Britain's flagship government website www.direct.gov.uk is celebrating its first birthday with a new look and some new services. But there are no plans to shout about it, yet.
Version 1.4 of the site, which appeared on the web last week, aims to present consistent and up-to-date information about any government function within five clicks. In several cases, the number of clicks has reduced noticeably from the previous version - it takes two clicks rather than four to answer the question "Do I need to fill in a tax return?" and to find out about car tax. The snag is that, for most people, paying that tax still involves a trip to the post office. Neither can the site provide the most obvious cross-government service - a one-stop notification of change of address.
Despite these shortcomings, the Cabinet Office e-government unit, which runs the site, is proud of its creation, which it says is unique. Directgov is the UK's third stab at a central web presence. The first, government.direct, was little more than a directory of public websites. It was followed by the UK Online portal, which organised material around "life episodes", such as having a baby.
Directgov goes a step beyond the portal. Instead of directing users to other sites, it set out to provide useful information at the first port of call. Content is provided by departments through a system of "franchises". Information about planning, for example, comes from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister through a franchise called "home and community".
The philosophy of packing as much as possible on the central site is controversial. Some critics see it as evidence of control-freakery by central government. Others question whether, in the Google age, portals are necessary. Surveys show that search engines are by far the most common ways of finding government websites.
However, Ian Watmore, the government's chief information officer, says that a "destination site" rather than a portal is good for consistency and easy availability. Hence the emphasis on reducing the number of clicks.
According to his e-government unit, innovations in the new version include:
- A more relevant home page. Users are greeted by a changing banner of topical services - pride of place this week goes to the E111 European health insurance form, available in two clicks. (However, you still need to print it out and take it to the post office to be stamped.) The "meat" of the page is in 16 headings with subjects such as "motoring" or "money, tax and benefits". These reflect the franchises, which are invisible to users. Another panel, "popular now", lists the most sought-after services, ranging from "noisy neighbours" to "towing a caravan" to "tax credits". One obvious omission is a home-page postcode search, which would take users directly to local services.
- Four new franchises, bringing the total to 16. Information created in one franchise is now available directly from others, without the need to go back through the home page.
- More services will be available as "transactions" rather than just information. The big priority is car tax renewal, which has been delayed by the problems of getting insurance and MOT information connected up. Watmore says that all car owners will be able to renew their tax online "later this financial year".
- More accessibility. Directgov editors say they aim for a "red top" reading age of nine to 10. The new version aims for an AA disability access rating. The team is even considering a Directgov site for children, aimed at five to 11 year olds.
The beauty of the brand name, Watmore says, is that it will outlive technological fashion. But the real measure of Directgov's success is the number of users it handles. After a year of "steady incremental climb", the site receives more than a million unique visitors a month. This is not huge - the Guardian manages more than eight times that - but Watmore says he is satisfied so far.
He says is in no hurry to chase a larger audience. Most of the promotional effort - ads in trade papers and conference give-aways - aims to persuade local councils to link to the site. "We don't want to spend all our money on advertisements," Watmore says. "We'll only have one bite at that, and it's more important to get the site right first." The most likely timing for a big advertising campaign is in the second half of next year.
One thing has not changed with the new version. Unlike most of its international rivals, Directgov shows no national symbols such as flags or patriotic colours, instead adopting a neutral trademark of orange arrows. The home page doesn't even spell out which government's services it goes "straight through" to. Web users are supposed to be intelligent enough to work that out for themselves.
Quelle: Guardian Unlimited, 09.06.2005
