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How Should Government Web Sites Be Designed?
Wally Hartshorn asks: "Do Slashdot's readers have some examples of government Web sites that they particularly like or dislike? I'm the Web coordinator for the Web site of a state government agency, and I am looking for some ideas to improve our site's usefulness and design. I've read numerous articles about Web design, but they virtually all focus on commercial sites, where the information to be provided tends to be short and voluntary. There are many good ideas to take from these articles. However, I'm reasonably certain that there are some very different issues to consider when designing a site that is trying to present regulatory requirements (to an audience that would really rather be doing something else) rather than a site focused on selling or providing news. Any suggested good/bad examples to visit?" I think the key word for government sites is 'accessibility'. Do you all agree or disagree?
The guru of Web usability got the title through being right a lot. Check out his website and buy his book, Designing Web Usability.
There may be a whole load of specific issues to consider, but on the general issue of making a website that people can stand to use, he's your man.
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Every time I go to the IRS web site (www.irs.gov), they always have these cheesy "articles" about how people are using IRS services to make their life SO EASY... quite frankly, it's rather annoying.
:-)
However, that said, I rarely have a problem finding information on their site within, say, 5 clicks. So that's a plus on the usability front. But if you're looking for design, don't "steal" from the IRS.
I think the the new Washington, DC government page (washingtondc.gov) is actually a pretty good site.
Right on the front page there are links for "Today in DC", including meetings, weather, and (very important) closures.
There's a link to an alphabetic list of DC Government agencies. Most of these subsites contain relevant information like contact information, hours of operation, procedures, an deven forms in some cases.
In fact, I've had better luck getting information from the DC website than I have trying to get somebody to answer the phone.
Now if only we had real congressional representation...
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Cognitive Overflow
more than yo
As for how to present regulatory info, the main thing is to think from the user's point of view. E.g. "I'm running a photographic processing shop with 10 employees. What do I need to do to comply with waste management/employment/tax laws?". Then present information in that kind of format.
Oh, and put a good site search engine on the front end, and if you have any database system for accessing data then see if you can figure out how to let outside search engines see the data as well.
Paul.
You are lost in a twisty maze of little standards, all different.
So far the best tool I've found for helping to make sure your site is accessible is Bobby, a free service provided by CAST (Center for Applied Special Technology) to check websites versus usability standards. It can be run online, or there's a downloadable version, and generates a prioritized report of everything that you have to look at and potentially fix to help special browsers (such as text-to-speech) function better.
Make it organized. But more importantly,
You need a powerful search capability.
Say I want to know about the legality of putting extra lights of various colors on my truck...
Or where to register to vote...
Or who to contact about the title of a vehicle...
There are a lot of questions one can ask of a state government--provide a way for us to ask them.
Eli
As someone who has designed a few government web-sites in the past, probably the number one demanded feature is printer-friendliness. Usually the pages are full of detailed info of which many visitors will want a hard copy. If you have too many images (especially large ones), outlandish formatting, or even a black background, it won't come out right for a lot of people. If you absolutely need to put that kind of thing in there, consider making a second, plainer version with a 'Printer Friendly' link to it.
^X^S ^X^C
I think the key word for government sites is 'accessibility'.
Bullseye.
The rules for content are simple:
The first item means that you have to be really careful how you lay out your site navigation. Other posters have some good suggestions here. In particular, consider how your users will try to find things. Hint -- it aint by regulation number.
It is also important to provide your data in a usable form. Thomas is a particularly bad example here. This site lists bills before the US Congress. Unfortunately, the "real" text of the bills is almost invariably in the form of a diff to a current law; it's impossible to tell what's going on without reference to the original, and even then, it's not easy.
In terms of fancy layout, etc:
In particular:
Above all, look at it! Look at it with every browser you can find. Don't forget the old versions. (And don't forget Lynx.) Get some blind (excuse me, Visually Impared) testers if at all possible to "look" at it with screen magnifiers and screen readers. Look at it over slow lines.
Note that, depending on the laws in your area, you may have specific requirements that won't fit these (or probably, any) guidelines (line numbering, fonts, etc). In this case, you may be limited to letting folks download a PDF file. Even in this case you should be able to post your HTML regs "for information only" and tell people to refer to the PDF for the "real" regs.
Anyway, good luck! One advantage of the current crowd of crap Webpages is that it's easy to look good.
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