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It only looks refreshing because it lacks detail. Anyway this whole project is blatantly political. Directgov was a product of the last government so why not sp

by kierank 14y ago

It only looks refreshing because it lacks detail. Anyway this whole project is blatantly political. Directgov was a product of the last government so why not spend money making a new one and show how we've made all government services go online in a web2.0 fashion when we could fix the current one.

TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
>It only looks refreshing because it lacks detail. It doesn't lack detail. It just lacks unnecessary detail. >why not spend money making a new one and show how we've made all government services go online in a web2.0 fashion Uhm, gov.uk is a response to a report suggesting "Revolution not Evolution", among other things. It is not being done because the government wants to leave its mark, it's because Directgov is horrible. http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/directgov-2010-and-beyond-revolution-not-evolution http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/directgov-2...
- sequence7 14y ago
  I'd like to agree with you but nope it clearly does lack detail, looking at that page I've a few instant questions * If I'm a business how do I get my VAT right? * What goods/services are VAT exempt Now they're a little specific because I deal with VAT regularly but the fact that the VAT rate is 20% is easy to show and it's a headline piece of information. However tax and everything else involving government is always complicated and presenting it simply is incredibly difficult. The questions that a user landing on that page will want answering are diverse and as much as I'd like it to be as simple as showing a simple table with some data I doubt whether that's going to answer the question the average user has. The current directgov page is full of links to and information that might help, the new snazzy page - nope nothing. I don't think this is purely political I honestly believe there are people trying to make government sites more simple but I also don't think just throwing away whatever information you don't need is not particularly helpful. The reason most gov websites are hugely complicated/confusing is because gov is hugely confusing/complicated and while I applaud any effort to simplify the presentation simply dropping a bunch of information and claiming you've solved the problem doesn't cut it.
  - TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
    There's more than one search result for 'VAT', that's just the quick answer, although you're right it's a little lacking in links to more info. But in which case, submit feedback.

by kierank 14y ago

TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago

>It only looks refreshing because it lacks detail. It doesn't lack detail. It just lacks unnecessary detail. >why not spend money making a new one and show how we've made all government services go online in a web2.0 fashion Uhm, gov.uk is a response to a report suggesting "Revolution not Evolution", among other things. It is not being done because the government wants to leave its mark, it's because Directgov is horrible. http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/directgov-2010-and-beyond-revolution-not-evolution http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/directgov-2...

sequence7 14y ago
I'd like to agree with you but nope it clearly does lack detail, looking at that page I've a few instant questions * If I'm a business how do I get my VAT right? * What goods/services are VAT exempt Now they're a little specific because I deal with VAT regularly but the fact that the VAT rate is 20% is easy to show and it's a headline piece of information. However tax and everything else involving government is always complicated and presenting it simply is incredibly difficult. The questions that a user landing on that page will want answering are diverse and as much as I'd like it to be as simple as showing a simple table with some data I doubt whether that's going to answer the question the average user has. The current directgov page is full of links to and information that might help, the new snazzy page - nope nothing. I don't think this is purely political I honestly believe there are people trying to make government sites more simple but I also don't think just throwing away whatever information you don't need is not particularly helpful. The reason most gov websites are hugely complicated/confusing is because gov is hugely confusing/complicated and while I applaud any effort to simplify the presentation simply dropping a bunch of information and claiming you've solved the problem doesn't cut it.
- TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
  There's more than one search result for 'VAT', that's just the quick answer, although you're right it's a little lacking in links to more info. But in which case, submit feedback.