Today, CSAC is rolling out our new website. We are confident you will find it easier-to navigate, more informational and just better looking.

While our old site has a library full of information and resources, it’s been difficult to navigate. It’s sort of like using the Dewey Decimal system in a computer age – or, as I told our web developers, like entering the “Winchester Mystery House of websites.” And so we all look forward to our new and improved website.

Our new site includes a number of useful features; to point out a few:

• You will discover it is easier to find information on California’s 58 counties and the services they provide; each week we will profile a different county.

• Our site is more intimately connected to our social media tools, including our blog “The County Voice,” as well as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. We also will feature more videos and photos.

• For the policy wonks among us, you can search a bill or click straight to any of our policy areas right off the home page.

• The calendar is easier to use while providing information on more events. It allows viewers to just focus on one particular calendar area, such as Institute courses or CSAC Board meetings.

• For conferences, Institute courses or meetings outside of Sacramento, you can easily find the location and directions via Google maps.

Each year, we average about 500,000 visitors to our site, with nearly 1 million page views. Our visitors come for a variety of reasons: it can be something as complex as trying to find the latest information on public-safety realignment; or it can be an individual who uses our website to find their way to their own county’s site. And while 75 percent of our visitors are from California, we do pick up visitors from around the globe. In fact, visitors from 169 countries have stopped by our website in the past year. With our new site, we expect these numbers to increase, although I don’t know how many additional visitors from French Polynesia, Kyrgyzstan, or the Isle of Man we will have.

We look forward to your feedback on what you like about the new site or where you think we can improve on. Feel free to email me at dliebler@counties.org.