Should Alexandria Put a Priority on Building a New Website?

Over the last several years, some members of Alexandria City Council—most notably Councilman Paul Smedberg—have expressed concerns that the city’s website is clunky and difficult to navigate. It’s an issue speakers at council hearings have also addressed from time to time.

Just to the north of the city, Arlington County is in the process of building a new website with a version of WordPress that it hopes to launch by the end of the year, according to ARLnow.

Arlington officials believe the open-source content management system will reduce the costs of upkeep and development, make it easier for county employees to update pages and improve navigation.

“We’re trying to make it more resident-focused, as opposed to county hierarchy-focused,” Arlington County spokesperson Jennifer K. Smith told ARLnow. “We’re pretty excited. I think it’s going to be a positive change.”

Tony Castrilli, Alexandria’s Director of Communications, said the city is beginning to assemble a plan for an overhaul and will hopefully soon begin working toward a new site.

Castrilli said there’s currently a “Google-type” trend in municipal websites that contain simple search interfaces and a more streamlined design. He cited sites for Seattle and Austin, Texas, as examples.

That’s a direction Alexandria may take, but planning is still in the early stages—and then there’s the matter or financing the construction of a new website.

In the meantime, Castrilli says Alexandria continues making improvements to its site, which launched in its current version about three years ago.

“It’s constantly being improved to make it more user-friendly,” Castrilli said. “We make improvements when we need to and whenever there’s a community need.”

Earlier this year, Alexandria launched a new customer service initiative on its website called “Call.Click.Connect.” designed to help the city respond more efficiently to requests for information and services from residents and the public.

“It has been our most significant upgrade for community problem solving,” Castrilli said. 

Last year, the city conducted a survey about its current website that received more than 1,000 responses. More than 60 percent of respondents strongly agreed or somewhat agreed that the site is well-organized and easy to use. More than 75 percent said they were very satisfied or somewhat satisifed with their ability to find what they're looking for on the site. A large majority of respondents said the site is visually appealing.    

The city launched a new mobile version of its site in March 2012. Six months prior to that, the city debuted a calendar feature on the site’s home page built by city employees that Alexandria Communications Director Tony Castrilli said received “positive reviews.”

Should Alexandria put a priority on building a new website? Let us know in the comments.