Lubbock Wants Your Input to Redesign the City Website

The City of Lubbock has reached out to citizens for help in re-designing the city website... Finally! Look, I'm not saying it's bad, I just would love to see some modern changes that really capture the attention of new visitors considering traveling to our little slice of West Texas.

New Lubbock City Website Proposal

According to a recent release from the city, Lubbock is launching a new survey for citizens to put their two cents in on how the new city website should look.

You can take the online survey here. Don't forget, the deadline for submissions is October 1!

In my perfect world, the Lubbock City website will have flames around the edges, bold font all over, and a little figure in the bottom right corner of the screen of Prairie Dog Pete in a cowboy hat.

Then, when you click on Pete, a speech bubble pops up that says, "I am a prairie dog. Do not litter." Aw man, the kids are gonna love that.

In all seriousness, Lubbock is kicking off this collaboration with its citizens in an effort to make a new, more accessible and user-friendly website.

What Should City Websites Look Like?

If you need some inspiration, SDL, a company that works with improving local government technology, has some tips on what a city website should include.

First, the site should be incredibly user-friendly and able to be navigated from page to page with ease. Allowing information to be found quickly for paying bills, applying for permits, or accessing public records should be as least frustrating as possible.

Focusing on community engagement and providing ease of access to forms and services are also paramount when setting up a city website. For example, displaying the most requested services at the top of the page with links to any online forms would best suit your display.

Finally, just make sure to keep your content up to date. One of the worst things that can happen to a website in general is when it has outdated information. Plus, kind of embarrassing, in my opinion. Imagine trying to pay your energy bill and you're stuck on the "50th Annual BBQ-Eating Contest Extravaganza" page.