Before search, Government agencies should look at usability

I was reading this article about user satisfaction with government web sites today, and I can't help but wonder who might be missing the mark.  The article covers a couple of topics, the first being user satisfaction with government web sites.  If you've ever used a government web site, then you probably know that most government web sites are just not all that easy to use.

And that brings me to the second part of the article.  There's a quick mention there about how search is helping to improve some government web sites like FirstGov.gov.  And It's a good example of how web sites for government agencies work well.  FirstGov is well designed, and search capabilities make it much easier to find the information that you're looking for. 

The IRS web site is another that's designed pretty well.  Given the amount of information that the IRS makes available to the public via the web site, it's an excellent example of how web sites work.  But there are far more agencies that have poorly designed web sites.  And if your web site isn't designed well, the best search program on the planet isn't going to make it much more usable.

Usability is a major issue for many government organizations, especially at the state level where the person in charge of the web site could possibly be the one person on staff that knows anything about computer.  For example, one city web site will take you rolling around in circles for hours if you don't know exactly where to find what you're looking for.

The most important element of a useful site is the design of the site.  Users should be able to quickly find what they're looking for, even if there is no search function built into the site.  Search just makes finding what you need a little faster.  In some cases, you can find what you need, but once you find it, getting to it is a little more difficult.  The site's navigation structure just doesn't support user's behaviors.

So, before any organization, including a government agency, can help users via a web site, there must be a strong understanding of how users will interact with that site, and that seems to be the area in which many government agencies are lacking the most.  Users won't use a web site the same way they use a physical office, and until government agencies figure that out, the satisfaction level for those sites will likely to continue to fall, a little at a time.

The take away?  Before you even begin designing your web site, the most important element of the site is not the technology or the legislation that's pushing the site forward, but rather is the way the user will use the site.  Which means that once again, it's all about the basics.