Global interaction standards

Designing and defining common user interactions in order to keep them consistent.

Having a consistent set of user interactions for the most common activities is not just an issue of corporate branding or appearing to be joined up, it is essential in order to reduce the ‘cognitive load’ (the amount of thinking that has to be done) required by users.

Guidance documents should be produced covering common interactions, for instance:

• site registration (where single sign-on is not used)
• date inputs
• forgotten password processes
• form save and retrieval
• pagination

Global visual language

Providing standards and guidance for the look of all council websites.

A global visual language would define the layout, element position and priority as well as imagery treatment. It should seek to allow creative flexibility for website owners to make distinctive and appealing websites while providing guidance on how to ensure that it the site is clearly part of the the Local Authority portfolio.

The guidance should contain specific advice on such aspects as: page layout, common navigation positioning, image treatment, font and HTML/CSS usage and image content, and should be provided for multiple devices and platforms.

Joining Local Authority properties together

Connections between people and communities must be encouraged by creating links between the resources that those people use.

This should be primarily through visual design; the family of Local Authority sites should all use common design elements. Information architecture, all labelling, navigation and options should be consistent wherever possible. User experience must be consistent, efficient and based on common search & navigation features. There should be a simple, consistent means of promoting important initiatives and information, and all opportunities for offering related information should be exploited.

This commonality should include properties and services related to the Local Authority including partners.

Visibility

Content that is currently hidden from the public must be made visible in the most useful way.

All portfolios/directorates should be on the constant lookout for things to make usefully visible to the public, to help citizens understand and help the staff to make the community better.

The design guidelines that apply to the website should include recommendations on the use of visualisation techniques including:

• diagrams
• maps
• infographics

Standardisation vs expressiveness

There should be integration options that provide efficiency through standardisation, and others that prioritise expressiveness.

As well as a set of processes and templates for migrating or building websites on the common content management platforms, other integration mechanism must be provided that allow for websites to have more expressive designs.

Rather than having a set of integration rules for adopting and integrating other websites, guidance, tools and resources must be provided. This guidance should explain the rationale behind any design decisions and give practical support for website creators and the tools and resources should make it easier for any website creator to use them than to not.

Transactions must be easy, obvious and ubiquitous

All transactions, especially financial ones, must be easy and obvious. They need good process and form design. They must have well stated and easy to understand validation requirements. Help should be contextual rather than stuck away in a separate silo. All information needs to be re-used subject to privacy controls. Transaction pages have to be simple to understand, have easy to access security policies and be fully accessible.

Transactions are part of the key group of website features that should definitely be available via mobile devices.

Clear access to services

It must be clear what services the Local Authority provides and how users can access them. This requires detailed design of the user journey which delivers the service. Services (and all potential synonyms) must be have a privileged place in search results.

Services, and the portfolios that manage them, must have “homes” on the website. This means pages designed to be usable and welcoming with a persistent location.