We are thrilled to announce that the new Laguna Woods Village website is in its final phases and is set to launch tentatively early November. This comprehensive project is the result of a collaborative effort involving a GRF committee, resident feedback and testing, Village Management Services (VMS) staff, and our contractor, Urban Insight, who in its 24-year experience has planned, designed, developed and successfully launched more than 500 websites.
Key Features and Design Elements
During the design phase, Urban Insight and VMS worked diligently to identify essential functionalities and design elements tailored to meet the needs of residents, board members, realtors and staff. During this phase, Urban Insight created initial design “wireframes,” or navigation and design roadmaps, to align with the Village brand and resident expectations.
In the current development phase, the focus is on improving document handling, enhancing the search function and integrating single sign-on capabilities. The collaborative user testing effort with residents aims not only to enhance resident engagement but also increase operational transparency.
Impressive Content Migration
To date, a significant amount of content has been successfully migrated to the new website, including:
- Over 11,000 files and images
- Over 7,000 documents
- 720 news posts
- 745 club posts
Enhanced Search Functionality
One of the major improvements in the new website is the enhanced search function, which now includes:
- Autosuggestions as users enter queries
- Indexed and available documents for easy access
- The ability to customize results for specific queries
Improved Privacy and Security
Privacy and security have been a top priority in the development of the new website. Key improvements include:
- The ability to restrict documents and pages to residents only
- An easy-to-use login system based on the existing resident portal login
The design concepts were officially debuted to the Media and Communications Committee on July 15, showcasing the thoughtful and resident-centric approach taken in this project.
Training and Support
Urban Insight has been instrumental in providing training for content editors and webmasters via comprehensive documentation, instructional videos and training sessions to ensure a smooth transition to the new platform.
Final Steps
As we approach the final stages of this project, the focus will be on:
- Content entry and updating
- SEO implementation
- Final content migration to sync new and initial content
- Beta testing and user testing
We are eagerly anticipating the official site launch at the beginning of November. Post-launch, we will continue to provide support to ensure a seamless user experience.
Stay tuned for more updates as we get closer to unveiling the new and improved Laguna Woods Village website!
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