The U.S. Government is stepping up to significantly transform its online presence to meet modern user demands. It’s come to light that a shocking 40% of their websites aren’t mobile-friendly and a whopping 60% show accessibility issues. The aim of this hefty overhaul? To improve and standardize the user experience across an estimated 10,000 web pages.
This task is expected to take a decade to fully roll out, given its massive scale. The intended outcome is for websites that are more inclusive, easier to navigate, and optimized for use on mobile devices. Staying true to this vision would require expert knowledge across varying fields, from design to infrastructure development. Even with a 10-year timeline projected, officials remain committed to delivering a seamless, user-friendly digital experience for all citizens.
A recent survey uncovers the sad state of federal websites: 45% are not configured for mobile devices, 60% have accessibility problems, and a significant 40% of these sites haven’t been updated in the last year. The alarm bells continue to ring, with a quarter of the sites deemed confusing due to lack of transparency or jumbled layouts. Even more worrisome, traditional breaches like unsecured HTTP connections were found in 10% of the sites.
Transforming U.S. government’s digital outreach
The U.S. government’s design system is packed with several planned features to improve user experience. These include tokens, standardized graphics, an official banner, and a series of 243 official icons. They’ve also elected popular fonts like Source Sans Pro, Merriweather, Public Sans, and Roboto Mono for their legibility and style. An inclusive responsive grid layout system is also in the works, ensuring ideal browsing on any device type.
Needless to say, the design system is a massive step up. Beyond aesthetics, it contributes to enhanced information integrity, efficient service delivery, and an increase in user trust. This overhaul is a necessary part of the U.S. Government’s efforts to streamline digital communications and make public services more accessible, efficient, and inclusive.
The transformative drive began with the bipartisan-supported 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act from 2018. So far, around 200 websites have transitioned to the updated system, 600 have adjusted to mobile-friendly layouts, and 400 websites have boosted their Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
The road ahead does look daunting with over 10,000 .gov websites slated for updates. High-traffic websites have unsurprisingly been marked as top-priority, undergoing a visual makeover, content enrichment, and SEO enhancements to safeguard the visibility of official government information in search engine results.
