City of Charlotte launched a new website that looks way better and is easy to use

At 6 p.m. last Friday, the City of Charlotte rolled out its shiny new website, charlottenc.gov. It is the city’s official site to access information and services throughout the city. The site has a clean design with bold color and features beautiful photos of Charlotte.

The site is more user friendly than its predecessor, charmeck.org (this site now directs users to charlottenc.gov). The site was designed with an intuitive approach rather than relying on the user to know which department to choose. It also uses a responsive web design, allowing the page to load in response to the size of the device being used.

Shawn Proffitt is the City of Charlotte’s web manager. Proffitt has been coordinating the CharMeck internet existence since 1997. He is the person coordinating the changes behind the scenes. The biggest difference in the site is that City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County have gone their separate website ways.

Each has developed a new site that reflects its unique style and content. Proffitt assured me it was not a divorce or messy breakup. Both city and county sites have links to each other’s pages. They are in constant communication and enthusiastic about the new rollouts. Mecklenburg County launched their new site last year.

The history of the charmeck.org website goes back to the 1990’s, before Proffitt started in his current position. The city was involved in a United States Post Office (USPO) pilot program called WINGS (Web Interactive Network of Government Services). USPO, in an effort to respond to the changing world of internet, designed WINGS as a way to stay current.

Charlotte was a test site for kiosks in the libraries, Food Lions and other places people frequent. They were able to access information about services within the county and city. There was a primitive online version of the program as well. WINGS  eventually dissolved. “The legacy of that program was charmeck.org,” said Proffitt.

More than 20 years later, Proffitt has access to better technology. Although each department is responsible for its own content, Proffitt coached them on the content needed for the new site.

“The thing that we have emphasized continually is more compelling content. People don’t want to read as much as they want to hear. So video, podcasts, anything you can do to add extra dimension to whatever the topic is. We have been encouraging people to do that and they are,” said Proffitt.

This 2016 version has links to local podcasts, master plans and maps added to pages. Social media center links to all the social media feeds across the city are posted. A handy weather widget is also available.

Here are a few links you may find interesting:

– Construction updates

– Animals for adoption

– How to pay bills

– Purchase a grave site (I know, morbid, but did you know the city handles this?)

– Where to get a permit to throw a block party

– How to change your street name

– Types of crime in your neighborhood

– Quality of life in neighborhoods

– Starting a neighbor welcome wagon program

– City council meeting minutes

– How to do business with the City

– Blue Line Extension

– Cross Charlotte Trail

– Transportation

– Public Art Map

Contact the web manager at charlottewebfeedback@charlottenc.gov with comments or site problems.

Images: Courtesy of City of Charlotte

This story was originally published September 19, 2016 at 12:40 AM with the headline "City of Charlotte launched a new website that looks way better and is easy to use."