B&NES council hits back at website criticism
Bath and North East Somerset council has defended its new £94,000 website after it was criticised on social networks.
The council launched its money-saving website last week but within hours digital experts in the city had taken to social media to lambast it.
-
On Twitter @Chutzpah84 said: "Oh crikey, I'm not actually hamming this up. The B&NES website update has killed ALL links to library services from Google."
@EmmaB said: "94k? How exactly is that justified? The header title isn't even in focus."
Business Cards From Only £10.95 Delivered www.myprint-247.co.uk
View detailsOur heavyweight cards have FREE UV silk coating, FREE next day delivery & VAT included. Choose from 1000's of pre-designed templates or upload your own artwork. Orders dispatched within 24hrs.
Terms: Visit our site for more products: Business Cards, Compliment Slips, Letterheads, Leaflets, Postcards, Posters & much more. All items are free next day delivery. www.myprint-247.co.uk
Contact: 01858 468192
Valid until: Wednesday, May 22 2013
Initial problems included the error message 404 for people trying to access the site via Google search results, and the error message 403 for those wanting to add events to a new community calendar.
Criticism was also made of the site's design, typography, use of icons, layout, navigation, accessibility and its compatibility with mobile devices.
One web developer, who did not want to be named, sent the Chronicle a report listing 40 problems and criticisms after canvassing the views of his colleagues in the industry.
B&NES says the new website will save money and includes a range of improvements which will make it easier to search and navigate.
The authority says it will save £200,000 over the next three years because it is using the web platform Drupal, which does not require a licence to run and fewer staff would be needed to operate it.
A spokesman for the council said: "There are a range of improvements including a new look and feel, fewer web pages to make the site easier to search and navigate, and a new community events calendar that members of the public and organisations can update. It provides comprehensive information and helps convenient access to our services, such as payments, for our residents."
He added: "Following the changeover of the website we have submitted a new site map to Google and Bing to ensure that links are properly referenced in the future and old links are phased out – we are dependent on Google and Bing as to when this takes place."
Feedback on the new website is welcome via drupal@bath nes.gov.uk.
Comments
by Mr_Nemo
Sunday, September 09 2012, 9:02PM
“This chnage obviously has come as some surprise to Council Connect, who - in answer to an e-mail on another subject - sent me a link to "the relevant page in our website" which no longer worked!”
by rogerh3
Saturday, September 08 2012, 10:15AM
“Rather than congratulating themselves on 'saving' £200,000 someone should be explaining why B&NES has previously been using chargeable software for its, frankly, mediocre site. And then to spend £94,000 on their new mess? For that sort of money they could have employed their own web designer for two or three years. (Did it go out to tender? Was it advertised on, for instance, the Creative Bath site?)
After using the site a couple of days ago I was moved to send this email:
--
Some feedback:
It takes five clicks to get from the B&NES front page to the Libraries
West login page from where I can renew my loans. This must be a fairly
common use of the site so shouldn't it be one click from the Home
Page?
Ditto planning applications - three clicks to the index page for
current applications. Maybe I'm not typical but I'd expect both these
uses to be clearer.
Another point: most clickable links on the site are blue but so are
many headings and sub-headings. Some links acquire an underline on
hover, others don't. The links on the dark blue background almost
disappear on hover.
Finally, the turquoise/green colour scheme is horrible (and the amount
of turquoise makes the links less visible). Is it really necessary to
splurge the B&NES corporate colours over every page? Legibility and
usability are surely more important. No one needs a constant reminder
of whose site they're viewing.
Do you test this site with real people? If not, you should.
--
.”
by council_spoke
Saturday, September 08 2012, 12:00AM
“Hi t1mmyb - we have been working hard on re-directs too since launch to help people as you suggest. We did inform the Chronicle of this in addition to answering all forty of the problems submitted to them, but understandably they didn't choose to turn this story into an edition of Computer Weekly.
If you notice anything, we are keen to hear your feedback on the site as per email address above.”
by t1mmyb
Friday, September 07 2012, 11:03AM
“A new sitemap for Google, Bing etc. is good, but put some redirects in place as well, though, to help them along. Plus it helps people who bookmarked old addresses.”