“Resident focused.”
“Meet people where they are.”
“Get visitors in, get them the info they need, and get them out as efficiently as possible so they can get on with their day.”
These are some of the phrases that have defined the process of redesigning the Brazos County website over the past 12 months. They all speak to one overarching goal: Making it easier for the people of Brazos County to find the information and services they need from different County offices, departments, and courts.
We are pleased to announce the launch of the all-new BrazosCountyTX.gov website that addresses those issues and offers a more intuitive, responsive, and accessible user experience for the people of Brazos County and beyond.
Here’s Some of the Highlights
We Did It Ourselves: The new site was designed, developed, and curated completely in-house. That has given us the ability to create something that is unique and works specifically for our residents. It also gives us the ability to respond rapidly when changes are needed, and to adapt to new technologies and innovations.
We Listened to What People Wanted: We talked to people, both inside and outside of County government, to hear what they wanted to see from a new website, and we used data-driven analytics to discover where our visitors actually went on the old website. That information drove the conversations about content and how we can better serve the public.
We Shed the Extra Weight: We did a comprehensive audit of all site pages, and determined how many of them were helpful, or not. The result is a website that has shed more than 800 pages and more than 4,000 PDF files…all without losing any necessary information.
We Took the Bull By the Horns: We wrangled more than a decade’s worth of outdated content and organic site growth, and then we rewrote and reformatted everything into content that is easier for users to find and understand. We didn’t reinvent the wheel with our site’s overall structure, but we built new hubs for things like budgets and financials, County services, and courts information. These hubs are catalysts that help users find the info they need, step-by-step.
We Thought About Everyone: We put accessibility for people with disabilities at the forefront of our design, creating a website that will be the most accessible ever produced for Brazos County. Accessible web design isn’t just good for people with disabilities. It’s good for everyone. Accessibility is more than just meeting federal government requirements. It’s an ever-evolving target that requires constant maintenance and vigilance. This new website gives us the structure and tools to truly maintain accessibility both now, and as we grow with new content.
This is Just the Beginning
A website is a living thing that must constantly be maintained so that it grows with a purpose and is always able to adapt to changing conditions. In many ways it’s like a garden that grows, needs trimming at regular intervals, and periodically has new features added.
This new website isn’t in any way “complete.” And it never will be.
It’s also like a new house that we’ve just moved into. Sure, the foundation and the framework is there, and we’ve moved in all of our furniture. But what if we want to move some things around after we’ve lived in it for a little while? What if we see a new piece of furniture that we like better? What if something that we thought worked, just isn’t doing it for us?
We’ve just moved in, and this is just the beginning of what’s to come.
We’re always looking to hear feedback from our residents. To provide feedback on the new website send us an email.