Entries in the E-Government category:
Bill Richardson’s website - where’s the beef?
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Here in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and there’s much excitement (if not much surprise) that our Governor, Bill Richardson, has announced his bid for the Democratic Presidential nomination.
Being a web designer who’s previously reviewed British and Irish political once or twice before, I quickly dashed over to check out Richardson’s new site - richardsonforpresident.com.
So how does it stack up?
Blog if you’re blogging
Despite the cliched red and blue palette, the front page is otherwise unobjectionable if a little staid, but heading to the blog was a big disappointment.
There’s one entry. This man’s running for president, and as I write, it’s been 4 days since the site went up and there’s still only one post. Where’s the behind-the-scenes info from the staff, the candid photos, the more informal commentary and analysis to go with the more solid news elsewhere on the site?
It’s basic web design practice that you don’t launch with a blank page (or the next worse thing) - you pre-fill the blog with a couple of entries, and make sure you have some more to roll out in the first week. This looks like you knew you had to have a blog, but weren’t sure what to do with it when you got it.
WCAG 2 - a backward step for accessibility?
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
My latest article for Irish web consultants iQ Content explores the vexed question of the newly-published update to the accessibility standards for websites:
As people who work with accessibility and websites, we’re used to the arcane world of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), but the new guidelines are going to change things a lot, and maybe not for the better.
Published in 1999 by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) committee of the W3C, version 1.0 outlines three priority levels of accessibility attainable by websites, from the basic level one (A) to the practically unobtainable level 3 (AAA).
The WAI have been working for years in updating the guidelines. This is a good thing, as the 1.0 requirements are confusing and outdated – having not kept up with recent best practice in the field.
Read the full article on the iQ Content site.
Off the Road hits a million
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
The Off the Road travel site we built for the state (in conjunction with elemental studio) is racking up very healthy traffic figures. How healthy? How does 1.2 million hits in a week sound?
As seen on TV
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
The momentum behind the press coverage of the Off the Road site, which Moore Consulting built, shows no signs of halting.
Over the weekend, the AP story on the website was picked up in Chicago, Washington, Dallas, Philadelphia and elsewhere, and last night, we were on TV.
KOBTV, the NBC affiliate in Albuquerque had a story about the site on its 10 o’clock news. Featuring an interview with Shannon Papin of the Economic Development Dept, lots of shots of the site, and plenty of other nice words, it was great to see the site getting so much coverage.
Its aim is to encourage tourism to smaller communities in New Mexico, so getting such good press both in the state and across the country is very gratifying. And no, they didn’t interview me, but I should be able to upload a clip of the story soon.
Featured in USA Today
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
The press coverage of the Off The Road site I built for the New Mexico Economic Development Department continues apace. Today, the AP story was picked up by the online edition of USA Today, complete with a funky photograph of Roswell.
Here’s the article in USA Today (some simple free registration may be required). Alternatively, if/when the page disappears, I have the story in .gif format (236K).
Moore Consulting’s review of 2005
Monday, January 09, 2006
While it’s still early 2006, I thought it was time for a review of Moore Consulting’s first full year in business.
It’s been a great success, and a lot of fun - here are the basic facts:
We built (or contributed to the construction of) ten sites, with most of our clients being public sector bodies (including the NM State Economic Development Department, the NM Office of Science and Technology, NM Tourism and Santa Fe Economic development). Among these site was the main NM Economic Development Department site, and the very well-received travel and tourism project, Off The Road.
I (that’s me, David Moore) did the lion’s share of planning, construction and project management on all these jobs - I think it’s important that the person working on the overall strategy and information architecture of a site (the higher level decision-making) is also well-versed in the minutiae of construction issues. However, I was ably assisted by a talented group of designers and programmers who were responsible for making many of the sites look and work the way they were supposed to.
Press coverage for Off the Road site
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
It’s good to see the Off the Road travel site we built for the NM State Economic Development Dept (in conjunction with Elemental Design) getting some press coverage.
In addition to a story in the New Mexico Business Weekly before Christmas, an AP story by Sue Major Holmes, has been picked up by a number of sources, including the Sant Fe New Mexican, Albubuquerque Tribune, KRQE TV, KOBTV, the Jackson Hole Star Tribune and the Casper Star Tribune (big in Caspar, who’d have thought it?).
Off the Road - your guide to New Mexico’s MainStreets
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
We’re very happy to announce the launch of our latest site for the New Mexico Economic Development Department (EDD), and it’s something of a departure for us.
Off the Road is “a transparently opinionated website focusing on shopping and dining in the downtowns of all 21 New Mexico MainStreet communities. Here, we show you where to find bargain collectables, a cute pair of shoes, or a piping-hot plate of green chile enchiladas - all from locally owned businesses found on main streets, town squares, and plazas across New Mexico.”
New e-Government report published
Friday, September 23, 2005
Continuing my long-term relationship with leading Irish web consultants iQ Content, I’ve contributed to their new report, Benchmarking eGovernment Websites in the U.K. and Ireland: Who’s getting it right (and why)?
This report provides the first definitive user experience league table benchmarking Irish and UK eGovernment websites, and provides best practice examples and concrete recommendations for enhancing eGovernment performance.
Unimpress Office
Friday, September 09, 2005
So I’m trying to rustle up some good interview candidates for this month’s iCubed newsletter. We’ll partly have an e-government focus to coincide with the launch of iQ Content’s E-Government Benchmarking report (that I helped write).
An interview with someone in the UK E-Government Unit would be good, so I went to the Cabinet Office website to get an email address for a press contact. And there aren’t any.