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Sponsored by the
Utah Department of
Environmental Quality
DEQ Web Committee
Every month, thousands of people visit the Department of Environmental Quality’s Web site, looking to find where they can go to dispose of their household hazardous waste or to check out the latest air quality conditions or a host of other questions.
Visitors to the Department’s Web page, www.deq.utah.gov, will notice a new look this month, one that officials hope leads to easier access to the kinds of information sought by the public.
“It was a year in the making,” said Brandon Smart, DEQ’s Webmaster. “It started with a Web committee, which consisted of scientists, engineers, and IT professionals. Our goal was to give DEQ a more uniform look across the six divisions while making sure we adhere to the current Web standards.”
Brandon Smart, DEQ web master
That meant completely revamping the site. Smart, a 28-year-old graduate of Utah Career College, researched the latest design features to make sure it would be compatible with all browsers and internet devices. “For instance, our previous design was a table-based layout. The new version uses CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) to achieve a fluid layout that is able to expand to fill the users’ screen. This method of design offers many advantages in that it makes our site more accommodating, easier to use, and more efficient,” Smart said.
Another focus is to ensure that users with special needs are able to access and use the Web site. A variety of features have been added to enable users of assistive technologies to easily access information.
Users also are able to print any page, an improvement over the old site.
“An added benefit of the redesign was reduced load times and overall file size,” Smart said. “We’ve eliminated a lot of duplication, and at the same time reduced the file sizes to maintain a good look and feel while keeping wait times to a minimum.”
Weeks before the Web was launched, surveys were sent out to various users like media groups and DEQ employees, asking their opinion, which remained anonymous to allow them to freely express what they thought about the new site. “I’m really happy with the feedback I received,” Smart said. “It ranged from making sure we provide the information about our loan programs more visibly to correcting the outdated information we had about certain programs.”
Having a functional Web site is an important public outreach tool, noted Leah Ann Lamb, director of DEQ’s Planning and Public Affairs. “It’s our No. 1 way we communicate to the public about DEQ programs, current issues and how we can provide assistance,” she said. “Brandon did a superb job meeting our objectives of what we wanted from the site.”
The Web site is intended to be flexible, added Smart. “It will likely change again,” he said. “We are open to modifications based on feedback and new technology. For instance, adding more electronic forms, allowing users to simply fill out forms on-line, News Feeds, and a variety of other features will be added, making the site more interactive.
To learn more about the new DEQ Web site, please visit www.deq.utah.gov/about_DEQ_site.htm