HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000 03 13 Informational D Status of City's Web Site and Internet Access
COMMISSION AGENDA
ITEM D
CONSENT
INFORMATIONAL X
PUBLIC HEARING
REGULAR
3-13-00
Meeting
MGR. VmEPT
Authorization
REQUEST: The Information Services Department wishes to update the
Commission on the progress of the City's web site and internet access.
PURPOSE: The purpose of this item is to bring the Commission up to date on the
status of the City's web site and internet access, and provide a realistic
time line for implementation of the web site.
CONSIDERA TIONS:
Internet Access: BellSouth will provide the City with Internet access and web site
hosting via state contract. BellSouth can provide sufficient bandwidth and
internet access technical support services for the City's needs. The City's domain
name has been registered as ci.winter-springs.f1.us.
Web site development: Several web site developers have been contacted
regarding the development of the City's web site. There were a few other
developers that expressed an interest in giving a proposal for this project but not
all have followed through with a proposal. By March 15,2000, I will have
compiled a list of potential vendors for this project, their projected fees, and my
recommendation. I will forward this to the City Manager by that date.
There are some considerations when deciding upon a website developer;
. How long has the company been in business and how long have they been
developing web sites professionally? This is important as on-going web site
maintenance will be necessary.
. What other projects have they worked on and completed? What are their web
site addresses so that we can view them?
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Informational Agenda Item
March 20, 2000 meeting
Page 2 of2
. Do they have sufficient staff to support the development and ongoing
maintenance required by the City?
. What is the turn-around time on web site updates?
. What software are they using to create the web site?
. Are they experienced and knowledgeable in properly sizing and resizing
graphics and banners so that pages load quickly? Also, pages should be
designed to fit the resolution of the intended audience. This is sometimes
important to laptop users and users with low resolution monitors.
. The web site should be accessible to people with disabilities. Is the web site
developer familiar with the guidelines from the World Wide Web
Consortium's Web Accessibility Initiative?
. Some of the companies that I spoke to do not want to deal with the ongoing
maintenance of the web site. They want us to do our own updates. This is
fine for some things but there will be changes that the vendor will be required
to do. Some vendors are not willing to do this.
FUNDING:
Funds for this web site development project are currently in the Information
Services budget.
RECOMMENDATION:
None at this time
IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE:
March 15,2000 a list of potential developers with a recommendation supplied to
the City Manager. Site development will begin after approval of developer. A
small informationaVcontact City web page can be up and running in about 4 days~
the entire web site can be up in 3 to 4 weeks.
COMMISSION ACTION:
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