These site requirements and functionality information provided below are intended to offer qualified vendors with some preliminary technical specifications for the Website Redesign Project.
Backend
The CMS must be browser-based and hosted on an external server. Open-source systems such as WordPress or Drupal are preferred. An external hosting service will be established upon recommendation based on reliability and security of the hosting service. A redirect from a lacity.org subdomain will be created.
Navigation and User Experience
In order to increase usability, the site’s information architecture will be overhauled. The new user interface will refine distinct user groups’ paths of navigation, and accommodate common browsers including: Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, and Chrome. DCA expects an iterative design testing process. The design of user interface and experience will be informed by an examination of current web analytics and a strategic identification of new user targets.
Calendar / Events
A web-based events calendar will dynamically display a variety of information pertaining to DCA-produced events, citywide events, festivals, heritage month celebrations, grantee events, and programmatically relevant dates such as grant deadlines. This interactive calendar should support sub-calendars, RSS feeds, and content syndication or tagging for use across the site. It should also allow the implementation of online events submission.
Media
The CMS and template deployed should enable the integration of images, videos, and other media. The system should make available media widgets to be used within its template.
Mobile
The new user interface should reflect the current standards of responsive design. It should support browsing experiences across common devices such as desktop/laptop computers, mobile phones, and tablets.
Blog
The site must support blog posts and provide them as RSS feeds. This may include the integration of an e-news service tied to social media.
Social Media Integration
The site must support social media widgets, embeds, and extension. Currently, DCA maintains Facebook and Twitter profiles, and plans to add other social media platforms including Instagram.
Additional Features
In addition to the core features of the site, as discussed above, the site development should proceed with the assumption that features such as maps and ecommerce services like online forms and payment will be added. This involves coordination with DCA’s internal efforts in creating digital assets and with the City’s existing resources (e.g. ArcGIS online) and other technical guidelines. Vendors should outline the potential costs and sub-vendors necessary to build out these additional site features. These estimates will be treated as preliminary; we will assess the exact functionality and requirements of these features after establishing the contract.
Branding
A new look and feel of the user interface should accommodate DCA’s existing logo and explore an innovative aesthetic redeployment for our site and social media profiles.
Analytics and Search Engine Optimization
Unique meta tags, titles, and descriptions for each web page and post will be created. Google Analytics code will be added to the new site. The creation and submission of XML sitemaps to Google, Yahoo, and Bing are expected.
Accessibility
The content on the eventual site must be Section 508 compliant and meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 success criteria levels A and AA as outlined by the W3C. DCA would also like to explore options for a multi-lingual site to reflect the diversity of users.
Other Key Deliverables
- Illustrator (vector art) and layered PSD files (including copies of font files used) for all XHTML 1.1 files, a site-wise CSS cascading style sheet for all public pages, and a site-wide print CSS
- Website imagery in PNG, GIF, or JPG format as appropriate
- Any additional final or draft media