
Pull Request: Launch GOV.UK - mmahemoff
https://github.com/alphagov/static/pull/94
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dmytton
This is an example of how to run a government IT project. Extremely well run
team, excellent programmers and designers and using a lot of interesting
technology. That's cool for the tech community but for the majority of the
users the biggest benefit is a single location for everything. Direct.gov.uk
was still a collection of links to lots of external sites but the goal with
gov.uk is to have everything on one site. I think this is a great project.

Some background at [http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/2012/10/16/directgov-
a-q...](http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/2012/10/16/directgov-a-quiet-
history/)

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antihero
I've always thought a dedicated team of coders, managed and directed well,
would be much better for government/educational IT than going with giant
corrupt companies. I do hope this goes well.!

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bfirsh
For background, this is part of a larger government initiative to curb
outsourcing of IT projects. Traditionally these sorts of things would be built
by large software companies at enormous expense to the taxpayer.

Gov.uk has been built by a (relatively) small in-house team, by people who
genuinely care about what they are building. They embrace the fact that they
are building tools for the good of society rather than just satisfying a
contract.

Also as a citizen, I love the fact that I can open a pull request on my
government's website ( <https://github.com/alphagov/calendars/pull/1> ). We've
got the ball rolling in opening up government data on the internet, but this
is a great example of how technology can enable citizens to get involved in
government.

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FuzzyDunlop
Looks nice, clean and speedy. Although the front page could easily be mistaken
for a parked domain with the mass of links and nothing to really differentiate
them or make them stand out.

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mmahemoff
Hah I can see how that's a distinct possibility especially as it says "The
best place fo find government services and information is www.gov.uk". That
does look right out of a parked domain site!

Still, I think the simple list of links, with an easy search entry, is exactly
what a site like this needs.

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FuzzyDunlop
Yeah, I agree in general. I thought that because I looked and initially just
saw a block of links, which I habitually glossed over, and had to stop and
actually read to see that it comprised the main navigation of the site. It's
something I feel a small set of icons would alleviate.

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mmahemoff
For anyone who's wondering, the actual website is at <http://www.gov.uk>

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citricsquid
I'm still seeing "beta" labels everywhere and notices, "This is a test
website, so may be inaccurate or misleading."?

edit: seems the launch is tomorrow, this commit is just in preparation. Makes
sense.

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misnome
Also, reassuring - they aren't developing straight on the live site, which
would not surprise me in the least from a government site.

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aes256
This doesn't really 'replace' Directgov. At least, it doesn't yet.

Look at the most active searches on the site. Top of the list is the JobCentre
Plus job search. All gov.uk does is link you to the existing JobCentre Plus
website on Directgov.

Similarly, let's say I want to book a driving test (another of the most active
searches). All gov.uk does is link me to the existing booking service on
Directgov.

Okay, so I want to renew my tax disc (again, another of the most active
searches). Again, all gov.uk does is link me to the existing DVLA interface on
Directgov.

This goes on and on. The only useful thing gov.uk can do is link me to the
existing Directgov sites. Google already does that for me.

I assume the long-term plan is to integrate all these services into the gov.uk
site, but one can't help thinking they should have done this — and actually
made the site a useful port of call in and of itself — before shedding the
beta status.

Edit: Just noticed the site doesn't properly launch until tomorrow, so I
wonder if that will change all of this. If so, you can colour me impressed.

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samwillis
That is their eventual plan. The purposefully haven't moved everything over at
once because that would require a colossal effort. They are aiming to have
moved all government websites over to the platform by the end of 2014. Lots of
time to do it without expanding the team to the point were they lose the
innovative thinking.

~~~
aes256
Fair enough. In its present state I just don't see gov.uk adding much value to
users beyond collating fairly mundane information in one place with a nice
interface.

It's nice, but I can't see any reason I'd find myself using the site. If I
want to actually _use_ a government service, I don't see why I'd go to gov.uk
first when Google can just as easily deliver me to the relevant godawful
hellhole on Directgov, whereupon I will find myself wondering why I even
bothered in the first place.

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johneth
I think that's one of the main motivations behind it (the realisation that
most people enter [government] websites via search engines). They've designed
the pages to be clearer for those use cases - you can read their thoughts and
motivations in their design principles - <https://www.gov.uk/designprinciples>
(which are extremely good).

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bfirsh
Here's a list of technology they've used to build gov.uk:
<http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/govuk-launch-colophon/>

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coob
Looks great!

Will direct.gov.uk have a bunch of redirects to gov.uk?

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mmahemoff
Yes. One of the shining lights about this project is their attention to
preserving links.

[http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/2012/10/11/no-link-
left-...](http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/2012/10/11/no-link-left-behind/)

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room271
I think this is great. I'm also really interested in the new public APIs and
how these can be used going forward. Good job gov IT team :)

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meaty
And, unsurprisingly it looks just like direct.gov.uk with some polish.

Money well spent!*

* Sarcasm for reference...

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happymuffin
Good job it's apparently a lot less money to run than direct.gov.uk, so a huge
win for the UK taxpayer!

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pbhjpbhj
In what way does it save money? Would be interested in some stats if there are
any; presumably they'd be projections at this stage.

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simonw
It saves money because they're doing the work with an in-house development
team, instead of blowing millions of younds per project on expensive
consultants from IBM, Accenture etc.

