By Tamas Mondovics
Residents who have finally learned how to navigate through the County’s website will have to try again, although this time it may be bit easer.
With the promise of easier access and maneuverability, coupled with several new features to help residents seeking assistance, Hillsborough County officials were pleased to launch, what they said is a “redesigned, easier to use and more mobile-friendly website.”
According to Hillsborough County Communications and Digital Media Director, Annette Spina, the new website, which she said cut about a million words from the old set up, sports a number of specific changes with one main goal.
“We wanted to make sure that the new service-centric site was much more customer-focused,” Spina said, adding that the project, which from start to finish took nearly a year was to attract as well as assist County residents with services offered.
“We built it for the them,” she said. “The web team led by Brian Roberts worked hard to create models of the most frequent online visitors and identified the types of information they were most likely to be seeking.
Browsing through the new site, parents can navigate in a few clicks to lists of local parks and recreation programs, while companies can easily locate information on permits or how to do business with the County.
One specific example is the new site’s Customer Service Center-at your service page, which after just one click or shortcut, directs residents to a specific service. “The result is a more intuitive website,” Roberts said.
With the new website comes a new, streamlined address, HCFLGov.net. Visitors to the former HillsboroughCounty.org address will be automatically redirected to the new site.
“HCFLGov.net was designed to be easily accessible by cellphone, tablet, or laptop,” he said. With its recent launch, officials admitted that while the website is now up and running, it is continually being refined and updated to better serve the community.
“We want to encourage residents to make good use of the website and, while visiting, they are able to rate web pages,” Spina said. “The feedback will allow us to continuously make the site even more user-friendly for years to come.”
