The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) has launched a redesigned version of its website at alabamapublichealth.gov. The redesign was initiated to improve the overall look and functionality of the website, which the agency considers a valuable tool in its health outreach and education efforts.
"In thinking about the redesign, we looked at ways to not only update our website on the surface, but to really improve the experience of using it," said Jennifer Allen, director of the ADPH Digital Media Branch, which manages and maintains the ADPH website. "We tried to think of ways a redesign would truly benefit our citizens, such as making it easier to get access to COVID-19 vaccines and testing."
A major piece of the redesign is the addition of a new section called Alabama's Health, which functions as a blog/newsroom for ADPH. This section, which can be accessed directly at alabamapublichealth.gov/blog, features all the news releases and publications produced and distributed by ADPH, including annual reports, information on monthly health observances, messages from State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris, the department's employee newsletter, and more.
Visitors to the site are able to access a new, more robust search feature, powered by Yext. This feature makes it easier for visitors to find specific information on the hundreds of programs and services offered by ADPH.
To better serve citizens seeking care in their area, ADPH has added a map showing the locations of each county health department to its Locations page, available at alabamapublichealth.gov/about/locations. Once there, visitors can check on a red map marker to get the address and contact information for that location; visitors can also scroll through a full list of county health departments to find information about the site nearest them.
This redesign also incorporates a couple of ways for visitors to provide feedback about the site's look and functionality. The "Report a Website Issue" form (located at alabamapublichealth.gov/about/issue) enables visitors to report technical issues such as links that are broken or pages that are down directly to the Digital Media Branch. There's also a Website Survey which visitors can use to provide feedback on the overall look and functionality of the site, and to make recommendations for additions and improvements.
"We're excited about this new version of our site, but there's more to come," Allen said. "There are a lot of new features we will be implementing throughout the course of the year."
ADPH's website redesign was a joint effort involving ADPH's Digital Media Branch and the Bureau of Information Technology, working in conjunction with the Hannon Hill web content management corporation.
(Article previously published in the April 2022 issue of Alabama's Health.)