City’s new website offers Google search

If you’re looking for city information, you should know that the city’s website has moved from www.kcmo.org to kcmo.gov. Officials are calling the new site streamlined and modern, and they’re calling attention to it in an informational video.

The city says the biggest change is a new, custom Google search bar that allows users to more easily find what they’re looking for. The new site is also responsive, meaning it changes shape for viewing on a phone, tablet or desktop computer.

Here’s more from the city:

The new website also relies on the City’s Open Data Catalog (data.kcmo.org), where information on everything from permits to potholes is shared with the public. The new site is powered by the free WordPress platform, making it the nation’s largest municipal open-source WordPress website. It was built nearly 100 percent from scratch, and launched at a fourth of the cost of the old site at significant savings to taxpayers now and in the future.

The new City website has been in a soft launch phase for a few weeks, and the city has been making adjustments based on feedback.

If you don’t find what you need on the first try, you should slightly change your key words and hit search again. A short video on how to search for items can be viewed at www.kcmo.gov/faq. Also, every page has a bar that asks, “Is there anything wrong with this page?” Users can click on that to relay problems or email communications@kcmo.org.

In developing the site, the City partnered with several local companies: Luminopolis for behind-the-scenes technical work and hosting arrangements, SingleWing Creative for design work and Eric Bowers for photography.

What do you think? Is the new website an improvement?

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