It is immediately obvious that the new City of Fitchburg website (here) is a vast improvement over the previous version. Gone is that horrible list of buttons that scrolled on forever and appeared to be sorted by a cryptographer. And locating material is no longer a guessing game. Want to know where to find the Phil Lewis presentation? Use the Search box.
“You are here” provides the current “breadcrumb trail” which, according to Wikipedia, gives “users a way to keep track of their location within programs or documents. The term is taken from the trail of breadcrumbs left by Hansel and Gretel in the popular fairytale.” (And you thought you wouldn’t learn anything new today!)
I was excited to see “Coming Soon… Community Videos” until I noticed the lead in -- “Moving to our community?”
My wishlist still contains two things: (1) the ability to watch FACTv recordings of the City Council and Planning Commission (or other) meetings via the website at my leisure (but, would I really give up those parking lot conversations?) and (2) RSS feeds to review, at a glance, summaries of new web content as it is added.
I don’t believe there is currently money in the 2008 budget for website maintenance including my wishlist items which would increase community involvement and awareness about our city government. So, don’t we all have a few phone calls to make? (Common Council phone #s are here.)
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