future, including a "live" way to check how many parking spots are available at the city's parking garages.

Wardlaw said they are still in a "soft launch" phase, during which they'll be incorporating advice from site visitors.

Take a look around the city's new website yourself.  Have something you'd like to see on the site? Let the designers at City Hall know.