This is the first installment of a new series I am publishing every Monday, called “IF Online”. Each article will examine an aspect of our Idaho Falls area that has an online presence. The series will run at least four weeks.
This week I will suggest improvements to our official city website. A previous article also groused about the need for the city to redesign their website. I really liked the link to a proposed White House website redesign, which has some great advice our city could use in their own redesign.
Here are my top suggestions for redesign improvements to the city website:
#1 RSS Feeds
RSS feeds for announcements and updates. I would love to get automatic notices of city council meetings minutes, current news, job openings, etc. RSS is about a five-year old technology, most websites (even blogs like this) offer them now. The city really needs to catch up with an RSS feed.
#2 Faster Uploads
Speaking of the city council meetings minutes, I would like to see much faster publication of those minutes. Minutes are typically posted about two weeks after the meetings occur, which to me seems inordinately slow and unacceptable. I think the deadline should be the morning after a meeting, not later than noon.
#3 Podcast Meetings
The city needs to start podcasting the audio and video files from council meetings. They currently release an .mp3 audio recording, again usually two weeks after the fact. They only list the last recording at a time, not keeping any archives. If you research how to podcast, you find 90% of the work is selecting a topic and producing the audio file. Our city is already at the 90% finished mark, they just need to invest time and effort in the final 10% to get their audio and video files in an iTunes podcast-ready format.
Podcasting the files would broaden the audience by making it easier to subscribe and using already popular software.
#4 Secure Web Forms
Someone commented that the Idaho Falls Power page lacks a secure login connection for paying utility bills or fines online. Ummmm, I cannot believe that is an issue, and if I were mayor I would sic as many IT resources as possible to rectifying that ASAP. That is not only a major security hole, it indicates a lack of expertise with web security and carelessness. It is downright embarrassing.
#5 More Webcams
I love our greenbelt webcam, and the city should do more of them. Additional city webcam locations should include other greenbelt areas, Freeman/Tautphaus/Kate Curley/Pocket/Community Parks, the Taylor Crossing eagles sculpture, and the public library atrium. Maybe even an airport webcam pointing down the length of our local runway, showing planes taking off and landing all day and night.
It’s one thing to say you have these great places in the city, or to show pictures of these great places in the city, and it’s quite another thing to offer visitors live webcam views around our city.
#6 Aesthetic Relevance
I hate the current design scheme on the city website. I would much rather see a beautiful large picture of our actual water falls, with the main links at the top, and when you roll over the main links the sub-menus cascade down (as if “falling”, get it?) These sub-menus should be translucent to show through some of the background image, but also to provide a somewhat solid bed for the menu type to be read against. As far as design schemes, I would hope the city website designer would take a few moments to search for common visual elements of the “web 2.0″ fad most of the web is under now. Sure it will pass, but the site will look good until the next redesign is due.
#7 Graffiti Reporting
I wrote last May about Idaho Falls being in the grips of a graffiti rampage, and made some suggestions to combat the problem. One of them was the graffiti hotline, and an accompanying graffiti-reporting web form should be included on the city website.
#8 Mayor’s Hotline
If you have ever read the Boise Guardian blog, you have seen they publish a weekly transcript of the Mayor’s Hotline. I do not know the details of this, but it appears the Boise mayor has an answering machine setup for residents in city limits to call in suggestions or complaints. Those messages are apparently available for media outlets to publish, which is awesome for generating discussion on blogs like the Boise Guardian or IdahoFallz.com. A mayor’s hotline could give a greater voice to the citizens and alert our mayor to problems before they get blown out of proportion. The hotline messages could of course be published on the city website.
What improvements might you suggest to our official city website?
Next Monday’s installment of this “IF Online” series will feature local community websites.
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Gato got runned over by Marcus many moons ago. Be ye daft, 2486? 
Let's have a new poll, alright, Joe?
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{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
A few web cameras placed around the zoo would be great. In fact, having some zoo web cams feed into a local cable TV channel would, I think, be a good way to promote the zoo to visitors, plus give no small amount of enjoyment to the elderly and others who simply can not endure a visit to the zoo.
That is a killer idea.
Obviously Joe is thinking about marketing this as Idaho’s newest canned game farm for exotic animals…….
Like #1, though I might question the accuracy of the statement that “most web sites…offer (RSS feeds)”. I tend to visit sites with RSS feeds more, but only because I see in my browser that they’re updated.
#2 & #3, regarding the minutes and podcasts:
Minutes aren’t official until they’ve been approved. This usually happens at the subsequent meeting (I’ve only seen a couple of exceptions, at Larry Lyon’s request) which is why they’re not posted until 2 weeks after the meeting occurs.This seems reasonable to me, since the minutes are a summary by the Clerk, and Council members should have a chance to make sure their comments are accurately reflected/summarized before becoming an official document.
I suspect the .mp3s are delayed due to being posted at the same time as the minutes for the meeting. I don’t see any reason they can’t be posted the day after the meeting. They’re unofficial, and remain so, and they’re always incomplete since any written and visual material isn’t included.
While I don’t have anything against podcasting, I don’t know that it’s worth the effort. I suspect that, given the VERY few people who ever show up at an actual meeting, that there wouldn’t be more than a handful of subscriptions. It would make more of an impact if more people took the effort to show up in person, and, during the public input section of the agenda, explained their interest in listening to podcasts of the meetings.
#4: Is there something wrong with the current security of the site? I agree that would be troubling.
#5: Any idea what it would cost to add more web cams? I guess I don’t see that they’d be better than adding a lot more still shots of events and locations, but I’m certainly willing to be convinced. Wonder if one could get some idea of the benefit based on the experience of other cities. I’d also think it would be much more effective, if it’s primarily a tourism and economic development issue, to approach via partnering with the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and Chamber of Commerce.
#6: I’m not very aesthetically sophisticated, so I’ll just say what you wrote sounds good. My primary concern is that whatever is implemented be W3C standards-based. As a non-Windows-Internet-Explorer user, I don’t want my tax dollars spent on proprietary features that I can’t use.
I think the Mayor’s hotline and graffiti reporting line (#7 & #8) are a good idea. Here’s a little info on Boise’s Mayor’s hotline
#4: The browser bar should read https: for a secure connection, not http:
Go to any online banking website, Intermountain Gas, etc. At the login screen and throughout the session it should read https for security. Then go look at the IF Power site. It doesn’t appear at all. Even online companies such as Tigerdirect (also Verisign authenticated) have the secure https at the login screen.
What it means is that the credit card information is encrypted between the user’s computer and the host.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Https
“http: scheme normally used for accessing resources using HTTP.
Using an https: URL indicates that HTTP is to be used, but with a different default port (443) and an additional encryption/authentication layer between HTTP and TCP.”
I logged in to the utility account with my power bill and even to the point where I was to enter the credit card information I didn’t see anything that showed me it was a secure connection. No thanks.
John, thanks for excellent remarks as always.
I didn’t realize that about the minutes, and now that makes sense. Perhaps they could be posted with a disclaimer of “unofficial” until the next council meeting?
I have heard about the lack of citizens going to the meetings also. I think the reason is not so much apathy, but lack of ability. I am usually watching my kids in the evenings. I listen to every mp3 after it is published, though, so I can keep up with what’s going on.
From what I’ve researched, the hardest part of setting up their MP3’s in podcast format would be the initial run. After that it gets much easier and automated.
Plus, it just would make the city look that much more technologically “with it” to visitors if they see an iTunes subscribe button on the first page of the city site. It would help that first impressions thing.
From what I saw on the power site, there was no https and no padlock icon. I don’t claim to be an online security expert, but EVERYTHING I have always heard about online security hinges on both of those items. I would not feel secure inputting my information there, either.
For the webcams, I figured if the city has already cleared the hurdle of one cam, it shouldn’t be too difficult to install more.
The webcams should be decided with the criteria of a view that changes throughout the day, which would make it nicer for visitors.
Yes, W3C standards are the web developer’s bible, and the city must stick to them as much as possible.
Thanks for the Boise Mayor’s hotline info, great stuff.
I guess another suggestion would be to assign the redesign committee members to search for other city websites and make a list of features they would like to see on our own.
I logged in to the utility account with my power bill and even to the point where I was to enter the credit card information I didn’t see anything that showed me it was a secure connection. No thanks.
I agree that the lack of visual confirmation is bad. But I guess my question was whether there’s an actual security hole, or just a perceived one. The latter simply discourages use, the former would be disturbing.
I have auto-pay, and I usually don’t even open my bill, much less use the on-line feature, so I don’t have any first-hand knowledge.
My first perception is that it is a security hole. Is it really? Maybe, maybe not. It doesn’t look good to me, so I don’t trust it and I think that if IF wants to show it’s customers and citizens that this is a responsible city that is also looking out for the citizens interests and identities not just the city’s bottom line…….
Then the whole website needs to be updated and brought up to date, which is the reason Joe has brought this up.
Granted it could be worse…. Look at the Bonneville county website and see what you think.
http://www.co.bonneville.id.us/
Excuse me while I wretch over that Bonneville County site, it looks like the movie “it came from 1997!” Man am I a geek or what?!?
Perhaps the site is secure and those two visual cues just aren’t showing. But when security experts are always saying look for those two things above all else, it would seem the city should get those two things.
Autopay is the way to go; it would be nice if they promoted that more also with a big graphic and promotion.
I knew you would like the county website. They don’t even have contact information for the county building department on that site.
Here’s a shameless plug, but hey it relates to the point about the Power site not offering the two visual security mechanisms.
If you click on either “Paypal” donation button at the end of our middle column, you’ll quickly notice there is both an https: and a padlock icon in your browser.
Why doesn’t the Power website offer this?
I just found improvement suggestion #9:
There’s a page that offers current construction projects around the city, the only one today was the Airport parking lot, you lick on ‘View Map’, and a very ugly page loads and gives me an error, no display.
http://www.ci.idaho-falls.id.us/main/index2.asp?PageId=1478
Suggestion? Simplify it with a PDF instead of making visitors load up your wacky GIS viewer that does not even work.
Regarding map: Allow popups
guest: regarding map: Allowing popups are not working on both my home and work computers.
I stand by my original complaint that it does not work.
First of all, other sites can program a message that tells you to enable popups, but at this city site we get the error message:
[ERR2106] User specified SQL clause is invalid. WHERE string is: #ID# = ???
Uhhhh, I just wanted to look at the construction map?
Second, I checked my Firefox script blocker to ensure it is allowing scripts on that site. I’m allowing city site scripts to execute fully, and I get that error message.
Third, I viewed the site in IE, and when I allowed popups on the site I actually received five error messages instead of one.
Nope, a simple PDF export from their GIS system is much simpler and user friendly than trying to get users to navigate their broken GIS system.
How much money did our city overspend on that broken feature?
Works for me, a PDF would not allow for queries. The web feature of the GIS system is an extremely small purpose of the cities GIS system. Please rest assured it was money well spent. No one really has much time to spend on the Web Site.
I am glad it works for you. I am bummed it has not worked for me at two locations.
Anyone else able to see the map at this site listed in comment #12?
For me, a PDF would be better. I could care less about queries. I just want to see a map and some information of the zone. When the link states “View Map” that is what I thought I would see.
I tried looking at that map using two different browsers, both with pop-ups enabled. It does not work for either browser.
Guest said: “Works for me, a PDF would not allow for queries. The web feature of the GIS system is an extremely small purpose of the cities GIS system. Please rest assured it was money well spent. No one really has much time to spend on the Web Site.”
What does that last sentence mean? Is there no city employee responsible for updating and assuring the usability of the website? Why even have a website if it’s a piece of crap that does not do what it is supposed to do?
Here’s a nice city website powered by the free WordPress that IFz runs:
http://primariamedias.ro/int/?lang=eng
Very beautiful, and easy navigation, ehh?
The blue corner banner reading “2007 versiunea” indicates they change the site layout and update features each year.
Here’s reasons why word press makes sense even for non-blog websites like a city website.
http://ifacethoughts.net/2007/06/24/wordpress-makes-sense-for-many-non-blog-websites/
So a year later what improvements have been made to our city’s website?
I think I read that IF Power realized their site was not communicating their security and they were working on changing that, but I don’t know if they did fix it.
Other than that, not a thing has changed on the city website. It looks outdated, and I think they should get a new URL, that cd.idahofalls.id.us thing does not roll off the tongue very easily.
Let’s have a tournament! (or at least an city website redesign competition)
I checked again and our city website is the same tired design from how many years ago now? It looks like it came from 1996!
Here’s a report on how users often rate their government websites. The top phrases are “organization-centric”, “confusing”, “complicated”, and “too many websites”. The least used phrases are “easy to search”, “simple to navigate”, “well managed”, “friendly”, and “participative”. I bet our city website would earn the same results!
http://giraffeforum.com/wordpress/2007/10/21/government-website-survey-from-organization-centric-to-citizen-centric/
Why is this important? Idaho Falls is booming, and the city website leads most search engine results. Our city is not doing us any favors when the first experience is through that junk website. A website redesign is not a huge deal. In fact if the city used the WordPress platform, redesigning annually would be no effort at all.
Here is a WordPress-powered site for the Wales secretary of state: http://www.walesoffice.gov.uk/
I think the city should do a site redesign contest. Put out their criteria and wants for their new site, give local designers a month to create a proposal, let the city pick a winner.
Sidenote: I also still don’t understand why our city does not use the friendly “idahofalls.gov” format instead of the “ci.idaho-falls.id.us/main/Index.asp” format which looks like some mainframe barfed it out.