The new home page: a guide

A key element of the new Localgov.co.uk design is the home page, which serves as a ‘shop window’ for the site at any particular time.



We have tried to reduce the clutter of the former home page and ensure you are able to access the information you require quickly and efficiently.

Consequently, news features prominently on the top left of the new home. This is updated throughout the day so ensure you check back regularly to keep in touch with developing news stories.

A brand news feature of the Localgov.co.uk home page is the promotional panel. This us to highlight particular bits of content that we think you will find of interest. This might be major news stories and analysis articles, or draw your attention to new features of the site and major announcements such as the shortlists for the MJ or LGN awards schemes. It also allows us to promote new video content on the site. Like the news, this is updated regularly.

Click on the headings below the images to view that section or use the play/pause buttons to navigate through.

Moving down the page, we have three more traditional ‘static’ panels that promote the important jobs section (namely job of the week), our analysis section (updated daily) and the directory (subscribers can search the directory from this panel).


Below that, and on the left, we have a new blogs section, which displays the very latest posts filed by our team of bloggers.


And last, but by no means least, is a new e-poll function. This works much more smoothly than the former polling tool and on selecting your response, the results are then displayed as a bar graph. Hover over each bar for more detail on the response.

Previous e-polls will also be archived and can be accessed by clicking on the e-poll link at the top of the section.

So there you have it, a quick run down of the new home page. I hope you like it. Please leave a comment or e-mail me if you have feedback.

Regards,

Matt Hobley.

LocalGov.co.uk’s new design

As you can see, LocalGov.co.uk is looking a little different today.

So why have we changed? Well, the new look is the result of a number of factors.

First, and most important, we have listened to what you liked most about the previous incarnation of the site, and have adjusted the new version accordingly. Our web analytics software has also informed these changes, as they show how our users navigate through the site and which sections they find more useful.

This process has also allowed us to reduce the clutter on the site and improve the signposting to content from our new look home page. There’s a great deal of information on the site, and we wanted to make it easier for you to find what you are looking for.

In addition, we wanted to make LocalGov.co.uk more compliant – that is, we wanted the site to work more efficiently in a wider range of Internet browsers. This alone should improve your user experience.

One thing to bear in mind, though… the implementation of the new design will take place in phases (you’ll note this blog post is in the old design, for example).

Therefore, we have concentrated our initial efforts on the top landing pages of the site: home page, our content pages (including news, business and analysis) and the jobs section.

We are making a number of more fundamental changes to the directory section, based on user feedback, and these will come on stream later. Watch this space for updates.

Please take some time to familiarise yourself with the new look. If you have any feedback or comments, please email me. Although we have tested the news pages on a range of browsers and machines, there will inevtiably be glitches so please let me know if you encounter problems.

I will also be posting regularly about new features of the design so keep visiting the blog.

Regards,

Matt Hobley.

Handle with care

October will go down as a tumultuous month for local government, but how deep are the repercussions of the Icelandic bank crisis and the global credit crunch going to be felt by councils?

In some respects this is a rhetorical question and hard to answer with any conviction.

Currently, prime minister Gordon Brown is furiously clocking up the air miles in a bid to find consensus among world leaders to find a way out of the slump.

Back home, his pledges of huge injections of public funds into major infrastructure projects to kick start the economy have prompted attacks from the opposition, but done him the world of good in the opinion polls.

This seemingly gung-ho approach seems far removed from the more parochial concerns of councils seeking to keep local economies invigorated.

Add to this, many chief executives believe their organisations will feel the pinch and consequently have to ‘trim the fat’.

But councils are going to have to handle this squeeze with great care in an effort to ameliorate the effects of the crunch wherever possible.

Many authorities are major employers and the rationalization of service provision resulting in the closure of satellite offices may, in turn, devastate a rural community. Major re-scaling of regeneration projects, on the other hand, may not only underline the sense of gloom for citizens, but also be a retrograde step that has repercussions far beyond any economic upturn.

It is understandable to feel shell shocked in the wake of recent events. Now, though, is the time for calm, rational thought in order for councils to plot the right course for the future.