Mayor's Office Press Release
Mayor Launches Re-Designed & More User-Friendly City Website
February 20, 2018 -- Mayor Sylvester Turner announces the launch of the City’s improved website, www.houstontx.gov, which makes it easier for Houstonians and others to access services, find information and engage with local government.
The site includes an automatic translation feature for more than 100 languages, reflecting the city’s unique diversity.
It prominently features many of the city’s most popular online pages, such as job opportunities, animal adoption and trash and recycling information.
“Almost half a million people access the City’s website each month,” the mayor said. “I want visitors, residents and businesses to have the best experience possible when engaging with the City online.”
The redesign was accomplished with in-house resources at no extra cost to taxpayers. A taskforce led by the Mayor’s Office of Communications, Office of Innovation and Houston Information Technology Services Department oversaw the project, which would typically cost hundreds of thousands of dollars if done by an outside contractor.
The mayor asked for community input on the site design through the first-of-its-kind Digital Design Challenge, where three finalists were selected to present their vision for the City’s online presence to him. Brand Ranch Media, Don Suttajit, and Think Thank Ideas were selected to suggest ideas for the new website design.
Enhancements were also made to allow for better navigation via mobile devices. More than half of all users now access the site from their cell phones and tablets.
The new site features improvements to ADA compliance, language access and general usability.
Houston stands as the only city in the Top 10 most populous in the United States that has manual translations for many of its most-accessed webpages, and the new site adds an automatic translation feature for over 100 languages.
“Launching a website that celebrates the diversity and welcoming nature of our City was a priority to me,” said Mayor Turner. “We now have a site that works for everyone.”
The City is also launching a new web governance policy in the coming weeks to ensure pages are maintained with uniformity and content is updated regularly.
“We are making every effort to establish the City of Houston as a global leader in technology and innovation,” the Mayor said, “our website exemplifies the spirit of Houston and shows our commitment to making technology work for all Houstonians.”