As well as regularly asking the public for their feedback to help us make improvements to the website, we recently put out a quick survey for staff and councillors across the Dorsetforyou Partnership.
There was a good spread of responses from all of our partner councils across Dorset. Most of what they told us agrees what we already know from local people about what we need to change in the new website.
The key findings from the survey:
- the navigation is confusing with too many levels and options
- the site is out-of-date – although some people like the colour scheme
- the search function divides opinion – so there is more work for us to do to find out what the issues are
- staff like the landing page tiles ‘switchboard’ style
- staff broadly support the principle of a shared site between all the councils
- many pages are too wordy so there is “information overload”
- staff want their services to be featured on the home page – currently we list the top most popular services on the homepage, based on how much web traffic they get
- the name “Dorsetforyou” – causes some customer confusion as they’re not sure how to spell it – Dorset4U? Dorset4You? DFU? D4U?….
- there is a desire to showcase the county through the website with more images of Dorset’s spectacular countryside and coast
- departments need more flexibility in the templates and styles available for them to use
Thank you
Thank you to everyone who filled in this survey and to all of you who have helped us so far by sharing your thoughts about the website with us.
Whether you have given up your time to talk to one of our team in your local library or leisure centre, or completed a card sorting test through Facebook or Twitter, or maybe even came in to the offices to help us test new pages. Everyone’s input is really valuable and there will plenty more opportunities coming up for you to give us your feedback and help shape the new website. In the meantime you can always contact us by email: digitalteam@dorset.gov.uk
