1. Learn about the laws that apply to you
A government website manager who keeps material updated and drives continuous user-centered enhancements is likely already aware of the new laws that will affect your websites, such as the 21st Century IDEA, EU Accessibility Directive, and GDPR.
Law ultimately boils down to government organizations being obligated to:
- Update their webpages
- Service digitization
- Enhance the customer experience
- Standardize and align their websites
- Check that web pages are accessible
- Maintain a high level of user privacy and data protection
- Meet web security requirements
Continue reading to learn how to achieve these standards and successfully maintain your site.
2. Determine the accessibility of the website
Citizens anticipate that government websites will offer them crucial information and resources. However, many of these websites are too difficult to navigate for the 20% of the global population who live with a disability. Users will be unable to engage with the public information and services you provide if they are unable to traverse your website. Worse, the consequences of failing to meet accessibility guidelines can be severe.
Making websites suitable for people of all skills and disabilities is what web accessibility entails. All users have equal access to information and functionality when sites are properly planned, developed, and maintained, and as a top website development company in Dubai, we offer you all the expertise you need to navigate this complicated mix of technical requirements
3. Put in place security controls
You should adopt security and management measures that prevent sensitive information from being improperly disclosed for the benefit of your department and the public.It is a serious security risk to use external links to websites that may contain phishing, malware, or unwanted software. In addition to making your website look untrustworthy, they could jeopardize your own security as well as that of your visitors.
4. Privacy of address data
Data privacy is a top consideration when it comes to site security. Despite the General Data Privacy Regulation (GDPR) being in force for some time, there has been recent legislation in certain parts of the world. Here are two key pieces of legislation to be aware of:
The Cookie Law - This requires websites to obtain permission from site visitors to store and retrieve information about them via a pop-up banner. Simply put, you can no longer display a banner that says, "By using this website, you accept cookies." Instead, your banner should enlighten citizens about why, how, and where their personal data is collected and used. You must also require that they actively consent or opt in (accept or deny) to these data policies. Because you can't control who sees your website, it's a good idea to have one to protect yourself.
The Consumer Privacy Act of California (CCPA) - California consumers can now inspect not only all the information your organization saves about them but also the full list of third parties with whom that data is shared. This law takes effect this year (2020). Those who break or violate data management regulations can sue more easily under this obligation for transparency.
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5. Fill holes in your user experience
Consider the websites you visit most frequently for your personal use like Amazon, Netflix, Twitter, YouTube, and so on. The websites are easy to use and recommend additional information, goods, or accounts to follow based on your activities. Compare that to the last time you visited a government website. There is a significant difference in usability, experience, and personalization. We've grown accustomed to conducting much of our personal lives online, and the expectations for websites have increased.
Measure and improve your site's citizen engagement if you truly want to ensure your users have a great experience. A requirement in several countries requires that you justify any changes to your website using behavior data and indexing iterations, which is why analytics software is a necessity. An analytics tool can not only help you identify and track site faults and changes, but it can also help you study how users interact with your site's pages and content.
6. Implement best-practice design guidelines
Examine the formatting standards developed by the US General Services Administration's Technology Transformation Service. These define how to ensure that your site serves consistent content across devices and produces material to fulfill user-specific accessibility requirements. Citizens will have a better understanding of what to do and where to do it if all government websites have a consistent design and feel.
Your content presentation is equally crucial for compliance. Remember to give careful attention to your navigation menu, plugins, and search functions when creating content for government websites. Additionally, displaying certain types of content, like tables, can be challenging on small devices, so think about other ways to arrange the information.
7. Concentrate on content quality and freshness
Your content plays an important role in ensuring compliance and engaging digital citizens. Government websites often have redundant, out-of-date, or trivial content, but there are strategies and tools to address it. These tools can perform automatic content quality assurance checks to assist you in the following ways:
- Maintain a list of all your domains
- Keep track of used and unused pages, as well as old documents.
- Determine broken links, misspellings, and a variety of other content quality issues.
8. Prioritise mobile compatibility
Mobile-friendly websites are difficult to master, but regulations and user expectations demand them.
Focus on the following factors to help ensure your website is device-agnostic:
Design - A responsive, mobile-friendly website design automatically adjusts to be viewed on various devices, such as a smartphone, tablet, or desktop computer. In addition to readability, navigation, and functionality on mobile devices, mobile-friendly design should also take these other devices into account. Test your site's mobile performance to see if it meets the mark for mobile devices.
Performance - Test your site's mobile performance to see if it meets the standard for mobile devices. The software can show you how your site will load on mobile devices, at different network speeds, and at different locations. With performance testing, you'll find out how long it takes for your site to load on mobile devices and what users see during that time.
Analytics - Gather as much information as possible about how visitors using mobile devices interact with your site. Analysis software can help you determine where your site may be lacking for mobile device users as well as view traffic by device.
Conclusion
The development and design of a branded website require careful consideration of numerous aspects. Your site's design, navigation, and content must engage customers and inspire further interaction with your brand in addition to increasing traffic and generating leads. Review the information outlined in this checklist to ensure your site meets the prerequisites needed to succeed. If you are looking for more information in this regard, please take a look at our detailed blog ( Top Rules to Consider When Creating an Empowering Government Website ) on the subject.
