The Phoenix Public Information Office and Information Technology Services have been working on the phoenix.gov Refresh Project since December 2012 in collaboration with city stakeholders.
Here are some Frequently Asked Questions we hope will help you understand the project.
Why did the city update its website?
According the Pew Research Center, more than 50 percent of U.S. adults own either a tablet or smartphone - we wanted our customers to be able to view a majority of city information on a smart phone or any internet-connected device.
How did the city accomplish this goal?
The new phoenix.gov uses responsive design, a method of designing a website to automatically adjust and present content based on the user’s screen size, platform and orientation.
Why not create a separate mobile website?
Making our existing website usable on any Internet-enabled device (smart phone, desktop, tablet) eliminates the need for the city to create and maintain a separate website for mobile viewing, saving taxpayer dollars and staff resources.
What are the benefits of using responsive design?
If utilized properly, responsive design has a number of benefits for our city brand, our customers, and search engines, including:
- Maintaining the branding for phoenix.gov as the official, single source of city information;
- Allowing our customers to view phoenix.gov on any Internet-connected device without pinching, expanding or scrolling left and right, making for a better user experience;
- Enhancing the ability of search engines, such as Google and Bing, to drive people to our content. These search engines favor responsive websites because their “spiders” can crawl these sites much more effectively and index content more efficiently.
Is all content on phoenix.gov web responsive?
Approximately 97 percent of phoenix.gov was made responsive in this first phase of the project. Other content, such as online applications created using third-party solutions, will be converted to web responsive designs as part of their service contract renewals.
What was the refresh process?
We worked with a web design consultant selected during a competitive bid process, to develop web-responsive page layouts, design a fresh look and feel for the website, and provide overall professional guidance to help us meet our goals. Additionally, we worked with city departments to clean up their web content, expiring duplicate or out of date content, and adding good keywords so we can both reduce the number of pages on phoenix.gov and enhance site searchability.
How can I provide input, report a broken link, or get more information about the project?
Please send an email to the Public Information Office at contact@phoenix.gov.
