By ED BALDRIDGE
ed.baldridge@newssun.com
AVON PARK -- Avon Park's Web site will get a new look coming into the new year, and the changes should allow better communications with the public, according to City Clerk Cheryl Tietjen.
"We will be tweaking this as we go, but I understand that we will have more access to update information," Tietjen said. "There is going to be more flexibility, and we will be adding features that make the site more appealing."
Tietjen said the city budgeted $4,000 for the site, and that the current bid from Advanced Systems Integration was the lowest, but would still come in at the projected amount.
"It will give them more control of their own information," said Bill Rodriguez of Advanced Systems Integration on Monday.
Rodriguez stated that the new Web site will have a content management control system behind the scenes called Joomla, which will give the end-user the flexibility to make content and theme changes without major editing to the code that runs the site.
Tietjen advised cautiously that the Web site could be unstable for up to a week from Monday, and that utilities customers may have issues paying their bills online until the transition is complete.
Rodriguez expects the transition to run smoothly, and said it could be done by Christmas, despite Tietjen's warnings that it could take until the 28th before the site is fully functional.
"Christmas, that's our target date. We have already started the domain name changes, and we will host the Web site itself. There will not be any big changes in the security, but the new site will allow more content to be posted," Rodriguez said.
"They will also have the capability to add Flash," Rodriguez said, meaning the Web site option of adding video and multimedia for end users.
Rodriguez was not clear on the specific details of the programming that was taking place, such as the other features that are available with Joomla like e-mail list services or the potential advertising that is touted on the Joomla Web site www.joomla.org, stating that he was not the one specifically doing the design.
"We subcontract that out to a friend of the family," he said, but was not forthcoming on further details.
Tietjen, however, was excited about the changes that ultimately give the community more access to the city's workings.
"This is the first time that we have updated the Web site since we started it," Tietjen said. "I am glad that we have a local company working on it."
The new site will have the same address for those who wish to follow the updates.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010 - www.newssun.com/122210-eb-ap-webstie