Website re-style
On September 10 we launched a re-styled www.richmond.gov.uk
Why did we make these changes?
The last significant update we undertook to our website was in June 2005. Since then the information and online services we offer has expanded. Many of our users have told us they prefer the convenience of doing things online. Our website gets around 150 000 visitors a month.
We are constantly trying to improve our service and around 18 months ago we began to feel that the old website was not reaching the demands and expectations of our users. So we started to ask people what they liked and disliked about our service. Apart from informal feedback from email and conversations with our users, we have collected over 1000 online surveys from people using our website.
What did we find out?
Apart from specific technical problems with applications, many of the problems people had included:
- Trouble finding information on our site using the site navigation
- Not being able to find online services such as the libraries catalog or planning applications
- Confusing or inaccurate search results
- The home page was not clear
- The look of the site was "tired"
The changes you see now are the result of 18 months of analysis based on what our customers have told us.
What changes did we make?
- We have changed the look of the website to give it a modern contemporary look and tried to reduce the clutter
- Redesigned the home page to highlight the scope of our online services and information
- Worked to make the navigation more consistent
- Expanded the My Richmond facility
- Increased the prominence of 'Do it online' links to online services on the site
- Redeveloped the search to be more intuitive and responsive
Tell us what you think!
Please tell us what you think about the new site, we are keen to know what you like and don't like. We can't promise that we'll reply or incorporate you suggestions, but we do take on feedback from our customers to make changes where practical.