Communication
Clear and precise communication with web developers is essential for urban planners to ensure a high performance website, because planners play a crucial role in guiding web developers to create websites that serve the community’s needs.
Specify the most important features needed for a project at the early stages. Those features could include:
GIS integration
Document libraries
Community forum
Forms
Event Calendar
Accessibility Tools
Database needs
Dynamic page needs (database supported)
Interactive Features
User login & Authentication
User IP Tracking
Communicate in clear and plain language, avoiding technical jargon. Instead of saying, “Can you fix the CSS?”, say: “The font size on mobile is too small—can we increase it?”. Instead of “We need better UI/UX”, say: “People should be able to find zoning information in three clicks or less.”
Appendix D provides a list of sample requests/communications with web developers.