So I just went to pay my auto excise, and things are looking a little different at newtonma.gov! I haven’t explored it too much yet, or checked on mobile. Has anyone else?
I had a little trouble finding Departments without the familiar drop down menu on the left side. It turns out Departments is buried down at the very bottom of the page. Below the Calendar which stubbornly refuses to load. But also accessible from the City Governmen
t button at the top of the page.
The “High Interest Projects” link is accessible from the “Businesses” tab, not the “Residents” tab. (Why am I not surprised?) And when you go to “High Interest Projects,” there’s still nothing on the Orr Block. Sigh.
The City Council committee webpages may not be done. There’s almost nothing on Land Use’s 2016 page. Zoning & Planning has no audios for 2016. Programs & Services has some Reports and some audios for 2016, but not 
others. And alas, the audios themselves are still those lame players with no way to fast forward or go back, and that tend to crap out in the middle of playing.
How’s the website working for what other people use?
Oh I feel someone’s pain, just not sure who. Launching a new version of a website never goes quite the way one hopes. The type lines up funny or the navigation is confusing or the photo shows a lovely fall scene in the middle of February. Never easy. But if at the end of the day, the functionality is improved, it’s worth all the angst and people in other departments who might be mad at your right about now.
Oh I feel someone’s pain, just not sure who. Launching a new version of a website never goes quite the way one hopes. The type lines up funny or the navigation is confusing or the photo shows a lovely fall scene in the middle of February. Never easy. But if at the end of the day, the functionality is improved, it’s worth all the angst and people in other departments who might be mad at your right about now.
Julia, it looks like the site is still run by the same civica software, so don’t get your hopes up. Just an upgrade with a new template, perhaps?
Julia, it looks like the site is still run by the same civica software, so don’t get your hopes up. Just an upgrade with a new template, perhaps?
The link to Neighborhood Area Councils has yet to be made which is unfortunate.
The link to Neighborhood Area Councils has yet to be made which is unfortunate.
@Marie, seems like the links are now working but using older content.
Too bad it is still based on Civica but atleast now we can edit using Chrome.
@Marie, seems like the links are now working but using older content.
Too bad it is still based on Civica but atleast now we can edit using Chrome.
I was unable to figure out how to pay my excise bill online. Clicking the “Pay Bill” button just redirected me back to the search form. And Kelly Ryan’s site did not have my 2016 bill listed.
I was unable to figure out how to pay my excise bill online. Clicking the “Pay Bill” button just redirected me back to the search form. And Kelly Ryan’s site did not have my 2016 bill listed.
Maybe it was fixed completely after your posting at 3:04pm. I found the excise bill online pay area very quickly. http://www.newtonma.gov/gov/services/billpay.asp
and from there: https://epay.cityhallsystems.com/selection
and I also found the Upper Falls area council and other area council pages easily:
http://www.newtonma.gov/gov/neighborhood/upper_falls/default.asp
The only negative was that the Upper Falls area council page was woefully behind. It listed December 17th as the last meeting, but there have been a January and February meeting since then. Maybe the webmaster took screen shots a couple of months before the conversion.
Maybe it was fixed completely after your posting at 3:04pm. I found the excise bill online pay area very quickly. http://www.newtonma.gov/gov/services/billpay.asp
and from there: https://epay.cityhallsystems.com/selection
and I also found the Upper Falls area council and other area council pages easily:
http://www.newtonma.gov/gov/neighborhood/upper_falls/default.asp
The only negative was that the Upper Falls area council page was woefully behind. It listed December 17th as the last meeting, but there have been a January and February meeting since then. Maybe the webmaster took screen shots a couple of months before the conversion.
I had no problem finding the excise bill pay back when I posted a couple days ago, and I think I paid it as soon as I go it, so I don’t think yuppie scum could have been trying much earlier. Did it go wrong subsequently?
I think the Area Council content being out of date is not the fault of the new website. It was out of date on Newtonville before. Nothing about the Orr meeting ahead of the meeting. Perhaps the Area Council people responsible for doing them need better access or better instruction on how to do it.
I had no problem finding the excise bill pay back when I posted a couple days ago, and I think I paid it as soon as I go it, so I don’t think yuppie scum could have been trying much earlier. Did it go wrong subsequently?
I think the Area Council content being out of date is not the fault of the new website. It was out of date on Newtonville before. Nothing about the Orr meeting ahead of the meeting. Perhaps the Area Council people responsible for doing them need better access or better instruction on how to do it.