AUBURN — The city could present a new electronic face to the world after Labor Day when an updated Auburnmaine.org debuts.
City Manager Clinton Deschene said most of the design work updating the city’s website is complete and is being uploaded by city staff. He plans to reveal the website to city councilors by mid-August, giving them an opportunity to make last-minute changes.
“They’ll have their own logins so we can see how they are using it and how it looks,” Deschene said. “They can come back and say where they went and what they thought. We’ll let it go with the council and staff for a couple of weeks and then we’ll do a public release.”
Residents get their turn in September, when the new website goes live. Deschene said the city is keeping design details under wraps until then.
“We kind of want it to be a surprise,” Deschene said. “We want to build up a little anticipation, make people excited to see it working right. We don’t want to get it out too quick.”
The design of the city’s Auburnmaine.org website has not changed substantially since 2007. Councilors approved a redesign in 2011, part of the 2011-12 budget.
Deschene said local designers Clearpath Innovations have been working on the new website since then and began training staff in May.
“There is a lot of content,” Deschene said. “I’m trying to manage it a little bit. Websites are great, but you can overfill them. People like to get everything up there, and that’s great. But if you put too much and don’t organize it, they can get lost in all that.”
Deschene said he wants the website to be easy to navigate. It will include a redesigned mobile site for smartphone users and integrate the city’s ordinances.
“We have a great splash page, great introduction pages, it’s easy to use and very customer friendly,” he said. “I think people are going to be very impressed.”
City ordinances are now being tracked and linked through Municode.com, and Deschene said the new website should make use of that service extensively.
“When you get to the new website, it’s going to be very clear what it is,” he said. “The charter and ordinances will always be current and up to date, and I think even staff is going to find that useful. You won’t have to keep a hard copy. It’ll always be current.”
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