A site to be seen

CITY CENTER — Burbank’s official website — a quilt of ad hoc fonts, logos and colors against a white page — shed its drab skin Tuesday, initiating a new online presence that city officials said was more reflective of the “Media Capital of the World.”

“Looking at our old website, who would have believed that?” said Public Information Officer Keith Sterling. “The website is our front door, the first image people see of us around the world. For a city known as ‘The Media Capital of the World,’ the old one was not a good representation of that. This site is.”

Launched this week with little publicity and even less fanfare, www.BurbankUSA.com will give residents access to an online hub connecting them with the city through user-friendly calendars, e-notifications and social media, Sterling said.

The home page, emblazoned in “Burbank blue,” features a backdrop of the city’s skyline with rotating images of the Walt Disney Co., Warner Bros., NBC and other landmarks.

Drop-down tabs direct visitors to city services, including information on where one should go to adopt a pet, file a grievance or pay parking tickets and utility bills.

Government meeting calendars and agendas, as well as contact information for city executives, is no longer 10 clicks away, but “right at the tip of your fingertips,” Sterling said.

“The goal is easy access and helping people connect in a timely manner,” he said. “But the site is not finished. It provides a great structure and template for us to add to.”

Among those additions are links to new Facebook and Twitter accounts that city departments have set up for public information, Deputy City Manager Joy Forbes said.

“We want to be a part of social media. It makes sense,” she said.

“Connecting that with the Police Department site, which now has a feature where you can ask the chief a question, makes sense.”

It’s not that the city hasn’t been progressive online, but more that its features are obscured by dated technology, Forbes added. The library, for instance, has for years offered readers assistance through an online “help” function.

Designed and built by Santa Monica-based Vision Internet Providers Inc., which bills itself as the “The Government Website Experts,” the new www.BurbankUSA.com cost $50,000 and took more than a year to complete.

Vision’s client list includes cities across California, Texas and New York.

Among its most intuitive features are an “eNotify Me” sign-up function that lets users subscribe by e-mail to city events and news, including announcements from the Police and Fire departments.

Forbes said the city plans to add more features to the site, one of which will include regular Channel 6 newscasts by Sterling.

Among his first entries is a zany take on the city’s website launch.

In the episode, Sterling is chased by a horde of paparazzi, highlights the features of the new site before residents, two-by-two, tout the city’s Web address.

“We’re getting the name out there,” he said. “On repeat.”