This review of the City of Pickering website at www.pickering.ca is in development
Residents of Pickering looking for information about the City of Pickering will find an abundance that at the City’s website. However, the design, presentation of the material, as well as the navigation of the site are serious challenges. This review will be updated as more is learned in exploring the website.
_____________
The GOOD
- Front Page
The front page is a simple presentation with three notable items:
> a SEARCH bar
> a PHONE icon listing most accessed numbers based on ???
> a 3-line ‘HAMBURGER‘ which pops down 4 subsections: LIVING, BUSINESS, DISCOVERING, CITY HALL - Secondary HAMBURGERS
Secondary HAMBURGERS, 3-lines icons, appear in pop downs but site visitors need to be directed to their use either with a very emphatic colour or an arrow pointing to the secondary HAMBURGER.
_____________
The BAD
- Out dated material
The material presented in the website is out of date with material going back to the days of Mayor Dave Ryan, meeting minutes for various committees like the Black Anti-Racism Taskforce dated 2021 - Playing a video ENDING
Videos should end by taking the viewer back to the place of origin or to the website location that was being explored, not to a YouTube general page. Worse here is that the tabs to viewed videos remain open increasing the number of open tabs on the visitor’s device. - More “hyperlinking” needed
When text is hyperlinked, clicking on it takes one to its associated site. The City site needs more hyperlinked texts, especially for subtopics. - Consistency required
The city website needs to be consistent in how each of the main 4 subsections is displayed. If secondary HAMBURGERS are used in one subsection, they must be used in every one. “DISCOVERING” has no secondary HAMBURGER.________________
The UGLY
- Missing information:
There are four neighbourhood associations in Pickering. Finding information about them, even their names, is impossible.
