3W Studios

Key Facts

• Content tailored for the audience
• Implementation of Content Management System
• Mobile integration

Content Management: a day at the
(Jacksonville) Beach

The City of Jacksonville Beach had engaged Kidd Group to develop a series of seasonal banners for the main city streets. From this work sprang a new coherant image of the city that became the backbone of the new website. The biggest change, however, came behind the scenes.

The city was already using a content management system designed specifically for municipal and government entities. The trouble was the system had to appeal to all and any types of city, and that meant it had a lot or pre-packaged and structured elements. It just wasn't flexible enough for the needs of city staff. Even the browser-based tools were complicated and unfriendly to use. With a centrally-managed code base, custom edits were difficult or impossible. Jacksonville Beach saw the wisdom of moving to a system that was built for the city's needs and not for some aggregate version of a typical city.

3W Studios deployed the Drupal content management system, an open-source product favored by such entities as the City of London and the Whitehouse. The system is fully-functional with tools such as a newsletter engine, text message alerts and a mobile-ready theme. A number of users in different departments throughout the city have access to make updates.

The most critical service we provided was content organization. The city has to service several different audiences, and our approach was to utilize the content management system to its full extent. Distinct channels of information are presented to each audience, but at the same time city staff only have to update it once. This audience-channel approach helps users find the information they need more quickly, while streamlining the maintenance of the site.