After a couple of months of behind-the-scenes preparations, the city has a new and improved website.
The updated site has been completely redesigned from top to bottom. The new redesign was drawn up with ease of use both for desktop and mobile devices in mind. The site offers improved access to everything the city has to offer.
“Our former website has served us well for nearly a decade now, but it’s become outdated and difficult to navigate for people using smartphones and tablets,” said City of Cold Lake Chief Administrative Officer Kevin Nagoya. “Along with being easier to navigate and more aesthetically pleasing, our new site is one hundred percent mobile-friendly. It’s now just as easy to look up information or browse the calendar on the go from your phone, as it is from home on a PC or laptop”.
Five main headlines can be seen on the homepage with sub-categories dropping down to assist in finding the exact information users are looking for.
LIVE – contains general information about services and resources available to Cold Lake residents. This includes things like waste collection, emergency services, property assessment and tax information, and public transit schedules.
PLAY – contains information about activities available to Cold Lake residents and visitors in their recreational time. This category highlights amenities like the Energy Centre, Golf & Winter Club, museums, parks and trails, Kinosoo Beach, and the marina.
WORK – contains information for the business community and those considering investing in Cold Lake. Here you’ll find the business directory, application forms for development permits and business licenses, development statistics, and career opportunities with the City.
CITY HALL – contains information about City-related business and projects. Look here for information on the Mayor and City Council, municipal bylaws, City budgets and proposals, and tender opportunities.
I WANT TO – contains direct links to commonly-requested items, including paying bills and fines, applying for permits, registering for programs and classes, and much more.
Other features of the website include:
- An interactive community calendar with the ability to filter events/programming based on age group. Cold Lake residents can also create a user account and submit their non-profit community events to be posted on the calendar (all calendar events will be approved by City staff before being posted).
- Online registration and booking for recreational programs at the Energy Centre, FCSS programming, and tee times at the Golf & Winter Club.
- Virtual submission forms to enroll in services like utility e-billing, the Cold Lake Bicycle Registry, or to report a general issue or request for service to the City.
- Real-time GPS tracking for Cold Lake Transit buses. Users can see their bus moving on a map in real-time to help plan their schedule.
- Intuitive “short links” for ease of browsing. For example, instead of navigating through the menus to the Cold Lake Transit page to find information on bus schedules, a user could simply type coldlake.com/bus or coldlake.com/transit to be taken directly to the page. Short links are available now for several pages and new ones will be added regularly.
- An overview of all recent posts from City-operated social media feeds on the homepage, and direct links to each feed using the links at the top of each page.
City Council put aside $60,000 of the 2021 Operating Budget to make this website a reality.
In addition to the main site, there are also two mini-sites within the big one. These two “microsites” are focusing on tourism and economic development. These two “microsites” are not yet operational but are planned to be finished by the end of the year.
“These microsites are basically a website within a website,” explains Nagoya. “Bolstering tourism and encouraging economic development are two of the City’s major priorities, and these sites will be targeted specifically to those groups. We want to show both potential tourists and those considering investing in Cold Lake why it’s such a great place to visit and do business, and we firmly believe these targeted microsites will help us do that.”