Sporting a cleaner look, more usability and some key upgrades, City of Hope’s revised and updated Web site went live late last month.
The site, which remains at www.cityofhope.org, better showcases City of Hope’s clinical, research and education programs. A new layout and architecture provide users with easier navigation and faster access to the content most relevant to them.
A nifty “Find a Doctor” feature lets users search for physicians by name, disease, gender or language. And the site’s search function now returns highlighted “best bet” results at the top of the page, while an advanced search function lets users narrow their search, sort results and indicate the number of results they want displayed on a page.
“We’re particularly excited about the greatly improved calendar system,” said Frank Simmons, who led the site’s redesign initiative for City of Hope. Found in the “Quick Links” section (also an upgrade), the new calendar allows users to control and personalize how they access information about events at City of Hope. They can load events in their Outlook calendar or any other online calendar, send an R.S.V.P. to events online, subscribe to preferred events and sign up for event reminders. Users can even choose how they view the calendar.
Simmons noted that Web developers plan to keep upgrading the site.
“Web sites are constantly evolving entities,” he said. “We want to enhance the ‘Find a Doc’ and search functions even more, and we have a number of other items planned, including a new way to make donations online.” New features will appear over the coming months.
Simmons also acknowledged the important role users played in the redesign. He encouraged site visitors to offer suggestions and provide feedback through e-mail at webmarketing@coh.org.