NIC Hawaii and the State of Hawaii Office of Enterprise Technology Services are pleased to announce the launch of the redesigned Hawaii.gov, portal.ehawaii.gov. Serving as the official website for the state, the site makes it easy for citizens to learn about and interact with Hawaii government, featuring the latest COVID-19 health, business and travel information, in addition to other relevant content curated for residents, business owners and visitors.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of giving our residents the option of doing business online,” said Douglas Murdock, Chief Information Officer, State of Hawaii Office of Enterprise Technology Services. “The redesign makes it easier for our residents to navigate and provides information for conducting business with the state and county agencies right at their fingertips.”

With more than 1.5 million visitors in 2020 alone, the primary focus of the redesign was to improve the user experience. NIC Hawaii updated all site information and navigation based on analysis of data and past audience behavior. The site continues to use responsive features that adapt to the visitor’s device, whether it’s a smartphone, tablet or personal computer, and it meets accessibility guidelines to ensure information is available to all.

“Our goal is to make sure citizens can access the information they need quickly and intuitively, especially in today’s rapidly evolving environment,” said Burt Ramos, NIC Hawaii General Manager. “For this redesign, we worked hand-in-hand with the state to analyze needs and make sure the most pertinent information is easy to find and readily available.”

The most popular page, a listing of more than 120 online services across all state, city and county offices, helps users conduct business online without having to visit a government office. Moreover, an alerts page provides county-specific information on COVID-19, severe weather, vog, volcanic activity, beach safety, traffic updates and more.

Additional features include a comprehensive government directory of all departments and agencies, a social media page with links to more than 340 government accounts and a news feed that aggregates current events from most agencies. A Flickr photo pool allows citizens to share photos with the chance to have them featured on the site. Finally, the background design will change throughout the year to keep the site looking fresh.

The last redesign of Hawaii.gov was launched in 2014 and was the recipient of 17 awards including the notable Best of the Web – Best State Website and Web Marketing Association Best Government Website awards.

The Hawaii.gov website was created in partnership with NIC Hawaii, the official internet portal manager of eHawaii.gov. NIC Hawaii is a subsidiary of NIC Inc., a leading digital government solutions and payments company serving more than 6,000 federal, state and local government agencies across the nation.