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On a side note, I'm a huge fan of the standardized design language of all UK Government sites. They really nailed the aesthetic and the consistency is unmatche

On a side note, I'm a huge fan of the standardized design language of all UK Government sites. They really nailed the aesthetic and the consistency is unmatched. Edit: I'm impressed at this tooling.[1] 1: https://www.gov.uk/service-toolkit#gov-uk-services https://www.gov.uk/service-toolkit#gov-uk-services

robin_reala 7y ago
That’s the GOV.UK Design System in play: https://design-system.service.gov.uk/ https://design-system.service.gov.uk/ (I helped to start the current incarnation of that, and it’s probably the thing in my career that I’m most proud of.)
- zouhair 7y ago
  So that's where Canada.ca aesthetic comes from.
  - robin_reala 7y ago
    Also https://www.govt.nz/ https://www.govt.nz/ and https://www.gov.au/ https://www.gov.au/.
  - frosted-flakes 7y ago
    And https://www.ontario.ca https://www.ontario.ca.
- sergiomattei 7y ago
  Incredible work. I don't think I've seen another government that has a design system so cohesive and well thought out.
- xiaq 7y ago
  I cannot praise the UI design on gov.uk more. It is a beacon of light in this dark age of web UI usability and I am not at all surprised that they have a coherent design system.
- rkangel 7y ago
  The impression I've got is that this also actually a rare victory of politics. My understanding is that GDS was set up under the Cabinet Office with enough political power to dictate to the various bits of the government how their web presence would work. It's lovely that that has (mostly) worked and that there is a great design being delivered!
- throwaway_pdp09 7y ago
  I can't criticise the aesthetics but damn I can criticise the usability. I've been on UC (edit: Universal Credit) a while and when I was first on it would lose messages (on both my side and the jobctr officials, and it has frustrated them because I talk to them Edit: and they have their own usability frustrations with it, with little or no way to feed them back up), log you out even before timing out, lose appointments or have them be set but not show up for you, and more. There's plenty more I could say but I'll just leave something which sums it up. At the top it says "BETA This is a new service - your feedback will help us to improve it". Guess what, it's disabled so you cannot give feedback. It always has been disabled. Visually pretty good but in terms of usability, not so good. Pretty sure no proper testing was done on it, though it has been getting a lot better recently.
  - switch007 7y ago
    Not a single part of UC is meant to make it easy on the claimant, so colour me surprised to read about website issues!
    - throwaway_pdp09 7y ago
      Actually the claimants use it intermittently while the UC office staff use it for much of their working day. I don't know for sure, but it's a pretty likely that it's actually quite a bit harder on them.
      - toyg 7y ago
        So cases don't get worked and UC doesn't get paid. In other words: working as intended.
      - kennydude 7y ago
        It's better than it used to be. Still, a way off from what it needs to be. The first version was on Microsoft Dynamics (yes a CRM...) for whatever reason iirc.
- GordonS 7y ago
  When it comes to UK tech, what's always happened is projects get farmed out to mega-outsourcing firms, like TCS and Capita, who then deliver a bunch of crap, very late and way over budget. I'm so pleased that we've brought some of it in house with GDS, and I'm amazed (in a good way) that it actually works, and they are even part of the OSS community.
  - adwww 7y ago
    I was involved (at arms length) in one part of GDS a few years ago and it sounded like some department heads really didn't like the GDS approach. Departments actually prefered spending ££££££ with HP / Capita / CapGemi etc. because the big outsourcing companies didn't ask as many 'awkward' questions (about accessibility, for example), and the departments got to 'own' the product more.
    - GordonS 7y ago
      Saddens me to hear that. At least from their blog, OSS, and the end results I see as a citizen, GDS is a breath of fresh air in a never-ending series of farcical, failed mega-projects. And as a tax payer, I'd much prefer my taxes to go towards building a capable team, rather than paying billion after billion to oursourcing firms, and god only knows how much in pork to to politicians.
      - TruffleMuffin 7y ago
        Couldn't agree more.
- ponitozhekoni 7y ago
  Thank you.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

robin_reala 7y ago

That’s the GOV.UK Design System in play: https://design-system.service.gov.uk/ https://design-system.service.gov.uk/ (I helped to start the current incarnation of that, and it’s probably the thing in my career that I’m most proud of.)

zouhair 7y ago
So that's where Canada.ca aesthetic comes from.
- robin_reala 7y ago
  Also https://www.govt.nz/ https://www.govt.nz/ and https://www.gov.au/ https://www.gov.au/.
- frosted-flakes 7y ago
  And https://www.ontario.ca https://www.ontario.ca.
sergiomattei 7y ago
Incredible work. I don't think I've seen another government that has a design system so cohesive and well thought out.
xiaq 7y ago
I cannot praise the UI design on gov.uk more. It is a beacon of light in this dark age of web UI usability and I am not at all surprised that they have a coherent design system.
rkangel 7y ago
The impression I've got is that this also actually a rare victory of politics. My understanding is that GDS was set up under the Cabinet Office with enough political power to dictate to the various bits of the government how their web presence would work. It's lovely that that has (mostly) worked and that there is a great design being delivered!
throwaway_pdp09 7y ago
I can't criticise the aesthetics but damn I can criticise the usability. I've been on UC (edit: Universal Credit) a while and when I was first on it would lose messages (on both my side and the jobctr officials, and it has frustrated them because I talk to them Edit: and they have their own usability frustrations with it, with little or no way to feed them back up), log you out even before timing out, lose appointments or have them be set but not show up for you, and more. There's plenty more I could say but I'll just leave something which sums it up. At the top it says "BETA This is a new service - your feedback will help us to improve it". Guess what, it's disabled so you cannot give feedback. It always has been disabled. Visually pretty good but in terms of usability, not so good. Pretty sure no proper testing was done on it, though it has been getting a lot better recently.
- switch007 7y ago
  Not a single part of UC is meant to make it easy on the claimant, so colour me surprised to read about website issues!
  - throwaway_pdp09 7y ago
    Actually the claimants use it intermittently while the UC office staff use it for much of their working day. I don't know for sure, but it's a pretty likely that it's actually quite a bit harder on them.
    - toyg 7y ago
      So cases don't get worked and UC doesn't get paid. In other words: working as intended.
    - kennydude 7y ago
      It's better than it used to be. Still, a way off from what it needs to be. The first version was on Microsoft Dynamics (yes a CRM...) for whatever reason iirc.
GordonS 7y ago
When it comes to UK tech, what's always happened is projects get farmed out to mega-outsourcing firms, like TCS and Capita, who then deliver a bunch of crap, very late and way over budget. I'm so pleased that we've brought some of it in house with GDS, and I'm amazed (in a good way) that it actually works, and they are even part of the OSS community.
- adwww 7y ago
  I was involved (at arms length) in one part of GDS a few years ago and it sounded like some department heads really didn't like the GDS approach. Departments actually prefered spending ££££££ with HP / Capita / CapGemi etc. because the big outsourcing companies didn't ask as many 'awkward' questions (about accessibility, for example), and the departments got to 'own' the product more.
  - GordonS 7y ago
    Saddens me to hear that. At least from their blog, OSS, and the end results I see as a citizen, GDS is a breath of fresh air in a never-ending series of farcical, failed mega-projects. And as a tax payer, I'd much prefer my taxes to go towards building a capable team, rather than paying billion after billion to oursourcing firms, and god only knows how much in pork to to politicians.
    - TruffleMuffin 7y ago
      Couldn't agree more.
ponitozhekoni 7y ago
Thank you.

deleted 7y ago

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