The City of Winston-Salem Web Site

The city's web site is organized by topic of interest with special pages of information about our city, about doing business with the city, and two easy ways to find the "most requested" pages. You can also use the Search box or the Site Map to find pages quickly.

You can view city council meetings online as they happen or later at any time, day or night, by watching them right on your computer screen.

You can join "My City of WS" and receive e-mail notices of updated web pages and newsletters.  You can even set up your own home page for the city site using your favorite items as the main navigation listing. Read more about MyCityofWS

Were you surprised to arrive on the home page?

If you clicked a link or used a bookmark (favorite) that brought you to the city's home page, it is because that is no longer a working web page address. When this new web site launched in 2006, the page addresses (URLs) changed. There are still many web sites that have old URLs for the city. Rather than leave you out in cyberspace without a clue where to go next, the old link will bring you to the home page, where you can use the Search feature or any of the navigation options to find what you are looking for.

MyCityofWS

Personalize your experience on our web site by choosing the articles, newsletters, and events that you are most interested in and having them show in the navigation for your very own MyCityofWS home page! 

Register as a member of MyCityofWS by using the "Sign In" link at the bottom of the left column.  Click on "Register as a New Member" and fill in your e-mail address, name, password, and other optional information; this will create an member profile for you; send the information. Confirm by the e-mail you will receive. When you are signed in, click on the "MyCityofWS" link at the bottom left to see your own home page!
Read more about MyCityofWS.

Calendar

The Event Calendar shows city events from all departments. Click on "View all events" to see the entire calendar, month-by-month.
Read more tips on searching the calendar for particular events

Be sure to look at our special sections for some interesting information!

• Discover Winston-Salem and our history, entertainment in the city, and vital statistics.
• Online Services will help you find all the ways you can pay your bills, reserve shelters, look up crash reports, and more --- right from the comfort of your own home!
• Businesses will help new businesses get started in Winston-Salem and offer tips and help for established businesses.
• Forms, reports, brochures, and special publications are available in the Forms & Reports section.
• Services page shows frequently-requested services by topic to help you find the correct department to address the issue of your concern.

There is consistency for all pages in the web site.

Across the top of the page, you will see:

• "breadcrumb" links that will take you back to the level above where you are looking
• a "Most Requested" jump list that allows you to go directly to these top pages
• a Search box where you can type in a search word or term to find what you are looking for on our site.

In the left column, there is navigation for the section of the site you are looking at:

• when you are on the home page or any of the home page sections, you'll see the navigation for the home section, including the Departments listing.
• when you are looking at a department section, you will see navigation for that department and any events or bids or newsletters or events that are active for that department.
• the Calendar for the city lists all events for all departments (View all events)
• the My City of WS link will allow you to sign in and take advantage of our new special features.

Across the bottom of the page are additional links for your convenience.

Some files on the site will require browser "plug-ins" to view them. Use your browser "Back" button to return from viewing these files. If you already have the plug-in, the file will open when you click on it. These plug-in viewers are free downloads that install in only a moment on your computer.

Other tips:

• When you bookmark pages, use your browser's "rename" to identify it
• Use the Search function at the top to look for particular information; the results will list the page titles with your search term first, followed by pages that contain your search term.
• After you have joined as a MyCityofWS member, sign in when you visit the site and take advantage of the MYCITY links at the bottom of every page to be notified when a page is updated or to be reminded of a city event in advance.
• Use the "Most Requested" dropdown list to quickly find popular pages
• Printing our pages will yield a better result if you use the Landscape orientation (go to the File-> Page Setup options for your browser and choose Landscape).  Or you can select (highlight with your mouse) just the text you wish to print and then go the to File-> Print menu (not the Print button on the toolbar) and choose to print only the Selection.
• Links to web sites that are not part of the City of Winston-Salem will open in a new window in your web browser.  Close this new window when you are done or just use the button on your task bar to return to the city page you started from. We are not responsible for content in any site outside the City of Winston-Salem web site; we present links for your convenience.
• For a different language, there are many services on the internet that will translate web pages into another language. Do a search for "language translations" in your favorite search engine.
• You can save files to your computer instead of opening them, if you wish. Right-click the file link and choose "Save As" to save it. This might be helpful for large Adobe Acrobat files that might be slow to open in the browser window.
• If you prefer to have Adobe files open in their own window instead of the browser window, open your Adobe Reader program (look in the Start--> Programs menu) and go to the Edit--> Preferences menu item, the the Internet Tab, and uncheck the "Display PDF in browser" option.

Online Web Payments service is available for paying your water/stormwater bill, parking tickets, and renewal of yard-waste cart stickers. We accept Visa and Mastercard for payments. You can also use the form supplied on the "Pay Bills" page to arrange for an automatic draft from your bank account.

•   Visa 
•   MasterCard 

We hope you find the our web site easy to use and very helpful!

Questions?  Comments?  Suggestions for the Web Content Coordinator?  Please send an e-mail to thewebmaster@cityofws.org

updated 4/14/2008