LEWISPORTE, NL – A user friendly website is in the cards for a central Newfoundland community.
The Town of Lewisporte is in the process of getting a modern website with coexisting mobile apps.
“Our current website is old and outdated,” said Lewisporte director of recreation and tourism Chris Watton. “It’s not mobile friendly, and it’s not what we would call search engine optimized.”
Watton noted a modern website has been recognized as a priority by current and former council.
“We moved forward with (requests for proposals), and we were able to settle on a supplier that we’re satisfied in working with to generate a new website.”
Along with the new website, residents of Lewisporte can expect accompanying town apps for their android and iOS mobile devices. Any important information in the town would be communicated to citizens via alerts, a feature able to be toggled on or off.
“In this day and age, everyone either looks at their tablet or their phone for information,” Watton said. “So, the idea is to provide as much communication as we can to the general public.”
He added that the new website, which is being built from the ground up without a template, would allow town staff to update it easily and quickly.
“You really got to have a well-done, easy to use, user-friendly website in this day and age,” said Watton. “And right now, the Town of Lewisporte does not.”
The new site could potentially entice more visitors to the community, with tourist attractions linked and listed for readers to see.
“Once the main website is in place, we can expand from there,” Watton said.
Watton noted that current council is more tech savvy than previous iterations. Council meetings have gone paperless in 2018, with all information presented to councillors on tablets.
“We’re trying to move forward, trying to get with the times,” he said. “And try to reduce our carbon footprint as much as we can.”
Watton said the work could take up to three months to complete, and without going into specifics, mentioned that it usually costs between $15,000 and $20,000 for a website built from the ground up.
