UK Goverment Sites get a Further Hammering

The UK Government needs to improve the quality of its websites - everybody keeps telling them so. Perhaps it's the amount of money known to be in the public sector for online services at the moment, or a genuine frustration with something potentially critical to society, but all sorts of consultancies have been taking a pop at government e-services.

The latest criticism comes following a series of tests by Keynote Systems. The internet performance company analysed 35 sites and found that more than half were too cumbersome and slow-to-load for people accessing them with dial-up connections, while seven out of ten had browser compatibility problems.

Another half had substantial numbers of broken links, including UKOnline.gov.uk, the Government's own gateway to information and services. The British Army site had most with 148 broken links.

'There were examples of "best practice", particularly among new sites or portals established specifically to deliver e-government services to the general public, alongside government Web sites which had a number of integrity issues such as poor image optimisation, large pages and broken links,' Keynote concluded.

While recent analyses of use show that speed is not everything, it is salutary to be reminded how even the most basic usability considerations go on being flouted.

Six Metrics for Managing UI Design
Source: Russell Wilson, 28 August 2008
 
A proposal of six metrics to be used for managing a user interface design department.

Don't Judge a Form by its Cover
Source: Formulate Information Design, 27 August 2008
 
The saying "don't judge a book by its cover" reminds us that looks are deceptive. It turns out that this idiom applies to forms too.

Beijing Olympics - special State of the eNation report
Source: www.abilitynet.org.uk, 26 August 2008
 
In this special report AbilityNet asked disabled users to try out the Beijing Olympics website in our interaction lab.

It's Who You Know (Or Don't)
Source: Stanford Magazine, 23 August 2008
 
Online social networks are powerful and ineffectual all at once.

Winning Considerations for Interactive Content
Source: UXMatters, 22 August 2008
 
Rich options for interactively presenting content also come with a challenge.

Microsoft sees end of Windows era
Source: BBC, 20 August 2008
 
Microsoft has kicked off a research project to create software that will take over when it retires Windows.

News you can Use
Source: Gerry McGovern, 18 August 2008
 
When the homepage is dominated by news you are not necessarily communicating more.

Feeling Through your Computer
Source: Discoveries and Breakthroughs Inside Science, 16 August 2008
 
A newly designed device lets computer users feel the texture and movement of what they are seeing in front of them.

User interviews - A basic Introduction
Source: Webcredible, 15 August 2008
 
It's surprising how few people have a real understanding of who's using their site.

Helping Visitors find Information
Source: UN, 13 August 2008
 
A new report outlines the key findings from surveys that explored factors which influence the quality of online experience.