Howard County Gets New Website

The Howard County government’s website has gotten a makeover.

As of about 4 p.m. Thursday, the county began transferring information to the new site, according to county spokesman Kevin Enright.

The new website boasts brighter colors, more photographs and links to the two branches of county government—the county council and county executive’s office—front and center.

Along the bottom of the page is a scrolling list of cheerful graphics that leads to county departments, but by topic, not name.

“Executive (Ken) Ulman wanted a website that was more focused on regular citizens’ needs,” Enright said late Thursday. “The thought was that the old site had lots of information but it was departmentally structured.”

For example, a picture of a sprouting plant says “environment,” and leads to a page organized by topics such as "battery recycling"
and “living with beaver,” not the Bureau of Environmental Services.

A list of links to the relevant government agencies is on the right side of the page, and some are listed under more than one topic; Parks and Recreation is listed under “environment” and “health,” among other headers.

“… Most visitors know what they are looking for but they don’t always know what department that information may be listed under,” Enright said. 

“In short, we wanted to make the site more user-friendly.”