GOV.UK
Podcast: GDS in 2019
Podcast: GDS in 2019
The final episode of the Government Digital Service Podcast in 2019 is a look back at what has happened over the past 12 months at GDS.
Broadly, the visual language of Alpha.gov.uk
Alpha.gov.uk is a demonstration of what a single central Government site could be. It's not Business Link, it's not Directgov, it's not any specific department or Government agency – but at the same time it represents all of those, and …
What's the deal with place names?
We knew very early on that Alpha.gov.uk was going to work best if it had a sense of where in the country (or world) its visitors are coming from. Knowing that means it can provide you with information on where …
Why are we doing this?
It's all too easy to get caught up in the excitement of launching a new site full of interesting new stuff. If you're not careful, you can miss the bigger picture. You can get lost in the wondrous geekiness of …
We are not the first to tread this path
Within the context of UK Government, there is plenty about the approach we’ve taken with Alpha.gov.uk which is genuinely radical. Yet we are well aware that we are not the only team inside Government who are passionate about an agile, …
The power of the disinterested
One of the criticisms of the 'Alphagov' project I’m most aware of is the ‘who do they think they are’ approach to the team itself. The bulk of the team were recruited from outside government so it might be that …
Accessibility
It is vital that the Government's live web sites are as accessible as possible for everyone. There can be no argument about that - their audience is everyone. With a short, agile, project like Alpha.gov.uk (we've had just over 10 …
A few design rules for Alpha.gov.uk
Back in February when we were kicking off the alpha project, we spent the first couple of weeks scouring search logs and analytics for the various central government websites; thinking about who our users were and generally discussing the kind …
Towards a simpler, smaller, nimbler, cheaper, better GOV.UK
Late last year Martha Lane Fox published a raft of recommendations intended to revolutionise the UK Government's online services. At the launch of her report. "Government should take advantage of the more open, agile and cheaper digital technologies to deliver …
Towards a Single Government Domain
In January we announced the appointment of Chris Chant as Interim Executive Director for Digital Government. This appointment followed the publication of Martha Lane Fox's report to Government, “Directgov 2010 and Beyond", which made various recommendations to drive up the …
Introducing the Government Digital Service
The Government Digital Service is the new name for the organisation created by the merging of Directgov and the Cabinet Office Digital Delivery and Digital Engagement teams, following the recommendations of the Martha Lane Fox review “Directgov 2010 and Beyond”. …