Both legal requirements and the pandemic placed high demands on the web

- The most important thing for us was to meet the accessibility requirements in the web directive. We had actually intended to prioritize this earlier, but then the pandemic came and we had to focus on other things. When the Digital Agency gave us a comprehensive report in the fall of 2021, it became urgent to ensure that we meet the legal requirements. At the same time, it became clear during the pandemic the importance of a good website. It helped us to prioritize among the needs. We had seen many needs that we needed to fix and we were determined to make it easier for the visitors with some new functions, says Annacarin Andersson, communications manager in Hudiksvall municipality.

The communication unit sat down together and brainstormed about needs and wishes. Based on that, they produced a dummy that became the basis for us at Soleil. On the list were, among other things, a clearer search function, good news listings and mobile adaptation.

- Then Soleil got to talk about what was wise from an accessibility perspective and feasible. It was a great way of working for us. Soleil has also been good at finding ways to reuse solutions. We are very pleased with the result. We have received a lot of positive feedback and it feels very good that we now have modern websites that meet both the accessibility requirements and the needs of the businesses, Annacarin thinks.

The municipality sees a continued need to be able to highlight news on the start page, this has been clear during the pandemic. It is therefore possible to subscribe to the news, which has often also functioned as press releases, to your email.

Easy to find the right one

It was important for the municipality to better integrate the e-services with the information on the website. Clear "self-service buttons", which make it easy and quick to find the e-services while providing the visitor with the necessary information, became a solution. The contact information has also been given a boost both in terms of design and function. Central to the project has been how the new websites work for those surfing via mobile phone. It turned out really well, Annacarin thinks. For example, Bromangymnasiet had a mobile app before, which did not meet the accessibility requirements. With the new website, the app has played its role, visiting bromangymnasiet.se via mobile works at least as well.

- Now we will continuously check the accessibility of the web to make sure that we have landed correctly and meet all requirements, says Annacarin.

So far, the investment has yielded good results. The former web was in place 53 in Weberpf's comparison of municipal websites. In May 2022, hudiksvall.se ended up in place 6. Read more about Webperf's report from May 2022 at webperf.se

Built on existing templates

The editors have not had to rewrite the content at all as the new websites are entirely based on the templates that existed before. What was most prioritized in this project was design and function because the municipality had worked a lot with its content before. We have strived for a good balance between all the different elements and have worked a lot with the navigation.

- We put together a new basic template and when it was time to put the changes into production, it was enough to point the existing templates to the basic template. Then all pages got the new design straight away, says Per Lundström, Support and Administration Manager, Soleil.

Stylish listing sells the school's courses

Bromangymnasiet.se is structured in the same way as the official web and is located as a sub-web. The school wanted to showcase and market its wide range of courses in a neat and simple way. Therefore, there is a special solution where the various programs are listed on the start page with a matching icon. On the page for all programs, the same listing is fixed with images instead of icons. That arrangement can also be found on the official website to present the primary schools.

Beautiful nature images and Hudiksvall's skyline frame the web

- The appearance has been given a real boost. We added a module so that an image is randomly placed on the start page based on the season. Here we can point out a spring folder, summer folder, autumn folder and a winter folder, explains Per.

At the bottom of the page there is a stylish skyline to frame the websites in a nice way. There is a variant for hudiksvall.se and a separate version for bromangymnasiet.se.

Long-term cooperation

Soleil has managed Hudiksvall municipality's websites since 2015 when we built a new website in Sitevision. In this project, the management team of three people was responsible for the preliminary work and the websites were launched in February 2022.

- Soleil are unprestigious and responsive, it works great to collaborate with them, concludes Annacarin.

More pictures at www.hudiksvall.se