The website of Mayor Kevin Faulconer received a more mobile-friendly facelift Monday, a small part of a pending overhaul of the city of San Diego's Internet presence.
"We're one of the most innovative cities in the country, yet our website doesn't reflect that," Faulconer said.
City officials said the plan is to make city information more accessible to the public and easier for municipal employees to update.
Ron Vazquez, who manages web services for the city, said whoever wants to update one of the site's 8,000 pages has to know the complicated HTML Internet language.
Not only will the appearance of the city of San Diego's website improve, but a new content management system will be purchased to make it easier for employees to create a new page or update an existing one. City officials hope that will encourage workers to update the site faster, making it more responsive to public needs.
"The goal is to build what I think will be the most informative opportunity for information of any big city in the country," Faulconer said.
The upgrade of the mayor's section should be thought of as "a beta," spokeswoman Jen Lebron Kuhney said.
The mayor's office will encourage feedback from the public. A private firm has been retained to seek comments from community groups next month, and surveys will be taken at public gatherings.
Vazquez said the city's website, which was redesigned two years ago but maintained the archaic content system, received 17 million visits last year. The most popular sections are for the public library, police and fire departments, and development services, he said.
The rollout of the full upgrade is planned for next year, Kuhney said.
