Posted by John Byrne at 4:27 p.m.
City Hall officials today unveiled a revamped Web site, promising information will be easier to find because it’s now organized by types of city services instead of by departments.
The site remains cityofchicago.org, but the updated version features a menu allowing people to choose what they want to do, such as "Pay For/Buy." That link then leads to a list of
things to pay for, including parking tickets and water bills.
On the old site, users had to figure out which city departments handled their specific requests.
The city’s site now also links to other online government offices,
such as the Secretary of State’s office, where people can get information about how to apply for driver’s licenses
and state IDs.
"One of the feedbacks we got from Chicagoans is that when they’re
trying to get a service from the city government, they do not have to
need to know which department provides that service," said Chief Information Officer Hardik Bhatt. "They
want that service, and they want to get to that service or the
information faster."
The site also provides links to social networking sites like Twitter,
and multimedia online offerings, including Mayor Richard Daley’s
YouTube channel. Links to individual city departments and the City Council remain part of the site, as well.
The yearlong, $1.8 million redesign is the first in nine years. Bhatt said he wanted to make sure it also could handle a higher volume of users as more Chicagoans buy new city stickers online.