Why Usability Matters: Expert insights on creating accessible municipal websites

Creating a municipal website that truly serves its community goes beyond eye-catching design—it’s about usability, accessibility, and thoughtful information architecture.

In this interview, we sat down with Carly and Oliver, two experts passionate about making digital spaces intuitive and inclusive. They share insights on why organizing content matters, how municipalities can better understand their residents, and practical steps to keep your municipal website user-friendly over time.

Q: What is information architecture?

Carly: Information architecture is where information lives on your website. It's about thinking about the menus and page names and where they should fit so that it makes logical sense for people who are coming to the site to find what they're looking for. Good information architecture allows users to be able to quickly understand your website and easily complete a task.

Oliver: It's about organizing the information so that it's easier for users to find what they're looking for and to be able to accomplish what they need to accomplish. I usually say it's about looking at it like a well-labeled map. Something that users can look at and understand quickly - where to go, how to navigate, how to gather information.

Q: Why do you think information architecture is sometimes overlooked by municipalities?

Carly: I don't believe that information architecture is overlooked by municipalities. They want to build websites that are easy to navigate and they want their community to be able to easily access programs and services through their website. The challenge is that many municipalities structure their navigation using internal departments and struggle to view the services they offer from the perspective of the public.  

When we organize information on a website with a departmental focus, we're creating a barrier for the public because they now need to understand what department handles and what service to be able to access services online.

Oliver: I think municipalities often overlook information architecture because it's usually internally focused. Within a municipality, there are many departments vying for website space. With departments wanting to achieve different objectives, the way the content is displayed doesn't align with the way users navigate websites. It's not task based. In addition, municipalities often put too much focus on visual design and aesthetics. Design is important, but it shouldn't trump content, functionality, the way that a user navigates a site or how they get information.

Q: How can municipalities better understand their residents to build a more usable website?

Oliver: The key to understanding users is understanding what they are after and what they are trying to accomplish. You should talk to your citizens and understand them. That means using methods like surveys, quick intercept interviews at city events, usability testing with real residents, or analyzing common service requests and search terms on the site.

You shouldn't make assumptions about what they're looking for, especially if it's being driven internally, because those assumptions won't align with what they're trying to accomplish.

Carly: The first questions a municipality should consider when building a user-focused website are: Why are visitors coming to the website? What information are they looking for? And where would they expect to find that information?

To answer these questions, municipalities can look at their website analytics and reach out to and engage with website users to gather their input and feedback. You can then use this feedback to help update the website navigation and content.

Q: What is site-mapping and how does this help improve information architecture? 

Oliver: A specific service we provide is called site-mapping, which is essentially when you organize content and navigation to align with the way users look for information and how they're trying to accomplish their tasks. We use exercises like card sorting and tree mapping to understand how users view information and how they might navigate to it.

Carly:  A sitemap is a document that maps each page on your website into the menu and navigation structure. It is a full inventory of your website content. To build a sitemap, you need toy look through every single page of content on your website to get a full inventory of their current state. From there, you identify pages that are outdated that could be removed, content that is duplicated and can be removed as well as services and programs that might be missing from the current site.  Once you have a full inventory of the current site, you can start thinking through where to place each page so that it fits logically into the menu structure.

Q: What do you recommend to clients who have launched their site to keep it usable?

Carly: We would recommend doing a full audit of your website navigation and content every two years at a bare minimum. Additionally, we would recommend quarterly scans of your site for things like broken links, accessibility issues and content accuracy. Nobody likes to click on a link in your menu that takes them to a 404 error page; that's a frustrating experience.

Oliver: We often recommend that you review your information architecture often because technology changes as user expectations change. Our team is also evolving our services to support these different evolutions as we assess what the information architecture looks like now and how we can be adjusted.

Q: Why are accessibility and usability so important for municipalities?

Carly: I always argue that accessibility and usability go hand in hand. When we create an accessible website, we are creating a website that is more user-friendly for everyone. For example, when we're writing in plain language, we are creating a site that everyone can understand. You shouldn't need a university degree to apply for a building permit.

Oliver: I believe one in five users will have some form of disability. Ultimately, it's our moral and legal obligation to ensure we're building inclusive websites. Building something inclusive means it needs to be both usable and useful. You should ensure that what you're conveying, for example, alt text, accurately represents the image.

Now it's your turn

Building a usable municipal website is an ongoing commitment, not a one-time project. As Carly and Oliver emphasize, understanding your users, maintaining clear navigation, and prioritizing accessibility are key to creating an inclusive digital experience. By regularly auditing your site and engaging with your community, you can ensure your website remains a trusted, easy-to-use resource for everyone. 

Check out our Website Usability Checklist below to get started!