The Government Web Guidelines (GWG) are a hot topic at the moment with the decision to make Version 2.1 the compulsory minimum standard for New Zealand Government department websites from January 2006.

Intergen Interactive has taken a positive and optimistic stand on the issues for the industry and the ultimate benefits for the New Zealand public. We firmly believe that the GWG will improve the quality and consistency of experience for all Kiwi’s as their interactions with government departments are increasingly conducted on line. 

Intergen’s “Big Hairy Audacious Goal” is that everyone, every day, is touched positively by the things we do. The State Services Commission GWG 2006 initiative is actually going to assist us in ensuring that those experiences are positive with the users of our government web projects! Our user interface design methodology has been in a constant state of refinement since 1996. We advocate the disciplined application of best usability orientated design practice to all websites we create. Our approach is based on evolving internationally accepted standards, and parallels the intent and purpose of the GWG.  

In our experience the adherence to the GWG standards on government website and application interface design projects ensures that the final solution has the most value for the majority of users. Put simply, it guarantees the site is fast, simple and intuitive – the golden benchmarks for effective mass market interface design.

Why have a compulsory standard?

Up until now government departments and agencies have been able to self-regulate in terms of deciding what minimum standards of usability design are acceptable for their audience. By imposing the compulsory GWG standard now, all government websites will be required to be structured, designed and built in a way that guarantees users will be able to access a site and have a familiar and consistent experience.

This ensures that online provision of information is equitable, allowing all web users access, not just those best resourced or on metropolitan connections. Ultimately this will allow more New Zealanders to understand, interact with and participate in government.

What lessons from experience?

GWG compliant websites do not have to be dull and boring.

Too many web designers are intimidated by the prescriptive standards and do not realise the opportunity to create friendly and effective interfaces within the limits of the standards. Government departments reviewing their web presence now have a set of universal criteria to audit against and a reasonable time frame to achieve compliance. The challenge for the project teams will be to move from respecting the intent of the guidelines, to achieving complete compliance.

This will require increased effort particularly in the areas of:

• accessibility for users with a disability or those on slow internet connections
• bilingual/Maori content presentation
• acceptable presentation degradation for older version browsers
• rendering all PDF content in HTML
• managing degradation from technologies like JavaScript
• providing robust content management templates that preclude non-compliant population

Intergen Interactive have been designing and building GWG compliant websites since the inception of the standards. Back in 2001 the www.jobs.govt.nz website for the State Services Commission was one of the first websites to have the standards applied. Since then we’ve racked up a broad range of applied GWG experience with government departments, local government and state sector organisations. 

We are also harnessing Intergen’s vast experience using Microsoft Content Management Server to build robust template designs that can be self-managed by multiple business units.

Recently we have been engaged on Government Web Guidelines projects with Land Transport Safety Authority, State Services Commission and New Zealand Immigration Service. Our applied experience with the guidelines means what you see is what you get. We only present concepts that can be built and maintained in a GWG compliant manner.

We know the GWG document in detail, but don’t lose sight of the big picture – making your customers' website experience positive!