The City of Long Beach on Monday unveiled its brand-new website, longbeach.gov, which is built on a new “powerful, efficient and user-friendly content management system that will help users surf Long Beach with greater ease,” according to city officials.
The home page provides quick access to the most popular services, such as paying utility bills and applying for permits, as well as featuring news stories, the award-winning LBTV, and employment opportunities, according to city officials. Two calendars display both events and City-sponsored meetings to provide up-to-date information on what’s happening in Long Beach. A responsive content management system (CMS) allows content to be displayed properly on both mobile devices and desktop computers.
“With the Internet at nearly everyone’s fingertips on phones and tablets, the website is the City’s front door,” said City Manager Pat West. “Features like LinkLB, our new email notification system that everyone should sign up for, allows us to offer a wider welcome.”
LinkLB is one of several new interactive features. Users can sign up for email updates from council districts, the mayor, city departments and specific services. Other features include MapIT, an interactive map that allows users to locate parks, points of interest and resources across the city. Visitors to the website also can download City apps, including Go LBPD, Go LGB, LBPL Mobile, Go Long Beach Animal Care Services and the original Go Long Beach app.
“The City’s new website is extremely customer-friendly,” said Robb Korinke, Technology and Innovation Commission chair. “The outstanding design and features of the new website help visitors quickly get the information they want.”
The website also features OpenLB, the City’s open-government portal that is intended as “the community’s first and last stop for data, statistics and other information.”
“The rollout of the site is a major accomplishment,” said Chris Wilding, interim director of the Technology and Innovation Department. “This is only the first phase involving 12 departments and most elected officials. Phase two will bring others onto the new CMS.”
The responsive CMS will also boost the site’s rankings in Google’s new search algorithm, making it easier for longbeach.gov to rise higher in the search results. In addition, the Google Translate feature allows users to select one of four languages: English, Spanish, Khmer and Tagalog (which Google recognizes as “Filipino” ).
The new website is based on the Ektron CMS. Technology and Innovation staff, assisted by Thinklogic, an area firm, designed and coded the site.
Source: City of LB
