FirstGov.gov was re-launched recently and I have much interest in it.
First, it seems to attempt to take the place of the for-profit portal featured in that all-too famous documentary a few years ago. Second, the re-design itself is boring, insulting, even tortuous — it looks like it was designed by eight different government committees sitting behind locked doors who could only communicate via keyholes. I wonder, even, if there was a designer in-house to build this monster.
Third, the site, as a friend noted, is not 508 compliant so it doesn’t adhere to the accessibility standards that the U.S. Government has set for itself. And lastly, sites like NYC.gov, which I had the pleasure of loosely working on a few years ago, have become models for online government communications.
Postscript: I do think the FirstGov portal is a good idea. I just wish the site looked and acted smarter.