09-28-2015 Stan Meiburg email on Changes and Major Improvements to EPA's Website
This is a memo from September 28, 2015 and is provided for historical purposes. Some information may not be current.
From: Meiburg, Stan
Sent: Monday, September 28, 2015 11:00 AM
Subject: Changes and Major Improvements to EPA's Website
EPA Colleagues,
September 30 is an important milestone in our five-year effort to change and significantly improve our public website (www.epa.gov). These changes take advantage of best Web practices and new technologies to help our Web visitors find information faster and easier. Since EPA employees are frequent users of EPA’s website, this work helps both us and the public. So, I’d like to share with you some key information about the changes and improvements.
What changes are being made?
- Our website is now organized around environmental topics (500+ topics)
- We have rewritten our web pages to focus on our audiences and the information they are looking for (referred to as their ‘top tasks’)
- Information that is no longer updated, but is needed for reference, has been moved to an archive (https://archive.epa.gov)
- Our website’s “look and feel” has been standardized now that we are using a Web content management system (WebCMS)
Learn more about the One EPA Web project
How do these changes improve our website?
- You can find information faster
- You can view web pages on mobile devices easier
- You get better search results
- You have more browsing options
Learn more about these improvements
What impact do these changes have in the short term?
As these improvements are made, URLs (web page addresses) change and some links, along with bookmarks, break. To help our Web visitors find what they are looking for, we are:
- redirecting some links to new pages,
- implementing an advanced search, and
- providing a list of new Web topics published.
Learn more about these short term impacts
This work to improve access to our important information would not have been possible without the hard work and tremendous dedication of colleagues on the One EPA Web team in the Office of Environmental Information and Office of Public Affairs, their colleagues in the Web Council, the Web Executive Board and web content owners across the agency. Thank you to everyone who participated in this collaborative effort.
Stan Meiburg
Acting Deputy Administrator
A. Stanley Meiburg, Ph.D.
Acting Deputy Administrator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
MC-1102A
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20460