Visual Redesign with Content Management

Introduction

The Louisiana Department of Revenue’s website had outgrown the systems meant to manage and present it. This meant leaving content editors locked out, visitors lost in outdated navigation, and awaiting support tickets for content changes. OTS redesigned the site from the ground up, delivering a modern CMS-driven platform that empowers non-technical staff, meets accessibility standards, and aligns with LDR’s recently-updated brand identity.

Background

LDR’s existing site stored all content and code inside a Visual Studio project as static HTML or database-embedded HTML. Only developers could make changes, which created a bottleneck for a content library that had grown to over 5,000 unique pieces, including more than 1,000 tax forms and 800 FAQs nested more than two levels deep. Inline and embedded styles throughout the codebase prevented any centralized styling updates, accumulating significant technical debt.

A content audit confirmed the scope of the problem: the site’s navigation and organizational structure could no longer accommodate its own content. Separately, the Department of Justice’s Title II ADA ruling created an approaching compliance deadline that the existing site was not equipped to meet. A new brand guide, produced by an external vendor in 2025, further signaled that a full redesign was warranted.

Choices

A targeted patch of the existing site was not feasible. The static HTML architecture made systematic accessibility remediation impractical as semantic errors were embedded at the content level and could not be corrected without developer intervention on thousands of individual pages. Continuing to operate without a CMS would have preserved the content bottleneck regardless of visual updates.

Adopting a traditional database-driven CMS was evaluated but set aside in favor of a headless CMS paired with a static site generator. This approach avoids the performance and security overhead of server-side rendering while still enabling non-technical editors to manage content independently. A fully custom build was not pursued; existing tools, Eleventy, CloudCannon, and AWS, were selected for their maturity, state-sector appropriateness, and fit with OTS’s established infrastructure.

On the brand side, the external vendor’s specification for the “Gotham” typeface was not adopted due to licensing restrictions. Figtree by Google Fonts was substituted as a compatible alternative whcih uses Google’s own content delivery for performance. A small set of supplementary colors was also introduced to prevent brand dilution in edge-case UI contexts not covered by the brand guide.

Solution

OTS rebuilt the LDR website on a headless CMS architecture using Eleventy as the static site generator, CloudCannon as the content management interface, GitHub for version control, and AWS for asset hosting. Figma was used throughout the design process.

Data models in CloudCannon were structured to match how LDR staff understand their own content—tax forms, FAQs, standard pages, site sections, and seasonal goal-based content are each managed through purpose-built interfaces. A sidebar UI allows subject matter experts to enter content without understanding how it will be rendered. Navigation and site-wide banners can be updated without developer involvement.

Accessibility was addressed structurally. The CMS interface was configured to prevent common semantic errors, such as incorrect heading levels, from being introduced by editors. Live regions were implemented on filtered list views (e.g., Tax Forms) to communicate state changes to screen reader users. Semantic structure was documented in design files and carried through development.

The visual redesign reduced the number of page layouts from ten to five, lowering the learning curve for repeat visitors. A page-level table of contents was introduced for long-form content. Base font size was increased from 1rem to 1.25rem to improve readability in text-heavy sections. Clear space was used deliberately between content sections, consistent with research on how novice users parse dense information.

Design decisions were informed by a comparative audit of six revenue agencies: the IRS, and the California, Georgia, Massachusetts, and South Carolina Departments of Revenue, as well as PAR Louisiana. These were selected based on revenue collection scale, public recognition, or stakeholder recommendation, and provided a basis for gap analysis on UI patterns and information density.

Results and Impact

The redesigned Louisiana Department of Revenue website launched with improved accessibility, streamlined content management, and a modernized visual identity aligned with LDR’s 2025 brand guidelines. Content editors can now independently publish and update over 5,000 pieces of content, including tax forms and FAQs, without developer intervention, reducing turnaround time from days to minutes. The simplified five-layout system and increased typography scale improved readability and reduced cognitive load for visitors. Accessibility enhancements, including semantic HTML structure and live region announcements, position the site for compliance with the DOJ's Title II ADA ruling. The project established a reusable framework and training model that can be applied to future state agency web modernization efforts.