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December 07, 2007
Plan Websites
Okay, it's that time of the year again when we rank order the Best of 2007 Local General Plan Websites.
I know what you're thinking - who cares? Well, I apparently do.
This year the nominees are Butte County, City of Chico, City of Gridley, and City of Oroville.
My evaluation criteria is based on:
Design - How easy is the website design and layout on the eyes?
Access - Can you find what you're looking for easily?
Interaction - Does the website invite people to take action, participate, or share information?
My scoring system is as follows:
1 = Huh?
2 = Could Have Been Worse/Not Too Shabby
3 = Excellent
Here's my rundown:
Butte County
Design = 1
Access = 1
Interaction = 2
Summary: I don't know where to begin looking. I develop a headache just looking at the website. There are tons of information links, but hard to focus on any area. There's an interactive discussion forum, but it requires registration.
City of Chico
Design = 3
Access = 2
Interaction = 1
Summary: This website is easy on the eyes. Information and highlights are organized properly. By the way, the first City of Chico General Plan community meeting is tomorrow on December 8 from 10-noon at Manzanita Place.
City of Gridley
Design = 3
Access = 2
Interaction = 2
Summary: Given my scores above, I'd say this website is not too shabby. It could have been worse.
City of Oroville
Design = 1
Access = 1
Interaction = 1
Summary: Someone tell me how this website invites the average person to peruse and find information.
Given the mediocrity of many of these websites, I would encourage the citizens serving on the various General Plan Advisory Committees to encourage their consultants and staff to create better designed websites.
These websites serve as important communication tools to the public, while also providing the public access to all documents.
They should be viewed from the perspective of the average citizen trying to understand the General Plan process, what it means to them, how to get involved, and how to access information.
Today's Scrabble word is mycosis, or a fungal disease.
Posted by dan_nt at December 7, 2007 12:00 AM
Comments
Hi Dan!
I'd give the Butte County site a better review.
They are much further along in the process; therefore they have amassed a ton of information. As these things typically do.
I think that they’ve done a very good job of getting the information there quickly. I've been at surprised how quick.
Indexing it all does become a bit of a problem. EG: In their “e-binder” they choose list items/files chronologically. Chronologically is the worst form of indexing – except all the others that they could have used :-)
Posted by: Mark Sorensen at December 7, 2007 08:48 AM
Ah, the eye of the beholder...I figure there would be divergent views on these websites. Maybe I am overly critical of the Butte County General Plan website.
But I find the homepage is too busy with at least 7 or 8 main areas to assess before figuring out where to go.
You're right that Butte County is further along with its General Plan process so there are more documents and information. This is why it's important to better organize the website navigation and design to simplify the user experience.
Indexing documents and information by chronology (meeting per meeting) is one way of organizing, but it would also be good to index by relevant subject matters.
The City of Oroville General Plan website is the worst since it's only a chronological index with file/meeting names and dates that make no sense of the average citizen. If I want to learn about X subject, then I have to review every meeting document from start to finish?
It would be interesting to have a professional website designer offer his or her perspective on ways to redesign these websites to make them more user-friendly to the average citizen.
Posted by: dan_nt at December 7, 2007 09:13 AM
I'll grant you that it is not a particularly snappy, wiz-bang layout.
It is highly unlikely to win any web design awards.
It looks pretty Spartan & utilitarian.
And it looks like it is designed to be fast and easy for “anyone” with little training or effort to add, delete, edit and maintain the content.... So easy, that even I could do it :-)
Posted by: Mark Sorensen at December 7, 2007 09:24 AM
Lets add cost to the score!
Posted by: kl at December 8, 2007 03:28 PM