5 ms·

Ask HN: What are the best government (.gov) designed websites?

12 points by the0nyx 9y ago

Government websites are known to look outdated, which ones caught your eye? https://www.uscurrency.gov

mtmail 9y ago
https://www.boston.gov/ https://www.boston.gov/ looks pretty modern.
jackgolding 9y ago
For Australia the mobile version of http://m.bom.gov.au/vic/melbourne http://m.bom.gov.au/vic/melbourne is great
- FuckOffNeemo 9y ago
  Wow, the mobile site is better than the app by leaps and bounds (Android).
xstartup 9y ago
Irish VAT site.
hbcondo714 9y ago
Usability.gov; I found their take & format on use cases useful: https://www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/use-cases.html https://www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/use-cases...
- paulryanrogers 9y ago
  Hard to take seriously when they have a takeover modal
  - hbcondo714 9y ago
    Hmm, I didn't get any modals / popups
realdavidops 9y ago
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/ https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/ Quickly displays important data.
compscigeek 9y ago
Sweden's (though it's not a .gov) https://sweden.se/ https://sweden.se/
- kqr 9y ago
  Sweden has really improved in this regard recently. I also like - http://rkrattsbaser.gov.se/sfsr http://rkrattsbaser.gov.se/sfsr (searchable legal database of the legislative organ of govt) - http://riksdagen.se/ http://riksdagen.se/ (homepage of the legislative organ of govt, where full transcripts of proceedings are uploaded after at most a day) - http://www.gov.se/ http://www.gov.se/ (general govt portal website) However, a special mention is necessary for https://www.systembolaget.se/ https://www.systembolaget.se/. Sweden has a government monopoly on alcohol, and the state-owned seller is Systembolaget. They were really early with having a well designed website. Their search is advanced and filterable in almost anything you'd want. They were really careful not to break the web by ensuring the back button works, and more importantly, that the current view is reflected in the address field so you can share what you see by copying the addrews and sending it in an email, and so on. Really important stuff that so many get wrong.
neximo64 9y ago
The UK's (gov.uk) is pretty modern. Also companies house (the uk company register) (beta.companieshouse.gov.uk).
perl4ever 9y ago
The ones I use most are: https://www.sec.gov/ https://www.sec.gov/ https://www.ssa.gov/ https://www.ssa.gov/ https://data.bls.gov/ https://data.bls.gov/ https://dmv.ny.gov/ https://dmv.ny.gov/ https://www.irs.gov/ https://www.irs.gov/ All are useful and well-designed in my opinion. I don't think they should be judged on "looking outdated" though. Functionality and security are what's important, and if it's too visually polished, I look at that as maybe even a negative indicator of functionality.
nautical 9y ago
https://www.india.gov.in/ https://www.india.gov.in/ https://apps.mgov.gov.in/index.jsp https://apps.mgov.gov.in/index.jsp
DrScump 9y ago
Weather.gov is much better than private-sector, privacy-sucking and adware-laden equivalents.
- tudelo 9y ago
  For example... https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=39.09&lon=-76.85&unit=0&lg=english&FcstType=graphical https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=39.09&lon=-76.... You can't get this detail with any other service I can find.
andrei_says_ 9y ago
https://www.gov.uk/ https://www.gov.uk/ I found these talkson the process of building and maintaining it very useful https://vimeo.com/121348831 https://vimeo.com/121348831 https://www.infoq.com/presentations/gov-uk-devops https://www.infoq.com/presentations/gov-uk-devops

12 points by the0nyx 9y ago

Government websites are known to look outdated, which ones caught your eye? https://www.uscurrency.gov

mtmail 9y ago

https://www.boston.gov/ https://www.boston.gov/ looks pretty modern.

jackgolding 9y ago

For Australia the mobile version of http://m.bom.gov.au/vic/melbourne http://m.bom.gov.au/vic/melbourne is great

FuckOffNeemo 9y ago
Wow, the mobile site is better than the app by leaps and bounds (Android).

xstartup 9y ago

Irish VAT site.

hbcondo714 9y ago

Usability.gov; I found their take & format on use cases useful: https://www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/use-cases.html https://www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/use-cases...

paulryanrogers 9y ago
Hard to take seriously when they have a takeover modal
- hbcondo714 9y ago
  Hmm, I didn't get any modals / popups

realdavidops 9y ago

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/ https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/ Quickly displays important data.

compscigeek 9y ago

Sweden's (though it's not a .gov) https://sweden.se/ https://sweden.se/

kqr 9y ago
Sweden has really improved in this regard recently. I also like - http://rkrattsbaser.gov.se/sfsr http://rkrattsbaser.gov.se/sfsr (searchable legal database of the legislative organ of govt) - http://riksdagen.se/ http://riksdagen.se/ (homepage of the legislative organ of govt, where full transcripts of proceedings are uploaded after at most a day) - http://www.gov.se/ http://www.gov.se/ (general govt portal website) However, a special mention is necessary for https://www.systembolaget.se/ https://www.systembolaget.se/. Sweden has a government monopoly on alcohol, and the state-owned seller is Systembolaget. They were really early with having a well designed website. Their search is advanced and filterable in almost anything you'd want. They were really careful not to break the web by ensuring the back button works, and more importantly, that the current view is reflected in the address field so you can share what you see by copying the addrews and sending it in an email, and so on. Really important stuff that so many get wrong.

neximo64 9y ago

The UK's (gov.uk) is pretty modern. Also companies house (the uk company register) (beta.companieshouse.gov.uk).

perl4ever 9y ago

The ones I use most are: https://www.sec.gov/ https://www.sec.gov/ https://www.ssa.gov/ https://www.ssa.gov/ https://data.bls.gov/ https://data.bls.gov/ https://dmv.ny.gov/ https://dmv.ny.gov/ https://www.irs.gov/ https://www.irs.gov/ All are useful and well-designed in my opinion. I don't think they should be judged on "looking outdated" though. Functionality and security are what's important, and if it's too visually polished, I look at that as maybe even a negative indicator of functionality.

nautical 9y ago

https://www.india.gov.in/ https://www.india.gov.in/ https://apps.mgov.gov.in/index.jsp https://apps.mgov.gov.in/index.jsp

DrScump 9y ago

Weather.gov is much better than private-sector, privacy-sucking and adware-laden equivalents.

tudelo 9y ago
For example... https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=39.09&lon=-76.85&unit=0&lg=english&FcstType=graphical https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=39.09&lon=-76.... You can't get this detail with any other service I can find.

andrei_says_ 9y ago

https://www.gov.uk/ https://www.gov.uk/ I found these talkson the process of building and maintaining it very useful https://vimeo.com/121348831 https://vimeo.com/121348831 https://www.infoq.com/presentations/gov-uk-devops https://www.infoq.com/presentations/gov-uk-devops