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Just about every city in Broward County has an official website. The city website is an excellent source of information that saves the city staff time and money by having critical information accessible to the public. The website may be the first place a potential resident may go to find out more information about the city they are moving to or where a business can bid on future projects. City websites also allow residents to find answers about their utility bills, review meeting agendas, or email city officials.

I looked over 30 websites, and I judged the following by:

Style – Must look up-to-date and have no animation or scrolling marquees.
Navigation – Items must be easy to find. If people can’t find what they are looking for, not only are they going to leave, but they will contact the city via phone, tying up staff time.
Layout – Items must not be all over the place. Things must flow. Boxes of information must not be everywhere or link in a weird place.

Several of these cities must understand the importance of all of these factors because it looks like they put a substantial amount of time and effort into making their sites look good and work efficiently. Others have a long ways to go and need to update their websites.

Best City Websites in Broward County

Tie – Parkland and City of Sunrise

Parkland

Easy to navigate, beautiful layout and the colors are nice and make it very easy on the eyes than stark white. Stunning photography highlights parts of Parkland not only in the header but also on the top box. The horizontal menu is easy to find items needed. The calendar on the right is helpful. A search tool is handy. The site was redesigned two years ago, said City Manager Caryn Gardner-Young.

2012 Best and Worst City Websites in Broward County

The city of Parkland – Click to go to the Parkland website.

City of Sunrise

Fantastic Photography that makes me want to move or do business there. Horizontal menu with creative icons. Social icons on top. The icons are so good because they don’t go overboard with every social icon ever created. They stick to the basics: Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr. Any more than that is pretentious and useless. Weather and calendar and easy to navigate. This is a professional website and shows the City of Sunrise has taken great measures to perfect it.

The city of Sunrise – Click to go to the Sunrise website.

Worst City Website in Broward County

The City of Pembroke Pines

Here is a website that looks like it hasn’t had a facelift since the 1990s because it’s so busy; my eyes just get frustrated by looking at it. Do they put their residents through this mess to find things? The boxes of information that surround the page resemble ads. Imagine trying to find an event through this mish-mosh of boxes. I think the city of Pembroke Pines needs to get a professional look to reflect how far this city has come in 20 years.

The city of Pembroke Pines – Click to go to the website.

Most Creative City Website

Southwest Ranches

Southwest Ranches, which has about 7,500 residents and is located in Western Broward county, keeps the flavor of what the Ranches is all about: “Preserving Our Rural Lifestyle.” The website resembles a barn fence with items hung on the fence, which are hyperlinks to get into the site. Very creative.

Southwest Ranches website – Click to go to the website.

City Websites That Need Improvement

I wouldn’t be doing any of these cities justice without telling them what they can improve upon. Perhaps, they already know and don’t care. Maybe they are looking to update their websites soon. They should know how to make their websites more user-friendly and find the company to do the best job for them and their residents.

City of Tamarac

Tamarac may be Broward’s unofficial “King of Social Media” for its ability to Tweet, but its website is way behind the times. Tamarac tries to cram as much information as possible with many different fonts that it doesn’t look very clear. Scrolling marquees (or fonts) are another distraction. No beautiful photos of the city, just a self-promotional photo of their city commissioners on the front. The fonts are way too small. These need to be increased, and the layout needs a facelift. There is also dead space on the front page that has nothing in there. If filled, it will probably be more links which is just a temporary fix. Not pictured below, but there is a series of world flags on the website at the bottom. Do we need this website translated into all those languages?

City of Tamarac website – Click to go to the website.

Coral Springs

Busy busy, too much of a good thing. I know Coral Springs has a lot to share with the residents, but they have to find a way to integrate this information into their menu items. There are just too many things on the front page. Links everywhere and small fonts. The worst part is that the social icons at the top require a magnifying glass to see. A calendar would be helpful instead of all those circles. Coral Springs is a beautiful city and what this website needs is some photos. The photos that are squashed on top do not paint a picture of this “Premier Community.”

Coral Springs website – Click to go to the website

Margate

Gray and depressing. Scrolling marquee races across quickly, so you better read fast, or you’ll miss the important message flashing by—too many widgets with different styles that have information and articles for residents to click. The header is crammed toward the top with just a tiny photo of the beautiful city, not the parks, but a photo of the city municipal buildings! I hope that’s not the image the City of Margate wants to portray to potential residents and businesses. “Welcome to Margate; we have a municipal building!”

City of Margate website – Click to go to the website

Town of Davie

This website is just hard to find anything. I used to live in this town, and I constantly called the city because I could never find the information I needed. There are way too many links on the front page. The designer may think this makes it easier for residents to see things; I found it one big mess. They need to look at some of the easier-to-navigate sites, get rid of this mess on the front page, and use more menu buttons to clean it up. I do give them credit for the calendar on the front page.

Town of Davie website – Click to go to the website.

Author Profile

Sharon Aron Baron

Editor of Talk Media and writer for Coral Springs Talk. CST was created in 2012 to provide News, Views, and Entertainment for the residents of Coral Springs and the rest of South Florida.