Why UK government websites attract few visitors
Today’s ‘Guardian’ newspaper featured an item on the poor visitor numbers on many UK government websites (”The Websites Nobody Wants“). Why am I not surprised? I spent a month reviewing local and central government websites. On the whole they are simply awful.
Just over a year ago I wanted to see how well designed government websites were. I looked the homepages of hundreds of local government and central government sites and I can say without any doubt that there are some people who need help. They need help in understanding who their websites are supposed to serve. For any that may read this here’s a clue: Your customers
My personal favourites? There were so many, but here are a few that, one year on, are still hopeless.
The Veteran’s Agency - This site is much better than it was last year. Now it only suffers from:
- A multitude of menu options (I counted 20, plus another 6 text links on the home page)
- Useless images - out of focus and distracting
- Poor positioning of text (as an example, the mission of the site is so far down the page it can’t be seen without scrolling down)
The Drinking Water Inspectorate - This site hasn’t changed its layout since I last looked at it. I can’t tell you how bad it is, you’ll just have to see it for yourself and you’ll understand.
The Export Credit Guarantee Department - Another website that has hardly changed its layout since last year. Helping customers is obviously not part of its remit. It can’t be because the hompage has:
- Far too many links and menu options
- A useless picture of a globe that (for some reason) the web designers thought would help people navigate, and
- Possibly the smallest search box I’ve ever seen. Just 5 characters wide!
The Office of HM Paymaster General - Another site that hasn’t changed in a year. It was completely hopeless then. At least it didn’t get any worse. Then again it couldn’t.
The Review of Tribunals - A microsite that should have been removed yours ago, but wasn’t. Now it just sits there, an embarrassment to everyone who helped create the site. Too harsh? Take a look and you decide.
Most businesses don’t have the sort of budgets that the UK government throws at their websites. It wouldn’t be so bad if there was any evidence that these site represented money well spent. Sorry to be negative but in the case of these five it most certainly was money down the drain.
What do you think? Take a look and tell me I’m wrong, I challenge you.