It would be difficult to support an argument in
support of the current design of the city's web site. The way we see it, here are the
problems with the current design:
- It lacks significant local flavor
El Paso should take full advantage of its local flavor. The city's web site should lead in
this area.
- It breaks the rules of graphics
Many of the graphics used on the site are very low quality and improperly included in
HTML.
- It breaks the rules of web site structure
Example: When they redesigned the economic development section, they placed it at a new
URL: (http://www.ci.el-paso.tx.us/ecodev2/wwwroot/index.htm). This caused every link that
existed on the net to become broken. The URL should just be
(http://www.ci.el-paso.tx.us/ecodev/). The same goes for many of the subsections of the
site.
- It lacks sophisticated design
The impression made by the city's web site should leave the user impressed. The
current design does not convey sophistication.
- Many sections are not consistently updated
Many of the city council pages contain old information
The Proposal
We spent a few hours one week redesigning the
city's web site. When it was complete, we sent a message to the address listed as
'webmaster' on the site. The message offered the new design free of charge in an effort to
help the city upgrade its web presence. We even offered to help train someone in the art
of proper HTML. We didn't receive a response. Our next step was to send the same offer to
the mayor, every city council member and the webmaster address. The only person who gave
us the courtesy of a response was John Cook. Unfortunately, his response didn't make much
sense to us. It said something about them getting a lot of web inquiries and that we
should submit a proposal to the purchasing department. We asked if there was a specific
Request for Proposal that we should reference in our proposal. He replied that there was
not one that he knew of. At that point, we let the issue rest.
The Offer Stands
We're still willing to hand all of our design work
over to the city and train personnel on the proper way to maintain the site.
Compare For Yourself
The next pages will
compare the city's current site with our new design. Let us know
what you think!
Begin
the Comparison
