A usability analysis of municipal government websites in Alabama

This study uses a heuristics-based content analysis to determine the extent to which municipal government websites comply with basic usability and accessibility best practices. We applied this technique to 129 official websites for Alabama cities. Most of the sites had substantial navigation problems; for example, 91.4% failed to use a breadcrumb trail to help users recall their location within the site's organizational structure. This study has implications for developers tasked with developing a site that conveys credibility and thus attracts the attention of companies that bring jobs to and produce jobs in the city. In an article currently in preparation, we explore both our study's results and its implications in greater detail.