Technology

User-centred website for the Zurich Kanton

VASS created the new Canton of Zurich website in an interdisciplinary collaboration with the Swiss agencies Unic and Zeix.

The Canton of Zurich has completely revised its website, zh.ch. User needs were placed in the centre of attention.

Instead of orchestrating the content based on the various organizations of the Canton of Zurich, the content was designed and created from scratch by the editorial team based on visitor needs.

VASS created the new Canton of Zurich website in an interdisciplinary collaboration with the Swiss agencies Unic and Zeix.

VASS was responsible for the technical conception and realisation of both frontend and backend.

Easy access to all of the Canton of Zurich’s information and services with Adobe Experience Manager.

Technology

The challenge

Becoming user-centric

The content architecture of the website of the Canton of Zurich was previously designed according to the Canton’s organization and reflected an internal view. 

In contrast, the new website was designed with function in focus and the aim of providing easy access to services. 

For example, a study with website users showed that users’ primary requirement for a new website was to find information quickly and easily. 

This is why the design is geared towards accessibility and a clear content structure, with a page structure that is as simple and as consistent as possible, clear and generous typography, and recognisable interaction patterns. 

In order to make this possible, a big change in the organization in regards to managing the website was necessary.

A theme-oriented organization was created, which enables effectively training and managing the new website. 

For the implementation and operation, around 300 employees were trained as content managers and editors. 

From a technical point of view, the new implementation should fulfil the criteria of easy maintenance and expandability of the application to a high degree.

This was achieved by tailoring state-of-the-art Adobe Experience Manager content management functions to the needs of authors.

Seamless integration of existing and future web services

 

 

Kanton-zh

How we did it

An accessible and topic-oriented website

By taking a technical shoulder-to-shoulder view during the conception phase, challenges could be identified at an early stage.

An ideal balance between technical implementation and the requirements of the stakeholders from the Canton of Zurich could be found.

The result

Company

The website won several awards on Best of Swiss Web Awards 2021:

  • Usability bronze
  • Technology bronze
  • Public Value bronze

Technical

 

  • Implemented modern web technologies: Typescript, HTTP2, CSS3, HTML5.
  • Adopted strict development standards: coding conventions, four-eye principle, and component blueprint.
  • Comprehensive component and integration testing to identify behavioral changes early.
  • Local development environments created via Docker for faster setup and simulation.
  • Ensured key performance metrics: responsiveness, platform independence, performance, accessibility.
  • Continuous prototyping and architecture improvements for future scalability and flexibility.
  • AEM workflows optimized for content creation and maintenance through taxonomy-based linking and organisation.

 

Technologies

Technologies

AEM

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