Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Manchester City Council

manchester.gov.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 234 posts

Re: Manchester City Council

#151

Post by eitally »

Sodaware wrote: post #8
eitally wrote: post #6

I personally think the redesigned site for my county (Wake County, NC) is far, far superior. It looks nice -- not quite as "modern startup" as the Manchester site -- but is so much easier to use. http://www.wakegov.com/

I'm not a big fan of the huge menus, but every time I've had to use the Wake site I've been able to find what I need pretty quickly. One improvement would be an auto-complete feature on the main search box, but I think I'm in a pretty small minority that would benefit from that.

I agree completely, on both counts. I think I've used it for the few things I use it for, enough times to have just memorized what's where. It's definitely a huge improvement over the old site, regardless!

Re: Manchester City Council

#153

Post by dreen »

dan1234 wrote: post #28

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.

In terms of Manchester's site being more "in your face" - it definitely captures the Mancurian mentality this way.

But then again Gateshead is near Newcastle so its hard to argue...

Re: Manchester City Council

#154

Post by jwarren »

Xylakant wrote: post #135
talkingquickly wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd agree with you on the slider not being a good use of space. But I'd argue that it does get some other things right which a lot of uk government sites fail on. In particular the simple presentation of the primary services people access with the option to expand out for other less frequently used ones. This is a huge improvement on, for example http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/home.htm I have to use that site quite regula…

Giving it a cursory look [1] it seems they score pretty ok on accessibility: They use a proper content structure with appropriate headline levels, buttons are large enough for people that can't use a mouse properly. The contrast in the default color scheme looks fine and they provide a high-contrast color scheme. They even offer to switch the font to accomodate dyslexics, but fail to include a dyslexic font[2]. The l…

Great post.

I will note that the non-uniform letterforms of Comic Sans have made it a popular typeface for dyslexics, which is likely why it's a choice.[1][2][3]

[1]http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/about-dyslexia/further-informa... [2]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11582548 [3]http://www.dyslexia.ie/information/computers-and-technology/...

Re: Manchester City Council

#155

Post by sdp »

Xylakant wrote: post #135
talkingquickly wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd agree with you on the slider not being a good use of space. But I'd argue that it does get some other things right which a lot of uk government sites fail on. In particular the simple presentation of the primary services people access with the option to expand out for other less frequently used ones. This is a huge improvement on, for example http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/home.htm I have to use that site quite regula…

Giving it a cursory look [1] it seems they score pretty ok on accessibility: They use a proper content structure with appropriate headline levels, buttons are large enough for people that can't use a mouse properly. The contrast in the default color scheme looks fine and they provide a high-contrast color scheme. They even offer to switch the font to accomodate dyslexics, but fail to include a dyslexic font[2]. The l…

I hadn't heard of the dyslexic font situation. After a little searching, I found: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121004/18530620612/font-...

I assume that's the legal situation to which you are referring.

Re: Manchester City Council

#156

Post by kevinpet »

It's pretty, but go and try to solve the problem "I want to see what library is open today so that I can take my kids there".

The best I could do involved clicking through to find a local library and then an alphabetical list that forces you to click through on each letter.

Re: Manchester City Council

#157

Post by sailfast »

I am becoming more and more a fan of the Jeckyll trend for front-facing web sites for government. I believe Hawaii.gov just rolled out their new site and it looks fantastic.

The Manchester city page is certainly better than a number of government sites I've seen in the past, (kudos) but might benefit from a bit better economy of screen real estate.

Re: Manchester City Council

#158

Post by Xylakant »

jwarren wrote: post #154
Xylakant wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Giving it a cursory look [1] it seems they score pretty ok on accessibility: They use a proper content structure with appropriate headline levels, buttons are large enough for people that can't use a mouse properly. The contrast in the default color scheme looks fine and they provide a high-contrast color scheme. They even offer to switch the font to accomodate dyslexics, but fail to include a dyslexic font[2]. The l…

Great post. I will note that the non-uniform letterforms of Comic Sans have made it a popular typeface for dyslexics, which is likely why it's a choice.[1][2][3] [1] http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/about-dyslexia/further-informa... [2] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11582548 [3] http://www.dyslexia.ie/information/computers-and-technology/...

Thanks for posting this - I'm aware of that, but wanted to note that they don't offer a "real" dyslexic font. I should have been more clear about that.

Re: Manchester City Council

#159

Post by Xylakant »

sdp wrote: post #155
Xylakant wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Giving it a cursory look [1] it seems they score pretty ok on accessibility: They use a proper content structure with appropriate headline levels, buttons are large enough for people that can't use a mouse properly. The contrast in the default color scheme looks fine and they provide a high-contrast color scheme. They even offer to switch the font to accomodate dyslexics, but fail to include a dyslexic font[2]. The l…

I hadn't heard of the dyslexic font situation. After a little searching, I found: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121004/18530620612/font-... I assume that's the legal situation to which you are referring.

Yes. I haven't been following the outcome, so that might be resolved but my latest info bit is that it's currently a minefield. Comic Sans is a viable alternative for most use cases though.

Re: Manchester City Council

#160

Post by rocky1138 »

ohwp wrote: post #12

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.

I quite like the colours on the second one.
Post reply on HN