SASKATOON – Some say Saskatoon’s city website looks like it’s from the 1990’s, others say it functions that way too.
City officials are proposing a makeover of saskatoon.ca at an estimated price of $1.15 million over two years.
“Our current website has drawn some pretty negative responses I might say,” said City Manager Murray Totland.
The city’s goal for the proposed website includes: search results within three clicks, better usability and increased accessibility for citizens with disabilities.
According to local software developer David Mosher, improving public and internal usability and making it more accessible for persons with disabilities would likely cost more than the estimate.
“For example, people who are visually impaired can’t access the website because PDF files don’t support screen readers that those people need,” said Mosher.
“It actually is a very key piece of infrastructure for a 21st century city and I’m not being tongue in cheek,” said Totland.
“If you talk to any progressive city today, their website is a key piece of infrastructure.”
A website redesign was cut from the city’s capital projects last year during budget deliberations.
Budget discussions are scheduled to take place next week.
Over the past couple of years, Vancouver and Calgary redid their websites at a cost of over $3 million a piece.
According to Statistics Canada, Saskatoon has the highest rate of internet usage in the country at 88 per cent.
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