Yolo County unveils revamped website
Yolo County launched a new website design to increase accessibility and help residents find what they’re looking for.
“The county utilized website analytics and heatmapping to gauge the most popular content and services to help guide the redesign,” Yolo County Public Information Officer Jenny Tan said in a statement.
Items that have been added or revamped include:
• An accessibility app located on the right side of every page that assists users that have varying degrees of visual impairment or mobility issues. Users can increase contrast, cursor size, text size, spacing and can highlight links among other features.
• A ‘Service Finder’ app located in the top right corner that allows residents to filter and find the best option for their needs.
• A larger search bar located in the middle of the page that provides easier and faster access to information.
• An ‘I Want To’ tab on the right side of the main menu that links to the most popular pages and services on the county’s website.
The new site is also designed to work better on mobile devices. Previous forms will still be available, and bookmarks to access frequently visited pages will not change.
“By making it easier to access the information most often requested by users, the new web page will contribute to greater citizen involvement in government and improved service for residents of Yolo County,” stated Chairman of the Yolo County Board of Supervisors, Jim Provenza. “I appreciate the hard work of county staff in developing and completing this important project.”
In 2020, the County’s website averaged 560,000 views a month. Yolo County spent $12,100 on this revamp after a basic redesign credit of $8,000 was applied for four years of uninterrupted services by their website host, Granicus, Inc., a company that provides cloud-based solutions for government communications and website design, according to Tan’s statement.
The redesign has been in progress since early 2019, and was originally planned to release in mid-2020 however the coronavirus pandemic delayed the release until recently. The county collaborated with Granicus, Inc. and county staff through a Redesign Committee that included the following departments: County Administrator’s Office, Human Resources, Geographic Information Systems, Community Services, Child Support Services, Probation, Finance and the Health and Human Services Agency.