City Website sees visual upgrades to improve accessability

The Culver City official website received a visual makeover this past week as the city looks to make local technology more modern and accessible during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The above screenshot was taken from a saved webpage dated in early Nov. from Wayback Machine, and below is what the site looks like today. 

While a vast majority of the resources that residents used the site for still function in the same manner, some are found in different areas of the website, and others are completely new all together.

One of the more notable changes is the pooling of specific links on the front page into more general categories for people to browse through in a more organized manner.

Accessibility also takes into account accessing the website from mobile devices, ensuring mobile users have a similar experience as desktop users. According to the city, 50% of the site’s visitors accessing the website via mobile phones.

The new website also offers an inherent robust search engine, which provides faster and more accurate search results.  The new design also has streamlined website navigation, with the goal of making it easier for users to find the service or information they desire.  

The site also provides language translation support for Spanish, and additional languages will be added in the future. 

The new site is powered by OpenCities, a digital service for websites and data management that works with other cities across the country, including Orlando, Fl.; Grand Rapids, Mi.; and Palo Alto, CA.

The goal for the website is to have an evolving online presence that contains up-to-date and relevant content.

However, there is no word as to whether or not the city wishes to integrate its website into its city services by allowing transactions do be done on the site, a model that Grand Rapids has adopted with much success.

To see and test out the new website, visit culvercity.org. For questions and concerns, contact City Hall at 310-253-6000