The city of Birmingham on Tuesday launched a new version of its website, www.birminghamal.gov. Officials say the new version offers easier, clearer access to the most popular tasks and services as well as enhanced search capabilities and a clean, modern design.

“We have listened to the requests from the public and our employees about the desire for a ‘digital city hall’,” Mayor Randall L. Woodfin said in a release. “In collaboration with the Birmingham City Council, we identified a path forward to create a web site that is easy to search and accomplish basic tasks. The responsive web design allows users to effectively use the site regardless of the device display size. The user should easily move from a desk top computer to a tablet to a mobile phone without interruption.”

The updated website merges the Mayor’s Office, the Birmingham City Council, city departments and many city-owned cultural venues under one URL. A priority for the city during this project was to increase accessibility. The new website is ADA compliant and multilingual.

The process to develop the new website included a request for proposals in late 2023. The McLean, Virginia-based Interpersonal Frequency, a website design and development firm that works exclusively with public-sector clients, was awarded the contract and provided research, training, design and technical support. The cost of the project was $578,975.

City officials said the launch caps a two-year project and 10 months of work by a cross-departmental team and Interpersonal Frequency. The contractor gathered data about how people use the website, their satisfaction with the site and expectations when using the site.

Rick Journey, director of communications for the city’s office of public information, said stakeholder input was gathered through listening sessions, interviews and questionnaires that included online surveys for users visiting the site.

Journey added that the site was built with a security-first approach to ensure robust protection for user data and privacy.

“The City of Birmingham has taken significant steps to ensure the security of its new website and protect users’ data,” Journey said. “Key features include data encryption to keep information safe, strict access controls to prevent unauthorized access, intrusion detection systems to monitor for threats, and regular security audits to identify and fix vulnerabilities. These measures, along with many others, help keep the website secure and safeguard users’ information.”