Above: The Town’s online interface has a new look and enhanced functionality.
The Town of Southborough successfully launched its new website Monday. It’s more than just a fresh look. The new layout is geared to act as a Virtual Town Hall.*
The site is much easier to navigate than the old design. At a glance, the homepage offers easy access to town meetings, events, news and updates.
The page also sports a “Citizen Action Center” for clear access to online payments, Town Code, forms, meeting minutes, volunteer opportunities, and a sign up for alerts.
Currently, the E-Alert signup allows users to select one or more of the following: Urgent Town Alerts or news and announcements from the Board of Selectmen, Town Clerk, or the Town.
The redesigned site allows users to navigate based on what they want to do. Under the tab “I want to” subheads are broken down by Pay, Apply, and View. If you can’t find it at a glance, you can “Click here for more” to find almost anything under the alphabetic index.
Still can’t find what you’re looking for? An enhanced search engine allows users to filter keyword results by dates, departments/boards, and/or content type.
I’m impressed with the new layout and execution. (I did spot a couple of glitches and gaps. That’s to be expected in any new launch, and I’m sure they’re continuing to work on fixing issues and enhancing features.)
I’m also happy to see that their have been revisions since the Town solicited public feedback on their mockup this summer. That indicates it wasn’t an empty request.
So congratulations to all involved in the project – both employees and Municipal Technology Committee volunteers!
You can check out the new site at www.southboroughtown.com.
*This summer, the Town announced it’s intention to convert the website into Virtual Town Hall. And from what I’ve seen, the launched site seems consistent with that mission.
