End user here. In general, I've found GOV.UK to be an improvement on what went before. There are still 'old' sites that I have to use - HMRC, for example - whic

End user here. In general, I've found GOV.UK to be an improvement on what went before. There are still 'old' sites that I have to use - HMRC, for example - which are diabolical in their usability and function. I love that some stuff is more findable from a search engine than it used to be. There are certainly aspects of the new sites which need improvement from my perspective. GDS seem to be weak on taxonomies/organising large amounts of information, for example: https://www.gov.uk/business-finance-support-finder/search https://www.gov.uk/business-finance-support-finder/search - even their drop-down filters can be unwieldy. Likewise, the users who are unhappy are the wonks, the experts, the niche users etc (certainly including a select few who have the advantage of their own platform to amplify their disdain) and they certainly need catering for. But there's nothing to indicate that their needs won't be satisfied. Are they the highest priority when the 'Digital by Default' policy is also borne in mind? Some of those users will be unnecessary casualties and care should have been taken to recognise their user needs, but it wouldn't be the first time in history that someone screwed up by not doing so. I'm anticipating continuous improvement of these sites, rather than the "this is going to be the website for the next ten years" approach. There's a realistic chance that things will gradually improve. The piece seems to imply that the job is done on these sites, when the likelihood is that the job will never be 'done'. Some points to bear in mind about the piece itself. One, it's Andrew Orlowski. I like him and I tend to go to his stuff when I want to read a divergent opinion, but I bear in mind that he's not much of a fan of things that occurred after the turn of the millennium. Two, it's not hard to find people in Whitehall and out in the country who have their own agendas and/or empires, and are well-connected with sympathetic hacks (who might also have their own agenda). Some of them might even live in glass houses.