The GRCA has launched a new website, the first time it has updated its site in more than 15 years.
The site at www.grandriver.ca has a dramatic new look, dominated by large pictures showing the beauty of the Grand River watershed.
But the overhaul also includes completely updated text, new e-services and other improvements to make the site even more useful to watershed residents.
The GRCA website gets about one million unique visits a year. Many users want to find information about Grand River Parks, while others are looking for river flow data, job opportunities, planning policies, the GRCA’s environmental programs and more. The most sought-after content is now front and centre on the website.
Here are some of the features of the new site:
– Improved navigation: Content is organized into menu categories based on the needs of our many different types of customers. A prominent search window, buttons linking to the busiest sections, an “I want to…” list for e-services and other features make it easy to find what you want.
– Improved accessibility: The new website complies with provincial accessibility standards. Users can also adjust the type size, use the embedded Browse Aloud reader or translate the website into dozens of languages.
– Subscription services: Users can subscribe to various categories of News releases, ranging from flood messages to information about farm programs. They can also receive updates of new job postings, beach conditions, volunteer opportunities and more.
– Improved River Data pages: Our website has dozens of charts showing real-time river flows, reservoir levels, weather data and water quality data. The charts are now larger and have new features that allow the user to control the way the data is presented. This is important information for flood response officials, property owners in flood-prone areas and recreational river users.
– Responsive design: The website is built so it automatically changes to suit a desktop, tablet or phone format.
The update began in late 2014 when the GRCA hired Waterloo-based eSolutions Group (A GHD Company) to develop the new site.
The company led a successful consultation process in early 2015 involving more than 1,000 people who provided comments that helped shape the design, structure and content of the site. The GRCA has also licenced the company’s iCreate content management system to replace a home-grown system developed by the GRCA about 15 years ago.
The work of developing the new content, implementing the design and building the website took place in the fall of 2015 and involved dozens of people at the GRCA and eSolutions.
