Town of Collingwood

Accessible platform for Ontario municipality

Collingwood is a beautiful waterfront community north of Toronto, situated on the shores of the vast Georgian Bay. Its vibrant downtown is home to galleries, restaurants, theatres, and events throughout the yearincluding an annual Elvis Festival that draws fans and impersonators from around the world. Local slopes and trails are a prime spot for winter sports, and the summer attracts crowds for sailing, swimming, hiking, and biking. The Town sought to create an easy-to-use, mobile-friendly platform that would be fully accessible to all users and showcase the area to visitors. 

Visit Town of Collingwood

Services Provided

  • Custom Solutions
  • Accessible Design
  • Integrated Online Tools
  • User-focused Design
  • User-friendly CMS

The Challenge

To better serve everyone in the community, Collingwood sought to replace their outdated municipal website with a more accessible, user-friendly communication tool. The province of Ontario is leading the way nationally in enforcing website accessibility standards. By 2021, all public sector organizations in the province will need to provide fully accessible web content that meets the international Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The Town took this opportunity as a chance to rethink their website so that it is easier for their staff to update content, and for residents, businesses, and visitors to get the information they want quickly and easily.

Please see the before (left) and after (right) images below. 

Old Collingwood website homepage
Collingwood website scrolling homepage.

The Solution

Creating a great user experience meant transforming the original website's complex and sometimes repetitive site map. Town staff were passionate and determined throughout the process of reconfiguring and distilling content. We collaborated with their team to create a modern website design with an intuitive, user-focused site architecture that highlights the information users are most keen to see.

Accessibility factors into every aspect of the website build. Design standards like strong colour contrast ensure that the website is as legible as possible. Development best practices ensure that the website can be used for people in all kinds of circumstances; for instance, the whole website can be navigated by keyboard, using the Tab and arrow keys, for desktop users that can't or prefer not to use a mouse. Sign up for our quarterly newsletter below to stay informed about web accessibility trends and more! 

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Website transit page
mobile views of the homepage

The Results

The Town's new website is accessible and engaging, showcasing local events and making it easy for anyone to find information and services. To help audiences navigate the website, the homepage features helpful tools like quicklinks and I want to... menus, where residents can apply for everything from a dog tag to a marriage licence. We're thrilled that the Town's new municipal website won gold in two international competitions this year, the dotCOMM Awards and the AVA Awards. Take a minute to explore the Town's municipal web solution.

If you're curious about your website's accessibility, check out these tips to make your website content more accessible and connect with our team of experts to review your website.