Skokie previews redesigned village website, plans Sept. 11 launch with improved navigation and accessibility

Village communications staff on Sept. 2 previewed a redesigned Skokie website scheduled to launch Sept. 11 that aims to make information easier to find, improve accessibility and reflect the village’s updated branding. The redesign matters because staff said many residents rely on the website for essential services and the change is intended to reduce time spent searching for permits, police reports and payment portals. Communications manager Meredith Gioia said the redesign began in March with a review of documents and a focus on simple, skimmable content. She said CivicPlus, the village’s vendor, and staff ran two resident focus groups in August to test three navigation structures and that participants preferred four top-level tabs: Government, Residents, Businesses and Explore Skokie. Gioia described a new “action center” on the homepage with six buttons for high-frequency tasks (pay online, apply for jobs, view agendas, sign up for alerts) and a seasonal slideshow to highlight timely items. She said the site will display the next six public meetings and a revamped community calendar and will move the Google Translate widget to the top right to improve accessibility. She also said staff will complete an ADA compliance review of PDFs as a second phase to meet federal accessibility requirements due in April 2026. Trustees praised the work and asked about calendar subscriptions, font-size adjustments for visibility and mobile responsiveness. Gioia said calendar subscription is not part of the current project but staff will explore it; the site will be responsive and staff will pursue further PDF remediation to meet upcoming ADA deadlines. The board did not vote; the manager said the site would be completed with link testing and accessibility checks before the planned Sept. 11 launch.