Our Approach

"Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black"  

                                                                                                                         - Henry Ford

 

Getting a new website, in some ways, is like getting a new car.  Once upon a time all websites and cars were handmade custom to order, and no two were alike.  As the car industry matured, standard models emerged, and today almost everyone buys cars from a factory.  Of course there are options for customization, for everything from color to cup holders.  But the basic architecture of cars are standardized for maximum efficiency and performance.  This makes today's automobiles much more reliable than they ever were when each one was custom made, and makes servicing them much easier with standardized parts and maintenance schedules.  

 

We think websites should be made the same way.  Contrary to the dominant solutions in the marketplace, in which each website is handmade to order (with the price tag to match), a local government website should be as out-of-the-box as possible.  Appropriate customization comes from understanding an agency's particular style of operation—it's particular needs and challenges--and integrating off-the-shelf components  in such a way that the components help the city communicate more clearly and effectively with their constituency.   Just as with today's modern cars, customization should be used to enhance features and usability, not for it’s own sake.