RICHMOND, Va. -- Virginia's official Web site (www.Virginia.gov) continues to lead the nation both in front of and behind the browser, thanks to a newly redesigned site and an innovative approach to distributing news information using Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds.
While continuing to exceed usability and accessibility guidelines for all citizens, Virginia.gov launched a new look at the end of May. A clean and attractive design pleases the eye and intuitive navigation ensures visitors find the information they need quickly. The award-winning "Live Help" online customer service program has been revamped to offer enhanced assistance to portal users. By taking a topical and event-driven approach to presenting information, a statewide network of Live Help services seamlessly directs users to the appropriate participating agency to better address their questions and comments.
RSS enables Commonwealth agency public relations staff to add press releases to a searchable database that automatically feeds the content to the Virginia.gov homepage and the portal's press release page. In addition to providing an easy way to deliver important and timely information to citizens, the service enables Web site visitors to e-mail articles of interest to others. Within the first 60 days of operation, this service received more than 600,000 hits.
RSS technology functions on several levels for Virginia.gov portal visitors. It can act like a personal assistant by forwarding relevant newspaper and magazines clips to users. By scanning for keywords, RSS technology can find and download content that matches specified criteria, saving hours of surfing time. Citizens who tend to return to favorite Web sites in need of the most recent news postings save time by allowing RSS technology to do the searching for them.
The updated portal has been extremely well received. According to Lemuel Stewart, Chief Information Officer of the Commonwealth: "Virginia.gov takes pride in being a national leader in government portal innovation. With the most recent redesign, the portal has opened new lines of communication with citizens and government, as well as enhancing existing methods of content delivery."
Virginia's portal is among the busiest official state Web sites in the nation. Virginia.gov supports an average of more than 60 million hits and 300,000 unique visitors each month.
About Virginia.gov
Virginia.gov is the Commonwealth of Virginia's official home page (www.Virginia.gov) and is a collaborative effort between the Commonwealth and Virginia Interactive, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of eGovernment firm NIC (Nasdaq:EGOV) that helps Virginia government entities Web-enable their information services. Virginia.gov was built and is marketed, operated, and maintained by Virginia Interactive.
About NIC
NIC manages more eGovernment services than any provider in the world. The company helps government communicate more effectively with citizens and businesses by putting essential services online. NIC provides eGovernment solutions for 2,000 state and local agencies that serve more than 55 million people in the United States. Additional information is available at www.nicusa.com.
Author: Array
Previous article: 21 September 2006
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