City of Poway debuts new website

By Emily Sorensen

The City of Poway’s website has a fresh new look to it, with the aim of being easier to navigate and more community-focused.

The revamped website went live on Sept. 17 after seven months in development, said the city’s Information Technology Manager Brad Rosen. “It was time for a redesign,” said Rosen. The previous website had been in use for five years.

Part of the reason behind the new website was to make it friendlier for mobile users. The new website is a responsive design format, which will re-size itself based on the size of the screen, said Rosen. This means the city does not need to make multiple versions of the site for desktop and mobile users.

“About 32 percent of visitors to our website are from mobile devices and another 30 percent are from tablets, so there is definitely a need for a mobile-friendly website,” said Rosen.

Rosen said that the new website is community-focused. “Our old website was city-centric,” he said. “Now, the website is designed to offer visitors a quick way to get where they want to go, rather than where the city thinks they should go.”

The website will emphasize this community focus with a rotating series of photos at the top of the page, which Rosen said the city will keep fresh. The programs and services the city offers will be highlighted.

The website still features the information and services it used to, including paying utility bills online and the community calendar, just in a more organized manner. “A big focus was on better organization,” said Rosen.

There are also some new features on the website, including online map tours of parks, monuments, heritage trees and affordable housing in the city. There is also a new, improved Notify Me system, where people can sign up to receive email notification for news flashes, calendar alerts and emergency alerts. Emergency alerts can also be set up to send a text message to your phone.

Under the “Explore Poway” section of the website, economic developments in the city will be posted, including financial reports, demographics, sales tax information and much more.

Rosen said the website’s launch was “clean,” and that the city has since made a few navigational tweaks based on feedback from the community.

The next step for the website will be to transition to Poway Center for the Performing Arts website to this new design as well, said Rosen.