Until recently, New Plymouth District Council’s website reflected many of the problems common to early website development.

The site had outgrown its architecture and key information was not upfront and accessible. It was static and difficult to navigate. It attracted low use by user groups and received some negative feedback. The design was dated and didn’t reflect the look and feel that was needed for this growing district.

In short, the website was not in step with the changing face of New Plymouth and failed to be an exciting, informative focal point for delivering a wide raft of local information such as council services, visitor information, and day to day information that a city of this size thrives on.

“The website needed to be topical, current, interactive and reflect the vibrancy of New Plymouth. We wanted multiple ways of finding lots of information, in an exciting environment which would be simple and intuitive to use,” says Tracey Howarth, communications coordinator at New Plymouth District Council (NPDC).

A CMS2001 to CMS2002 migration
Intergen was engaged to tackle the migration and upgrade of the council website and the migration of the Puke Ariki and Govett Brewster Art Gallery websites from CMS 2001 applications to CMS 2002. It also incorporated an Access database and cemetery records into the platform. The development of a range of templates and concise navigation were key requirements.

NPDC was also keen to utilise its own resources for the ongoing support and administration of the sites. The wider design brief focused on capturing a look and feel that supported the city moving forward, with many photographic images and graphics providing a fresh and more captivating presence.

“Our objective was to make the site more interactive and exciting, with a good balance of content and imagery for people to want to use the site on a frequent basis and to keep returning to access council information, forms, what’s on, the community directory and to have their say on local issues," says Howarth.

"We wanted to make it a positive experience for a wide audience and we feel we have achieved that.”

Key outcomes
The council has experienced a considerable rise in usage since the site was redeveloped. One new and highly used area – ‘Cemetery Search’ – helps people locate the burial records of those buried in the New Plymouth district.

Featured events rate highly along with the ‘Have Your Say’ section. Other positive features include:

• A real design presence with extensive photo images supporting the city’s offerings;
• Great scope and flexibility for content editing and presenting information in different ways;
• Easy, simple navigation providing different paths to the same information;
• All changes are immediate;
• Provision for growth.

New Plymouth is a city on the move, yet had a website that was standing still. The redevelopment has been welcomed as a huge success.

“We now have a site that shows the vibrancy and ambition that is New Plymouth. We can just keep building on information, and respond to changing needs instantly. The feedback we’re getting is all good news,” says Howarth.

For more information
Shaun Donaghey
General Manager, Auckland
Intergen
09 966-3072
021 359 061
shaun.donaghey@intergen.co.nz
www.intergen.co.nz

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