71–80 of 234 posts
No. Goverment web sites should be minimal design & content - black text on white background, no extra graphics. I don't want to pay taxes so that these latte-sipping designers can create cool projects.
You want government websites to look like a domain-squatter's page: https://www.gov.uk/ ?
No. Goverment web sites should be minimal design & content - black text on white background, no extra graphics. I don't want to pay taxes so that these latte-sipping designers can create cool projects.
I applaud the change and thinking outside of the box, but the Manchester City Council website looks like a $45 Wordpress theme off of Themeforest. The slider appears to offer no value to the site other than taking up a massive amount of room without really justifying its existence. I'm not a designer, I'm a developer and I am struggling to understand the reasoning behind that slider. While I agree that the trendy loo…
I am really amazed how most of the comments assume that beautiful sites cannot provide the same amount of information as their uglier counterparts.
Most beautiful sites can. This one does not. Those icons are confusing. Click expand to see the whole list together. What a mess! Ideally they should be using glyphs with much bolder lines, or if they're really set on using the current ones, place each on a solid white circle. Right now they blend in with the text and seem to add to the overall visual noise. Scrolling down the page, why the hell am I looking at a gig…
I always prefer iconic interfaces as compared to the ones with just text. Try to think of one thing that you would like to find and go to gov.uk and then to manchester.gov.uk. See which one is easier to find
Icons vs Labels vs Both: http://edwardsanchez.me/blog/13589712
I think I actually prefer http://www.gateshead.gov.uk , which is a lot less "in your face". If I go to a .gov.uk site it's because a need a specific piece of information, I don't need the design getting in the way.
Exactly agreed.
I see you're new here. "I agree" is a contentless response that adds nothing to the topic at hand. Feel free to post if you have something interesting to say, but "+1" is discouraged here.
In The Netherlands these two sites score very high every year: http://www.capelleaandenijssel.nl/ http://cms.dordrecht.nl/ They contain a lot more useful information above the fold than the linked one. Good design involves a lot more than eye candy.
How do you find anything on those two pages without first mentally parsing the layouts? On the first link, the search bar is in the middle of the damned page, even though the site seems designed around search (meaningful static nav is confined to one element, the Information mouseover at the top)! By comparison, the manchester site is dead simple, and search is at the top corner where it should be. That style of desi…
I don't know if you understand Dutch but since text is part of the interface maybe this is why you are having issues with the design?
"My problem with the manchester site is the poor use of vertical space, not the basic design style." Well I was talking about exactly this. The Manchester site may look nice but it is lacking overview. Design is more than looks. It is also about text, interaction and so on.
This one gets you to (what they believe to be) the most-commonly requested issues instantly, and gives you a quick idea of what you can find in each section. This is the perfect place for search results suggestions too. Remember, most visitors to these sites are not going to be frequent users - they won't have the time or inclination to learn a more complex system.
I don't think it's perfect, but I think it's a great idea that just needs a bit of extra polish.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yup. Click on "Council Tax" on the homepage... then "Can't find it? Other council tax services"... then "See your council tax band" (Rounded red button)
So you're 3 clicks deep (having searched around a bit, I guess) and you still don't have a number...
Plus, you can find it very easily by putting "council tax band" into the search box.