GOV.UK
User research – a day in the life
This week, Cath Richardson and Jon Rimmer talk about some of the user research methods we are using at GDS to help us understand how people use our online services.
Every day we write the book: an incomplete history of civil service authors for World Book Day
Today is World Book Day, so we thought it would be fun to look back through history and find out about some civil servants who dabbled as authors on the side.
New Transport for GOV.UK
You may not have noticed, but we recently changed the bit that says ‘GOV.UK‘ in the black banner that appears across the website. It now uses New Transport, the same typeface that we use across the rest of the website. …
Guest post: A year on GOV.UK – HMRC’s experience
Robin Riley, HMRC Head of Digital Engagement and project lead for HMRC’s corporate content on GOV.UK. This week marks exactly one year since HMRC moved its corporate web presence to GOV.UK, and exactly two years since the beta of Departmental …
Report a misleading website to search engines
Government services have been getting a growing number of complaints from people who feel misled by websites which charge for access to public services that are either free or much cheaper when accessed via the official GOV.UK website. Examples include …
Weekend links: Oscars news, style guidance, red lines and more
Got a link you think we’ll love? Share it with us on Twitter: @GDSTeam Next week is the seventh annual National Apprenticeship Week. Follow the hashtag #NAW2014 throughout the week to stay up to date. Alex Holmes answers questions about the …
What kind of things do people ask?
Once in a while we like to raise a flag to highlight the work of the teams in GDS and show how we work. This week Operations Manager Albert Massa tells us how the GOV.UK Helpdesk team helps users get fast …
The end of the beginning for GOV.UK
A project team in GDS is working to make sure GOV.UK can meet the needs of all its users, including specialists and professionals, when it becomes a fully-realised “single domain for government” later this year. Neil Williams, who leads the …
Red lines for IT procurement
In January, the government published some ‘red lines’ for IT contracts. At the time, Bill Crothers, the government Chief Procurement Officer, described the reasoning behind them. These rules apply to all central government, and should encourage competition whilst delivering value …
GDS this week: “It’s not dumbing down, it’s opening up”
Lorena Sutherland, content lead for Office of the Public Guardian on GOV.UK, talks about the Plain English ethos of writing for GOV.UK. Join in the conversation on Twitter @gdsteam, and don’t forget to sign up for email alerts.