City of Thornton

Thornton's previous website presented several challenges, the most significant being that it did not comply with the new Colorado House Bill establishing digital accessibility standards for public-facing websites (Colorado HB21-1110), which came into effect July 1, 2024. 

Upanup created a new website built to WCAG 2.1 AA standards, ensuring compliance with state accessibility requirements while providing users with a mobile-responsive experience that was lacking on the previous website. 

Upanup was also tasked with providing City content editors with a better and more streamlined experience, which was achieved by moving to the Drupal CMS.

Another major challenge was content migration. While the City had planned to migrate its own content, it became clear partway through the process that the volume was too high to meet the target timeline. Upanup was able to schedule additional support and provided migration assistance on short notice, enabling the City to complete this critical task and maintain its planned launch date — identified early on as a top project priority.

Upanup custom designed and built a new Drupal website for the City. 

The new site features a prominent "I want to..." menu of quicklinks that can be updated regularly based on relevant topics. This service-oriented focus makes it easier for residents to browse information, apply or pay for City services, and report issues.

Residents can also easily find opportunities for engagement through featured events and City meetings, displayed prominently on the homepage. A built-in language selector enhances accessibility for users in their preferred language, and a text-size resizer helps users customize their experience based on personal preferences and vision needs.

The website was the winner of the 2024 NAGW Pinnacle Award from the National Association of Government Web Professionals in the City/County Small/Medium Population Group.