Experimental UK Gov site: alpha.gov.uk(alpha.gov.uk)
alpha.gov.uk
Experimental UK Gov site: alpha.gov.uk
http://alpha.gov.uk/
20 comments
Not the kind of error page that I would expect to see for a government website! http://www.alpha.gov.uk/fail
Exactly! Revolution not evolution.
But in terms of branding, this error page is for when the entire prototype fails. It is not part of the prototype, and therefore doesn't adhere to Gov branding. It's more branded with the team's informal whimsy, and it obviously wouldn't appear in a live site.
But in terms of branding, this error page is for when the entire prototype fails. It is not part of the prototype, and therefore doesn't adhere to Gov branding. It's more branded with the team's informal whimsy, and it obviously wouldn't appear in a live site.
Incredible rethinking, atypical of big governments.
This, for the US, now. USA.gov works okay. It could really be better.
This, for the US, now. USA.gov works okay. It could really be better.
Same thing applies to Canada. It's full of information organized really badly. http://canada.gc.ca
There is something very similar in Israel: http://www.gov.il/firstgov/english
('long' address, but http://gov.il is in Hebrew)
('long' address, but http://gov.il is in Hebrew)
Here at Buenos Aires city government we're working on something like this. It's not even in alpha yet, but we want it online by the end of the year.
I really like this, and I'm excited about the fact this was apparently developed "in house" rather than by some speculative design firm.
Obviously it needs work, and a few design elements/features need tweaking - but it's a massive step in the right direction. Hopefully someone internally will see and understand how great this is and help it move forward.
Obviously it needs work, and a few design elements/features need tweaking - but it's a massive step in the right direction. Hopefully someone internally will see and understand how great this is and help it move forward.
Holy baloney. I'm just blown away, this is amazing. As a current state employee, I've seen the insane bureaucracy we have to battle just to redesign one internal site.
I would love to know how they did this. Are these contractors? Is it a seperate team? Is the redesign rolling out across all government departments? What is their CMS?
Oh man, I need details. If you were involved with this at all, please contact me...
I would love to know how they did this. Are these contractors? Is it a seperate team? Is the redesign rolling out across all government departments? What is their CMS?
Oh man, I need details. If you were involved with this at all, please contact me...
Their blog: http://blog.alpha.gov.uk/
Twitter: @alphagov
Their GetSatisfaction: http://getsatisfaction.com/alphagov
This is also interesting read: http://puffbox.com/2011/05/11/ten-things-alphagov-gets-right...
This is also interesting read: http://puffbox.com/2011/05/11/ten-things-alphagov-gets-right...
Sweet, thank you. I'm going to be reading for awhile now...
I'm involved. Follow us on Twitter and ENGAGE! ;-)
@alphagov is us, @nicepaul is me. Read the blog, leave the feedback.
@alphagov is us, @nicepaul is me. Read the blog, leave the feedback.
Sounds like a great move. Looking forward to see what happens on there.
Again, I must say, this govt seems to actually be moving its ass and doing things (even if they're not always perfect). Impressive and completely unexpected.
Again, I must say, this govt seems to actually be moving its ass and doing things (even if they're not always perfect). Impressive and completely unexpected.
Especially regarding IT, keeping up with technology is a rare thing; there's no reason we can't have a modern website for all government services. But impressive as this may be, in other areas I'd reserve judgement as to whether it's a good thing.
I typed my question into the box, and I had the right information instantly!
This is so much more efficient than any other government site I've ever interacted with, by many orders of magnitude.
This is so much more efficient than any other government site I've ever interacted with, by many orders of magnitude.
That is absolutely the best government site I've ever seen. It looks like a person designed it, rather than one hundred committees.
Site credits: http://www.alpha.gov.uk/humans.txt
(also check out their very cool error page: http://www.alpha.gov.uk/fail)
(also check out their very cool error page: http://www.alpha.gov.uk/fail)
Typical Scot, blaming the English for the problems! ;-)
[NB I am a Scot]
[NB I am a Scot]
I'd be interested to see what this would actually be able to make it from alpha to reality. I get the feeling that the dev team want to build some real use statistics and get as much feedback as possible in order to pressure their higher ups to allow them to do it for real. I hope they succeed.
It renders correctly in my customized firefox, unless many sites on the web nowadays. However, Google, WikiPedia and HackerNews render without problems too.
My settings are: Zoom Text Only, do not allow pages to choose their own fonts, Comic Sans MS for all fonts, minimum font size 20pt.
My settings are: Zoom Text Only, do not allow pages to choose their own fonts, Comic Sans MS for all fonts, minimum font size 20pt.
20pt Comic Sans? You are beyond saving.
COME ON. I know Comic Sans is not well-liked here, but a comment like that is just not on. He's an outlier in a community of outliers; so what?
"Comic Sans MS for all fonts"
... I don't know what to say. At 20pt, too?
... I don't know what to say. At 20pt, too?
Yes, I like my fonts big, easier to read. Not that I'm sight impaired, it's just a personal preference. And beauty is in the eye of the beholder, isn't it? Everybody has his/her own taste.
I also like to use proportional fonts when writing code (Python, C++, PHP, SQL), which has raised many eyebrows too.
As for my preference for Comic Sans: I find it a very nicely rounded font, easy on the eyes, and very readable letter forms. There's absolutely no trolling involved here: I just like it for my own use, I'm not forcing anyone else to use it, I'm perfectly fine with other people using Consolas or Monaco in their code editors.
I also like to use proportional fonts when writing code (Python, C++, PHP, SQL), which has raised many eyebrows too.
As for my preference for Comic Sans: I find it a very nicely rounded font, easy on the eyes, and very readable letter forms. There's absolutely no trolling involved here: I just like it for my own use, I'm not forcing anyone else to use it, I'm perfectly fine with other people using Consolas or Monaco in their code editors.
According to a tweet [1] from their technical lead, they're using Rails, Sinatra, Django and more. He says there should be a blog entry outlining the technologies soon.
[1] https://twitter.com/#!/jystewart
[1] https://twitter.com/#!/jystewart
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Coalition governments are brilliant.
See also the Open Government License[1] - it might not seem much to Americans, but compared to Crown Copyright it is a revelation.
[1] http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licen...
See also the Open Government License[1] - it might not seem much to Americans, but compared to Crown Copyright it is a revelation.
[1] http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licen...
I have just finished reading Churchill's description of the WW2 coalition government, frankly, I love how the two parties were able to come together and function well, such that the opposition leader was in the cabinet.
It seems like such a fantasy of ever happening in the US.
It seems like such a fantasy of ever happening in the US.
This is actually pretty decent, its clean and usable which is enough of a surprised, but it looks like it might actually be useful as well. Geolocation was broken for me and @alphagov asked me for more information
Something feels strange about the govement asking me on twitter to give feedback on getsatisfaction
Something feels strange about the govement asking me on twitter to give feedback on getsatisfaction
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Still, doesn't make up for hushing up the fact that police arrested people at random under Section 60 for things such as wearing zombie paint, protesting against the royalty, filming the police, on the 29th.
At first I was a bit meh, so what, especially as the welcome splash screen wouldn't close and required a screen refresh to get rid of it.
However, the blog's an interesting read on what they're trying accomplish. The point is to make the user's journey much better for common tasks (their example is a lost passport):
http://blog.alpha.gov.uk/
Check out http://blog.alpha.gov.uk/blog/alpha-gov-uk-design-rules for example. They're openly ignoring IE6 and accessibility while they iterate interactivity, fairly brave for a government site.
However, the blog's an interesting read on what they're trying accomplish. The point is to make the user's journey much better for common tasks (their example is a lost passport):
http://blog.alpha.gov.uk/
Check out http://blog.alpha.gov.uk/blog/alpha-gov-uk-design-rules for example. They're openly ignoring IE6 and accessibility while they iterate interactivity, fairly brave for a government site.
>Check out http://blog.alpha.gov.uk/blog/alpha-gov-uk-design-rules for example
In the photo, on one of those mission-statement postit notes, next to "no need to understant govt" and "task focus" there's one that says "spin is trust."
This rather sours the milk for me.
In the photo, on one of those mission-statement postit notes, next to "no need to understant govt" and "task focus" there's one that says "spin is trust."
This rather sours the milk for me.
Based off my personal experience over the last year dealing with 'Service' Canada and a bunch of splinter groups:
I think 'understand govt' is in the details of how it works. Government, at the bureaucracy level, is a large collection of paid workers. These groups of workers don't talk to each other, many don't give a damn so long as they don't get fired and most don't even understand their own rules and policies.
Each group has different procedures to accomplish a task and many of those procedures seem bizarre and obtuse when you try and navigate them to accomplish the task you are trying to actually do.
There is a huge difference between understanding the high level of how your government works and navigating the quagmire many of the departments have become.
I think 'understand govt' is in the details of how it works. Government, at the bureaucracy level, is a large collection of paid workers. These groups of workers don't talk to each other, many don't give a damn so long as they don't get fired and most don't even understand their own rules and policies.
Each group has different procedures to accomplish a task and many of those procedures seem bizarre and obtuse when you try and navigate them to accomplish the task you are trying to actually do.
There is a huge difference between understanding the high level of how your government works and navigating the quagmire many of the departments have become.
I imagine that's a joke.
Given the resemblance to Newspeak, and the also rather humorous state of their error page, you're probably right.
Although from a government that seriously thought they could sell off all the forests without anyone getting annoyed, I am unwilling to assume anything.
Although from a government that seriously thought they could sell off all the forests without anyone getting annoyed, I am unwilling to assume anything.
Not a joke, a typo - it's "Spin v.s. Trust" - http://twitter.com/alphagov/status/68322599503011840
(@alphagov turned round an answer to my question in less than a minute!)
(@alphagov turned round an answer to my question in less than a minute!)
Can't help but feel that they opted for spin over trust in that reply, I can't see how they meant that to be a 'v'.
My guess, and obviously I could be wrong, is that it was an internal joke, but not meant to be for public consumption for fear that people wouldn't get it and would criticise them for it.
My guess, and obviously I could be wrong, is that it was an internal joke, but not meant to be for public consumption for fear that people wouldn't get it and would criticise them for it.
It's clearly a 'v', the marker was just a bit dry. Go do something productive.
"You pay. We decide."