e-Gov Watch - Raising The Bar For Government Websites

You can see how Government websites stack up against the e-government guidelines and other standardised critera at the e-Gov Watch website (www.e-govwatch.org.nz) launched in June. Katipo worked with the e-Gov Watch team to publish the results on the web.

With growing numbers of users on the internet, web developers are increasingly aware of the need for accessible, useable and interactive websites, and government departments should be at the forefront of the accessability wave. e-Gov Watch is an independent organisation with the remit to evaluate existing Government websites and provide comparisons both against each other, and benchmarking them to best practice. The e-govwatch.org.nz website publishes the results, elaborates on the New Zealand e-government guidelines themselves and gives an indication as to the performance of various government websites.

The end result is a "League Table" of government websites, which is aimed at improving the usability and accessibility of the sites surveyed. e-govwatch.org.nz initially gives Site Ratings for 25 departmental websites, with plans to extend the survey to cover all aspects of state online provision in the near future. It's hoped that over time the program will result in improved potential for e-services, cross-agency harmony and e-consultation.

Katipo's passion for accessable websites is well known, and we were thrilled to be invited to participate in this project.

It makes good sense for any website, to be attractive and inviting for customers, and so we extend our ethos of excellent design and accessable technology to all our clients.

For more on e-Gov Watch visit the websites:
e-govwatch.org.nz

Or see scoop's report about the site here: http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PO0406/S00115.htm