Municipal Websites

[taylortbb]

How can a website be more accessable to people with disabilities?

Well, that's a big open-ended question. The simplest answer is: by following the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/ . Though the guidelines by themselves aren't a sure-fire way to get it right. Many of them are too open to interpretation, and unless one understands the assistive technologies being used it's easy to get them wrong. Screen readers (used by those with vision loss) are the most common technology that one has to keep in mind. Using a screen reader is a completely different way of experiencing the web. Websites are read from beginning to end, one can't take a look at the page as a whole like a visual user does. That overview experience is approximated through defined structure with headers, lists of links, etc. But headers is an example of where the Kitchener website gets it wrong. It's also important to use valid and semantically meaningful markup so that structure can be interpreted by assistive technology and then conveyed to the user. There's not a lot of people that can do it right, but most developers could learn it if they had the motivation; it's hardly impossible.

I should also say, it's not that the website is completely inaccessible. The issue is that it's not as good as it should be, or as good as the AODA information and communication standards require.

[Waterlooer]

Oh, I think I understand now

[David]

Well, that's a big open-ended question. The simplest answer is: by following the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/ . Though the guidelines by themselves aren't a sure-fire way to get it right. Many of them are too open to interpretation, and unless one understands the assistive technologies being used it's easy to get them wrong. Screen readers (used by those with vision loss) are the most common technology that one has to keep in mind. Using a screen reader is a completely different way of experiencing the web. Websites are read from beginning to end, one can't take a look at the page as a whole like a visual user does. That overview experience is approximated through defined structure with headers, lists of links, etc. But headers is an example of where the Kitchener website gets it wrong. It's also important to use valid and semantically meaningful markup so that structure can be interpreted by assistive technology and then conveyed to the user. There's not a lot of people that can do it right, but most developers could learn it if they had the motivation; it's hardly impossible.

I should also say, it's not that the website is completely inaccessible. The issue is that it's not as good as it should be, or as good as the AODA information and communication standards require.

I didn't even think about it that way, to be honest. I have Cerebral Palsy but I don't use any visual aides or special equipment on the computer. Thanks for the insight, taylortbb.

[UrbanWaterloo]

Kitchener Wins Two Awards For New Website
November 10, 2010 | http://www.kitchener.ca/en/newslist/...af5AeQuAleQuAl

The City of Kitchener’s newly redesigned website - www.kitchener.ca - has been honoured with two prestigious 2010 MarCom Awards. The awards include:

• Platinum award for overall website redesign
• Gold for the city’s redesigned home page

The MarCom Awards are an international competition for marketing and communication professionals involved in the concept, writing and design of marketing and communication programs and print, visual and audio materials. Over 5,000 entries were submitted for competition in this year’s awards from a variety of companies and government organizations.

“As more and more residents go online to get information and services from their city, our website has become a primary and easy to access customer service tool,” noted Michael May, the city’s director of corporate communications and marketing. “Our first goal in redesigning Kitchener’s website was to provide residents with the information and services they are looking for in an easy-to-find location and an easy-to-read format.”

A committee of city staff worked for several months to redesign the website – which included rewriting over 90 per cent of the content. When it was launched in August 2010, the redesigned website marked the completion of Phase 2 of the city’s overall website redevelopment project. Phase 3 of that redevelopment will include looking to add more interactive features and services to the website.

“Receiving these two MarCom Awards is a reinforcement of the positive feedback we have been receiving from visitors to the new website,” explained May. “The success we have realized in redesigning and relaunching the city’s website can be directly attributed to the significant and positive contributions city staff made to this project.”

City staff joined with local company, eSolutions Group, to build a well-organized website that shares relevant information that’s easy to read, find and understand, and enhances public engagement opportunities.

The redesigned site includes a variety of new, user friendly and interactive features and services, including:

• An A-Z listing of municipal services and programs
• BrowseAloud speech-enabling program
• Interactive website calendar, which accepts submission from the public
• Mobile (text-only) version of the site
• Online calendar - providing the public with the option of submitting events
• Option to Increase and decrease font size
• Photo galleries - with the option of submitting your own photos for consideration
• RSS feeds
• Share functionality
• Subscription-based e-newsletter
• Translation into 10 languages

“We have heard that people really appreciate the added features and services we’ve included on our site, and they consider a visit to our site a useful, effective and engaging experience,” May added.

[UrbanWaterloo]

Online Queries Across Area Municipalities in Waterloo Region Just Got Easier
March 10, 2011 | Region of Waterloo | Link

Better connecting people to online information within the Waterloo Region and its partner municipalities is the goal behind a new collaborative initiative that is being unveiled today.

Citizens and visitors to the eight municipal websites within Waterloo Region will benefit from a new online feature that facilitates searches across the various municipal platforms. The web mapping tool (now part of a universal A-Z services directory) points to a collection of related content for all of the local municipalities in one quick search query.

“The collaborative online approach helps people find the information they need in a very effective way,” said Regional Chair Ken Seiling.

“We wanted to enhance the experience for online visitors by allowing them to pick from a list of other local municipalities that have information on the related subject,” said Cambridge Mayor Doug Craig.

For example, if a user selects information through the A-Z services directory located on the City of Kitchener’s website and clicks the term ‘parks’, the new tool will also provide options to link to other similar content in the participating municipalities within Waterloo Region.

“We have a history of collaboration in this region and this is another example of our municipal teams coming together to simplify the exchange of information through our online resources,” said Kitchener Mayor Carl Zehr.

Waterloo Mayor Brenda Halloran said that the number of visitors to municipal websites continue to grow. “The technology partnership here will help support our citizens who have preferences to gathering information online.”

The project was started early in 2010 with a view to tackling the Region of Waterloo, and the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo content first. Once the approach to technological collaboration was initiated, the townships of North Dumfries, Wilmot, Woolwich and Wellesley also joined in to complete the process for information exchange.

“For a rural municipality neighbouring the IT hub of Waterloo Region, it is encouraging that we continue to work together to bring the best information to our ratepayers, in the most efficient and convenient manner possible. One access point for A to Z listings of services in eight municipalities is a great information solution,” said Wellesley Township Mayor Ross Kelterborn.

“An important element of any modern municipal communication plan includes an informative and easy to navigate website. This new collaboration further demonstrates how the Region of Waterloo model works for the member municipalities on many levels, including the World Wide Web,” said North Dumfries Township Mayor Robert Deutschmann.

While some municipal websites are currently undergoing major change, the hope is to have all of the partners onboard this year.

“The enhanced functionality of the website will benefit staff and the residents alike creating further efficiencies between municipalities,” added Wilmot Township Mayor Les Armstrong.

Woolwich Township Mayor Todd Cowan agrees and said, "This is just an excellent example of the municipalities in the region working together to implement a user friendly and innovative approach for searching all municipal services.”

[UrbanWaterloo]

The City of Waterloo is webcasting their council meeting.

[KevinL]

GRT's website has been redesigned: http://www.grt.ca/en/

The trip planer is embedded right at the first page (though you need to allow popups, I discovered).

[UrbanWaterloo]

The Region of Waterloo has a new website. Looks just like the recently revamped GRT site.

[Waterlooer]

I LOVE IT! A much needed improvement well done.