Users of the Town of Herndon’s website may notice some design and usability changes later this month.
The town is set to debut its revamped website on July 17. The upgrade — which is the first major redesign since 2016 — has been in the works since last fall.
Anne Curtis, the town’s spokesperson, said the new site aligns with the Herndon Town Council’s imperative to be “as inclusive and comprehensive as possible in communicating to town citizens and businesses.”
“The new website came about following a lot of analysis and feedback from users on the town’s current site; what works, what doesn’t, and ways we can improve,” she said by email.
The town hired the software company Granicus under a $54,000 contract to complete the work. Previous surveys of Herndon residents and website users found a desire for more visible department buttons, optimized search results and fewer drop-down menus.
The update will include more information that visitors wanted accessible directly from the home page, a more prominent search feature, graphic icons associated with the most-visited pages, and more prominent meetings and events pages.
The site will also include a new service finder feature that directs users to specific town services.
In addition, the new site will have the capacity to be translated into Spanish and other languages and meet ADA compliance requirements, Curtis said.