Pull Request: Launch GOV.UK | Hacker News Reader

Pull Request: Launch GOV.UK

github.com

72 pointsmmahemoff30 comments

This is an example of how to run a government IT project. Extremely well run team, excellent programmers and designers and using a lot of interesting technology. That's cool for the tech community but for the majority of the users the biggest benefit is a single location for everything. Direct.gov.uk was still a collection of links to lots of external sites but the goal with gov.uk is to have everything on one site. I think this is a great project.

Some background at http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/2012/10/16/directgov-a-q...

The Presidential Innovation Fellows[1] are attempting to do the same thing w/ MyGov[2] and four other projects. The code for MyGov will be on GH[3].

  [1] http://www.whitehouse.gov/innovationfellows
  [2] http://www.whitehouse.gov/innovationfellows/mygov
  [3] https://github.com/presidential-innovation-fellows/mygov

I've always thought a dedicated team of coders, managed and directed well, would be much better for government/educational IT than going with giant corrupt companies. I do hope this goes well.!

But gov.uk just links to direct.gov.uk which then links to external sites....

For background, this is part of a larger government initiative to curb outsourcing of IT projects. Traditionally these sorts of things would be built by large software companies at enormous expense to the taxpayer.

Gov.uk has been built by a (relatively) small in-house team, by people who genuinely care about what they are building. They embrace the fact that they are building tools for the good of society rather than just satisfying a contract.

Also as a citizen, I love the fact that I can open a pull request on my government's website ( https://github.com/alphagov/calendars/pull/1 ). We've got the ball rolling in opening up government data on the internet, but this is a great example of how technology can enable citizens to get involved in government.

Looks nice, clean and speedy. Although the front page could easily be mistaken for a parked domain with the mass of links and nothing to really differentiate them or make them stand out.

Hah I can see how that's a distinct possibility especially as it says "The best place fo find government services and information is www.gov.uk". That does look right out of a parked domain site!

Still, I think the simple list of links, with an easy search entry, is exactly what a site like this needs.

Yeah, I agree in general. I thought that because I looked and initially just saw a block of links, which I habitually glossed over, and had to stop and actually read to see that it comprised the main navigation of the site. It's something I feel a small set of icons would alleviate.

You're absolutely right, all it is missing is a pic of the "parked domain girl". I cannot put my finger on why exactly it looks like a parked domain, however.

For anyone who's wondering, the actual website is at http://www.gov.uk

I'm still seeing "beta" labels everywhere and notices, "This is a test website, so may be inaccurate or misleading."?

edit: seems the launch is tomorrow, this commit is just in preparation. Makes sense.

Also, reassuring - they aren't developing straight on the live site, which would not surprise me in the least from a government site.

Sorry, I didn't see the beta popup as it must have cookied me when I revisited. Updated my comment.

Owing to our caches, the "beta" message has largely disappeared across the site now.

This doesn't really 'replace' Directgov. At least, it doesn't yet.

Look at the most active searches on the site. Top of the list is the JobCentre Plus job search. All gov.uk does is link you to the existing JobCentre Plus website on Directgov.

Similarly, let's say I want to book a driving test (another of the most active searches). All gov.uk does is link me to the existing booking service on Directgov.

Okay, so I want to renew my tax disc (again, another of the most active searches). Again, all gov.uk does is link me to the existing DVLA interface on Directgov.

This goes on and on. The only useful thing gov.uk can do is link me to the existing Directgov sites. Google already does that for me.

I assume the long-term plan is to integrate all these services into the gov.uk site, but one can't help thinking they should have done this — and actually made the site a useful port of call in and of itself — before shedding the beta status.

Edit: Just noticed the site doesn't properly launch until tomorrow, so I wonder if that will change all of this. If so, you can colour me impressed.

That is their eventual plan. The purposefully haven't moved everything over at once because that would require a colossal effort. They are aiming to have moved all government websites over to the platform by the end of 2014. Lots of time to do it without expanding the team to the point were they lose the innovative thinking.

Fair enough. In its present state I just don't see gov.uk adding much value to users beyond collating fairly mundane information in one place with a nice interface.

It's nice, but I can't see any reason I'd find myself using the site. If I want to actually use a government service, I don't see why I'd go to gov.uk first when Google can just as easily deliver me to the relevant godawful hellhole on Directgov, whereupon I will find myself wondering why I even bothered in the first place.

I think that's one of the main motivations behind it (the realisation that most people enter [government] websites via search engines). They've designed the pages to be clearer for those use cases - you can read their thoughts and motivations in their design principles - https://www.gov.uk/designprinciples (which are extremely good).

Here's a list of technology they've used to build gov.uk: http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/govuk-launch-colophon/

Looks great!

Will direct.gov.uk have a bunch of redirects to gov.uk?

Yes. One of the shining lights about this project is their attention to preserving links.

http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/2012/10/11/no-link-left-...

Here's a blog post about the redirection policy: http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/2012/10/11/no-link-left-...

Cool URIs don't change.

I think this is great. I'm also really interested in the new public APIs and how these can be used going forward. Good job gov IT team :)

And, unsurprisingly it looks just like direct.gov.uk with some polish.

Money well spent!*

* Sarcasm for reference...

I disagree, I think it looks a lot different to directgov. It's a helluva lot cleaner - every page on directgov is a mass of links to other places, whereas this one focuses much more on the content. The design is also responsive, which is nice (directgov definitely isn't responsive) - it'll look nice on mobile devices. The floating 'relevant links' thing is a nice touch too.

I don't get why the default font for the size is so huge though, they ought to make it smaller a couple of points.

My understanding is that the benefit is the consolidation of various agency websites into a single site, initially replacing DirectGov and Business Link.

Good job it's apparently a lot less money to run than direct.gov.uk, so a huge win for the UK taxpayer!

In what way does it save money? Would be interested in some stats if there are any; presumably they'd be projections at this stage.

It saves money because they're doing the work with an in-house development team, instead of blowing millions of younds per project on expensive consultants from IBM, Accenture etc.

It's cheaper to operate and improve upon (by combining various websites into one over time), it's demonstrably clearer and easier to use than the current DirectGov site(s) - see their design principles here: https://www.gov.uk/designprinciples - and it's designed for the use cases of right now (not 8 years ago).

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