The City of Humboldt has received international recognition for its website.
Humboldt.ca received an outstanding achievement in web development from the International Web Marketing Association in the government category. To receive the award, the website is judged on its design, ease of use, attractiveness, use of technology, innovation and content – and then receive a score of 60 or greater out of a possible 70 points.
“We were quite excited to find out that humboldt.ca was awarded an outstanding achievement award in web development. The International Web Marketing Association is quite prestigious in that it helps set the highest standards for Internet marketing and development,” said Jennifer Brooks, Humboldt’s communications director. “To have our City of Humboldt be recognized in the same category as some other significant governmental organizations is really quite a good feeling.”
Humboldt was one of 12 governmental organizations to receive the outstanding achievement award and the only Canadian municipality to do so. Utah.gov won the 2015 best government website.
The website was developed by Saskatoon-based 2WebDesign.com. The design company submitted the website for the awards.
“What’s really exciting is we’re recognized by an international association for excellence in website design and development,” Brooks said. “It really showcases what smaller centres and government organizations can do to ensure their website is interactive and really responds to the needs of residents and businesses.”
The current website was launched in July 2014.
“We actually took quite a bit of time, before designing and building humboldt.ca, to really analyze where people were going for information and how they were using the website and so that really allowed us to build a website that was really responsive and easy to use,” Brooks said.
The redesign made the website easier to navigate by providing quick links to pages that are viewed often. There’s also an integrated search function built into the site as well as integrated social media access for easy sharing. The website is also scalable, meaning it can resize itself to fit on tiny smartphone screens and large desktop monitors.
Brooks said the award shows a Saskatchewan municipality can be successful on the world stage.
“Smaller urban centres and governmental organizations can do a lot with creativity and limited budgets,” she said.
