Hatrack River Forum: My eyes hurt (Govenment website design)

This is topic My eyes hurt (Govenment website design) in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :

I am working on a case that requires information about bushfires. So I go to the website of the Department of Conservation and Land Management, which is a governmental department.

Ow! This is a multi-million dollar department - surely they could have got at least an average website design!

I think my favourite bit is the randomly coloured flashing bullet points.

Posted by Evie3217 (Member # 5426) on :

Well...that's fun. *cringes ever so slightly*

Posted by Joldo (Member # 6991) on :

Ow. This is just proof that taste does not necessarily follow money.

Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :

That's not bad. Government websites, especially the purely informational ones are notoriously not only poorly or not-at-all asethetically designed but also totally incomprehensible to navigate.

*speaks from experience*

Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :

Here in the US, we have a law that limits the way that government websites can work and look, etc. Every website must be certified to comply with the limitations.

It's all for accessibility to people with limited vision.

Website on 508 compliance

Ironically, when I go to that site using Opera browser, it is all whacked out and stuff that should be visible is masked by lines and junk.

Ha!

Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :

quote:
Every website must be certified to comply with the limitations.

Hm. Interesting. I have been to some US sites, especially legislative ones, which although may be readable are ugly and incomprehensible.

Posted by ambyr (Member # 7616) on :

Oh, the U.S. government has its fair share of, umm, let's call them legacy webpages.

Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :

Yikes ambyr! That was a bizarre experience. What's with all the Pride Banners?

Posted by Hamson (Member # 7808) on :

Oh man, these are great. I think most people with just a year of website design, or communications technology experience in high school could design a better layed out and more asethetically pleasing site.

Posted by ricree101 (Member # 7749) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Bob_Scopatz:

Ironically, when I go to that site using Opera browser, it is all whacked out and stuff that should be visible is masked by lines and junk.

Well that's the problem right there. You should be using firefox. [No No]