Website Refresh

Thank you for taking part in the consultation on Oxford City Council’s website earlier this year. Your feedback has been invaluable in helping us refine and enhance the site. 

We carried out a range of work about a year ago to improve the Council’s website, including upgrading the look and structure of the site, reducing the overall number of pages and documents, and making accessibility improvements. 

During February, we asked for your feedback on the new website to help inform us as we made further improvements.

In total, 95 people responded to the consultation giving us great insight in what we can do better for you;

• 56.6% felt the search function didn’t return helpful or relevant results, making it hard to find what you were looking for.
• 37.9% mentioned encountering broken links, missing information, or technical glitches while using the site.

We received over 700 comments in the free-text boxes, with feedback covering a wide range of topics. Some raised concerns about the website’s use of cookies and the accessibility tools, while others asked for more information on specific topics like local events, section 80 demolition notices, and the dog warden.

A number commented on the website’s design. Some felt that there was too much white space, that the search box was too large, or that there weren't enough images to break up the content. Others requested a login function so you could save your progress on forms, which would make returning to incomplete tasks easier.

You also let us know what was working well for you;

• 59% of you found the page layout easy to navigate, describing it as “straightforward” or “very straightforward.”
• 62.1% appreciated the clear and helpful information provided on the website.
• 80% said the text size, colour contrast, and navigation felt accessible and user-friendly.
• 88.4% were satisfied with the website’s fast loading speed.

We’ve taken your feedback seriously and made several improvements to the website, particularly focusing on the search function and addressing technical issues:

• Duplicate webpage IDs: We identified and fixed an issue where old webpage IDs were reused when transitioning to the new website, which caused multiple pages to show up incorrectly in search results.

• Press releases: Many of you mentioned that press releases were cluttering the search results, making it hard to find relevant content. To fix this, we now automatically remove press releases after 12 months, reducing the total number from about 2,000 to just 300.

• Third-party portals: The website hosts 13 embedded applications (such as consultation, Freedom of Information, and parking portals). We have reskinned and upgraded all of these to align with the new website design, ensuring they meet current accessibility and data protection standards.

• Additional fixes: We’ve made a range of smaller improvements, including:

  • Fixing the feedback form.
  • Stopping third-party applications like YouTube from setting cookies on users' computers without permission.
  • Reworking the ‘contact us’ page to make it more user-friendly.
  • Adding a translations page, allowing the site to be translated into over 60 languages.

We’ve also reviewed all 700+ comments and, where possible, addressed your concerns. If you raised issues about broken links or trouble with search results, these should now be fixed.

Finally, while some design choices (like white space and a large search box) were intentional for accessibility and mobile responsiveness, we’ve noted your feedback and will continue to monitor and improve the user experience. We are also looking into options to introduce a login function so you can save your progress on forms, as requested.

We are aware that there are still some areas that need improving and tweaking with the website. We are now going through every page on the website systematically to try to improve the content, including to improve the clarity of pages, user journeys, and the accessibility of documents. We are also looking to make improvements to the webchat function and feedback forms. 

If you have any additional feedback or feel your concerns have not been fully addressed, please use the “Rate this page” feedback form at the bottom of the webpage that your comments refer to. These comments will come directly through to the website team. 

Finally, thank you to everyone who shared supportive comments about the project. We’ve made hundreds of thousands of changes over the past year, and your recognition of that effort means a lot to the team.