City Launches New Website

Monday, May 13, 2019

Site Places Emphasis on User-Focused Design and Online Transactions

                  
NEWPORT– The City of Newport is pleased to launch today the first phase of a newly redesigned website intended to provide better access and more digital capabilities for residents, visitors, and businesses alike.

The new CityofNewport.com is the culmination of a more than yearlong design-build process, and will serve as a focal point to the City’s broader communications efforts.

The site’s design, which will be further refined in the coming weeks as additional features are introduced, was heavily driven by user feedback, including community surveys, staff interviews, and volunteer user testing.
The site was built by Winchester, Mass.-based FuseIdeas, whose other credits include the official website for the City of Cambridge, Mass.  

In addition to featuring a more intuitive design, the new site also expands the City’s available online fillable forms, introduces a new GIS interface, fully embraces and centralizes its social media accounts, and provides a dedicated content space designed to showcase the beauty of the City and the good work being done around town each day.

Other new features include, but are not limited to, the following:

• A new homepage built around the interests of Residents, Businesses, and Visitors
• A robust Geographic Information System (GIS) platform
• Fully responsive mobile design
• Integrated Social Media feeds consolidating accounts from across City departments
• Expanded and enhanced online form submissions, allowing residents to take care of more of their business with the City online and at their convenience
• An upgraded search function that not only performs better, but is also tailored to the site’s three predefined user profiles of Residents, Visitors, and Businesses
• Dedicated pages for some of the City’s most popular points of interest including the Cliff Walk, Recreation Department, Easton’s Beach, Rotunda Ballroom, and Harbor.
• A new content-focused design that places an emphasis on news and events
• And a redesigned and more intuitive navigation structure intended to provide more direct access to some of the City’s most commonly searched topics, forms and resources.

 
According to City Manager Joseph J. Nicholson, Jr., more features are to still to come.

“What you see here is just the beginning,” Nicholson said in announcing the launch. “Over the coming weeks and months, we’ll be refining the new design and adding features based on feedback from this initial launch.”

He continued, “As we continue to improve the site, we’ll be looking forward to introducing a new dedicated Employee portal, a more robust integrated Newsletter, and new web-based tools designed to help streamline the customer service experience.

“What we’ve built will essentially act as a digital front door for our residents, business owners, and visitors. From the City’s standpoint, I view the new site as an important communications tool, and our intention is to work to continuously improve its content, functionality, and usability. This is very much a living project and one that we certainly hope makes our government more accessible and easier to navigate.”