Local Directgov Usability Site

Good Practice Guidance: Part one

This guide was developed by Amberlight. It covers 12 common council transactions covering a wide range of subjects and user journeys, including paying of Council Tax online, renewing a library book, making a planning application, applying for a job, booking the removal of bulky rubbish by a council and locating the nearest recycling facilities. These examples can be used as a template to develop other similar transactions.

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Good Practice Guidance: Part two

Part two gives a wide range of practical advice to help build and improve council websites on topics such as accessibility, security, usability testing, online processes for school admissions, online event booking, email alerts, error messaging, website metrics and take up of online services.

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Good Practice Guidance: Part three

This section looks at how to design a home page and gives advice on integration standards, GIS, e-democracy, governance, metadata, providing information in different formats, and creating a user-friendly site structure with links to information on related areas, writing for the web, creating A to Z directories and site maps, and making content available in other languages.

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Good Practice Guidance: Part four

Part four give practical advice on intranets, including how to create collaborative workspaces, managing internal facilities online, internal communications and news using the intranet, creating and managing user-friendly forms, knowledge management, and managing organisational structures, the staff directory, standards and policies and training online.

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General Good Practice Guidlines

This document provides 16 general good practice guidelines for creating online forms for any type of transaction, regardless of the service or the type of information being requested.

General Good Practice Guidlines (PDF format, 2175KB)