City of Fairfax Debuts Sleek New Website

On Friday, the City of Fairfax debuted a brand-new website - the first time the City has done a major overhaul of its site in more than 10 years.

With large icons that run along the bottom of the page, the website aims to make finding essential info even easier for residents and visitors to the city, such as forms and documents, important City meetings, making payments for things such as utilities online, emergency information, and more.

The brand-new site "empowers users and City staff with its intuitive navigation, dynamic Web pages, striking design and advanced features for easier access to information and services," the City said in a news release.

Staff explained that the City’s Information Technology Department, with the help of Vision Internet, designed the new site with "advanced interactive components for navigating special types of content," such as calendars, emergency alerts, weather and traffic alerts, a community spotlight, directories, postings for jobs and request for proposals (RFPs), documents, and photo galleries.

Tools such as RSS feeds, Google Maps, bookmarks and share links also aim to improve the City’s communication and outreach, staff said. Users can also quickly access social media sites.

To improve efficiency for various City departments, staff members said the new site design also utilizes a new content management system that allows departments to easily manage individual content while preserving site consistency.

"The intuitive editor seamlessly incorporates text, images, documents and links for each department," the City's news release said.

Front and center on the homepage is a video message from Mayor Scott Silverthorne that welcomes visitors to the new site.

"The City Council and I believe in strong communication, which we are advancing through our public outreach meetings, public hearings, our social media and now through our first substantive relaunch of the City's website in over a decade," Mayor Silverthorne says in the video. "We're excited about this new website, and hope you will be as well."

Mayor Silverthorne welcomes feedback from citizens on the new website through e-mail at scott.silverthorne@fairfaxva.gov.

Visit the City's new website at www.fairfaxva.gov.


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