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Metservice.com forecasts refreshed site

December 5 - 9am 655

Metservice.com is set to unveil a refreshed website improving user experience after three years of feedback and analysis.

Ranked as one of the ten most visited New Zealand websites, the redesign follows the success of its smartphone app.

“Our users are enthusiastic and highly engaged, and their input has transformed the way metservice.com looks and operates,” says Craig Delany, MetService interactive manager.

Delany says the whole user experience is now smoother, with geographically specific information displayed in real time.

The website is also more contextual with the information being served changing depending on the current time and weather conditions.

In response to user feedback about extreme weather events, MetService has also updated its display of severe weather, which is now clearly displayed in red when in force and in more neutral colours when not in force for each location.

The redesigned website is the work of a collaboration between MetService and leading Wellington web design company Pikselin.

Pikselin’s Design Director Brian Smith said he hopes users will go “a couple of clicks deeper” each time they visit, eventually developing a pattern so they know what high-value content they want and how to get it.

“The new site really is set up for that interactive, exploratory experience,” Smith says.

“Intergen’s 2012 Engaged Web report singled out MetService’s website for making great use of multimedia, and we think we’ve taken that even further with these updates.”

Feeds from MetService’s popular Facebook and Twitter profiles will be streamed to the site.

“I’m impressed with the quantity and quality of social media interactions MetService gets even on ‘average’ days, but take any major weather event – Wellington’s 2011 snow day is a good example – and those online communities just light up,” Smith says.

Delany agreed, saying: “We have a great community of visitors.

“We love interacting with them, checking out their photos and videos and answering their questions.

“We know that New Zealanders really love talking about the weather.”

Do you use the Metservice.com? Did you have any problems with the previous site?

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