State of Idaho’s Official Website Gets A New Address and Appearance

October 1, 2004

BOISE, ID - The state’s official website has a new address and a new appearance -- idaho.gov - providing a single, easily recognizable presence on the Internet for Idaho state government’s electronic delivery of online services and information for Idaho citizens.

“With the growing volume of information and services on our state portal, we needed a more easily recognized and remembered web address that is easy to navigate and organized around current topics and areas of interest they’re looking for,” said Pam Ahrens, Director of the Department of Administration, and Chairman of the Information Technology Resource Management Council.

The dot.gov naming convention is becoming standard for government entities. Most importantly, web addresses containing “idaho.gov” will give a clear indication to users that these are official websites that belong to the State of Idaho, Ahrens added.

Updated Appearance & Function

The redesigned homepage incorporates the common graphic branding of the word “Idaho,” as developed and promoted by the Idaho Commerce and Labor. Improved category organization, a more robust search function, as well as links to Spanish pages and resources have also been added.

New Name - Idaho.gov

Noticeably absent from idaho.gov is “www” and the alphabet soup-like format characteristic of the addresses it replaces: www.accessidaho.org and www.state.id.us. Although the old addresses will automatically link to idaho.gov -- it is recommended that users update their web browser’s “Favorites” list, as the old address will eventually be phased out.

In addition to the new idaho.gov domain, a similar address - id.gov - will be made available to city and county governments for their use. State government agencies will incorporate the idaho.gov as part of their respective web addresses: “state-agency”.idaho.gov State employees’ email addresses will also reflect the new portal domain during the transition.

Access to Online Services

The state’s website provides access to over 55 online and information services; including vehicle license registration currently for Ada, Canyon, Gooding, Kootenai, and Oneida Counties with more to be added; personal and business tax filing and payment; motor carrier permit, registration and endorsement purchasing; UCC lien search, filing and amendment; professional license renewal; and the offender database search.

Themed Web Portals

In early September, a one-stop, multi-agency portal -- business.idaho.gov -- was announced which links users to resources and permits necessary for starting and operating a business in Idaho. Several other mini or “theme” portals are under development for rollout in the near future including: jobs.idaho.gov and realestate.idaho.gov. They will join other popular mini-portals: employee.idaho.gov (for state employees) and trucking.idaho.gov. The state’s home page was launched as accessidaho.org in 2000. Approximately 8,000 users visit the site every day.

Contact Information:

Pat Wynn 208-332-1827
Idaho Department of Administration
pwynn@adm.state.id.us

Rich Steckler 208-332-0102
Access Idaho
rich@accessidaho.org