Kitimat

Overview

The District selected ElementCMS to be imploemented in the re-design of the Kitimat website early in 2008. They had a vision for a new site that will greatly improve communication between the Kitimat and their constituents, visitors and businesses. They also required the site have a CMS which would allow District staff to update the site themselves.

Role in Development

Kitimat already had strong branding in place, and a dedicated web team; what they needed from us was a way to tie that branding into a new design and a website that could be easily updated by District staff. Furthermore, they wanted the site to be very accessible to all District constituents, businesses and website visitors.

Project Plan

The design blended a bold appearance with a wealth of white space, allowing the site to look striking while still clearly displaying the important information that the District needed to convey We subtly incorporated Kitimat's branding throughout the design and utilized their bold colour scheme and vivid imagery to create a bright and energetic look.

With hundreds of webpages on the site, improved navigation was of the utmost importance. We streamlined the architecture in a way that made items easier to find, removing items that were duplicated, could be consolidated, or were simply no longer relevant.

As well, the new website features enhanced accessibility: this includes text resizing, a high contrast layout for people with vision impairments, and a stylesheet for those viewing the site on portable devices. We also increased the site's functionality, adding a customized events calendar and RSS feeds, as well as a made-to-order Municipal Code document directory. The site was then integrated with our content management system, ElementCMS. Staff are given full technical support for any issues they may encounter. Lastly, we are hosting the site, as well, thereby giving them a truly comprehensive website solution.

Project Outcome

The new website has now gone live with a new design that allows website visitors to keep in touch with the latest happenings with the District.

Website: www.kitimat.ca