We have launched a new joint website for Swanton, Vermont, that combines the Town and the Village municipal websites to better serve their community.
What problems did Ecopixel solve?
Swanton's local governments now have an official .gov home. Previously, municipal information was spread across five different .org and .com domains on three different platforms.
Only one editor was trained to edit the old Town website, and on the old platform, it was hard to keep track of what information was published or unpublished. The new site's robust, open-source content management system solved this by providing easy editing for everyone who needs to make changes.
Finding information was difficult on the old sites because the menu structure didn't have a place for everything. Over time, pages got put in odd places. Ecopixel migrated and reorganized years of important information to create the new website.
New municipal website design
The completely redesigned Town and Village website features a modern design incorporating branding from each municipality:
- mobile-friendly responsive design
- fresh and colorful color scheme reflecting this lakeside community, is consistent with existing logos, and provides a foundation for future economic development initiatives
- a new shared community logo highlights Swanton's location in the state of Vermont
- incorporated best practices for municipal website design, including prominent access to search, contacts, and calendars
New scheduling and streamlined document management
- combined meeting calendar and documents so that everything for a meeting can be edited and viewed in one place (agendas, minutes, and related documents attach directly to the meeting)
- news and events use category tags to conveniently display in different areas of the website
- community calendar featuring town-wide events
Complete municipal website reorganization
- new website content structure to help residents and visitors looking to connect with municipal and community services
- migrated and reformatted all content from five different preexisting websites on different domains and platforms, including Weebly, WordPress, and Blogger
New email notification system
A new integration with Mailchimp allows residents to subscribe to various notifications, so they only receive the information they are interested in:
- agendas and minutes from the various boards
- alerts
- community events
- general news
More accessible web design
Ecopixel designs inclusive, accessible websites. We developed and tested the new website to follow ADA guidance by conforming to WCAG 2.1 Level AA and Section 508, the current government accessibility standards. Some changes to ensure visitors with disabilities do not run into barriers when using the website include:
- larger fonts with higher contrast
- information previously only in images/scans converted to text that can be searched, as well as accessed by screen readers
- menus and pages that can be navigated without the use of a mouse
- an Accessibility Statement provides accountability and connects website users with assistance if they need it
An easy-to-edit content management system
- deployed the new website on TYPO3 CMS, a secure and flexible system with a 25-year track record
- provided personalized training to staff across both municipalities
- ongoing service includes website security, backups, and hosting
The new site is live with dramatic improvements, but it is not done! Ecopixel will continue making improvements to the site as part of our proactive maintenance and we’ll be working with the Swanton team to support them while they add new content. Contact us to learn how we can help you with an accessible municipal website redesign.
Visit this new municipal website at: https://www.swantonvt.gov/