Government Website Usability: Insights from DrupalCon Portland

During DrupalCon Portland 2024, I learned how Drupal powers countless public sector websites and web applications. I had the chance to meet Joshua Northcott, CTO of Hounder, and we explored Drupal's role in government sites and the latest trends. Joshua gave two key talks at DrupalCon 24: one on "The Importance of Personalization and User Intent" and another at the Government Summit on "Creating Websites Governments Crave."

As a developer who uses government websites often, Joshua's insights were particularly relevant. His expertise clarified what makes a site user-friendly versus frustrating, highlighting the need for understanding user intent and creating efficient, accessible portals. I was excited to see how Hounder is pushing these advancements forward and how CKEditor's new plugin pack is improving Drupal user experiences.

Watch our interview: https://youtu.be/W_9O5MiY8zc

The Importance of Personalization in Government Websites

Personalization enhances customer engagement and drives results. With the expectation that government services must cater to all citizens, not just a select few, government agencies face challenges providing improved digital solutions to their communities. Issues such as confusing regulations, outdated systems, and fragmented service portals create hurdles that must be overcome to ensure services are accessible and user-friendly. By using content collaboration, data integration, and digital asset management tools, developers can build systems that meet the modern and sophisticated needs of the public they serve.

Personalization harnesses data that citizens voluntarily share with the government, combined with their online behaviors, to offer tailored services and information. This data-driven approach helps government agencies provide relevant, responsive content in preferred languages, meeting users where they are with the information and services they need. Digitizing and automating enrollment processes and document workflows not only enable self-service but also drive operational efficiency. Who wouldn’t like more effective governmental efficiency?

Effective personalization reduces administrative burdens. For example, by implementing intelligent web forms and e-signatures integrated with back-end systems, agencies can streamline processes, maintain data security, and meet FedRAMP requirements, all while enhancing the public's interaction with their government.

Understanding User Intent for Better Service

User intent and user experience are elements that should influence both the design and functionality of public sector websites. User intent refers to the specific goals users have when visiting a government website, whether it be finding information, accessing services, or completing online transactions. Identifying these intents allows developers to tailor the website in a way that aligns with user expectations and helps them complete their goals with minimal friction.

User experience, commonly abbreviated to UX, refers to the choice architecture, taxonomy, design elements, and website layout presented to the user. A high-quality user experience minimizes the effort required by citizens to navigate the site, making it more likely that they will find what they need efficiently. This is particularly important for individuals who may not be tech-savvy or who have limited access to digital resources.

Drupal’s flexible architecture allows for continuous updates and improvements based on user feedback and analytics. This ability to iterate ensures that public sector websites can adapt and improve as needed, maintaining high levels of engagement and trust. 

Website Usability Insights from DrupalCon Sessions

The key takeaway from Hounder’s DrupalCon sessions is that your visitors don’t want to linger on your website; they want to accomplish their tasks and move on with their lives. By prioritizing users and making it easy for them to navigate and complete their goals (like making online payments), you’re not only improving their experience but also boosting your organization’s efficiency and bottom line.

Hounder’s focus on usability resulted in a 100% success rate for users quickly finding essential features, such as paying bills, accessing outage information, locating relevant programs, and reporting issues for the LA Department of Water and Power. This level of efficiency isn’t just a win for users but also for the organization, leading to considerable cost savings and efficiency. When Hounder heard from LADWP that users “No longer dread going to the utility site,” they knew they had accomplished what needed to be done.

Take a look for yourself to hear insights on government website usability straight from the Hounder team during their talk at DrupalCon:

Creating Next-Gen Government Website Experiences | DrupalCon GovSummit Talk

Creating Government Websites That Users Crave

To create great government websites, developers must prioritize the end-user experience over internal terminologies and processes. Citizens are not, and won’t be, experts in governmental procedures, and the language used on public sector websites should reflect that. One useful strategy involves simplifying the language and avoiding dense jargon or technical terms that are common internally but unfamiliar to the public. For example, instead of using terms like "municipal code compliance," opt for simpler phrases such as "city rules you need to follow."

Another key strategy is the implementation of intuitive navigation and clear, user-friendly interfaces. By organizing information logically and using descriptive labels, citizens can find what they need without confusion. For instance, a "How Can We Help You?" section on the homepage could guide users to various services, such as "Apply for a Permit" or "Pay a Fine," using familiar and straightforward language.

Hounder's Success Stories with Government Entities

Site Redesign for Los Angeles Department of Water and Power

Many citizens find government websites frustrating due to their frequent lack of usability. Hounder collaborated with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to completely redesign their website, focusing on enhancing the user experience. The existing site presented challenges for citizens trying to accomplish simple yet crucial tasks such as paying water bills or checking for outages. As the largest utility organization with 2,000,000 customers, these roadblocks needed to be mitigated. 

Before:

After:

Hounder’s design and development team transformed the site, creating a user-friendly experience that improved login and payment processes by 80%. This overhaul also significantly reduced customer support calls, easing the workload for LADWP’s team. Prioritizing user experience not only benefited the citizens who regularly interact with the interface but also made the organization’s staff work more efficiently.

Digitizing a Career Roadmap for San Bernardino County Schools

Working closely with the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, the Hounder team was able to transform a paper version of a “Cradle to Career” road map into a fully functional digital web experience. Since this would be a community-facing application, the interface needed to be user-friendly.

Hounder focused on understanding the messaging and technical requirements of each webpage to make it a valuable resource for parents and students. Leveraging Laravel, Hounder customized workflows, optimized the site for SEO, and enhanced the overall user experience. As a result, parents and educators can now easily access educational resources, ensuring a positive academic experience for their students.

Hounder is dedicated to advancing the effectiveness of government websites, and they’d love your input! Take their short survey to provide your insight and any website challenges you encounter within the government sector. 

Leveraging Modern Technologies for Government Websites

Government websites need modern technology to work well and serve people efficiently. Many citizens use high-grade applications like Netflix and Amazon and bring along expectations from using these highly polished platforms to their governmental site interactions.

Naturally, Drupal provides a strong foundation on which to build content-driven applications. Technologies like JavaScript, React, and Next.js help provide interactivity, and their widespread use means citizens will be able to use the applications without needing to install software. For example, React, created by Facebook, makes building and managing complex websites easier by letting developers reuse parts of the site. Next.js can help build a static front-end website, while Drupal serves as a decoupled (or "headless") back-end. This setup reduces the workload on Drupal, letting it focus only on managing content. The Next.js site fetches content directly from Drupal, making it easier and faster to manage and deliver updates while also decreasing load times and bandwidth usage. Using these tools makes government websites quicker, more user-friendly, and easier for citizens to find and use, improving public services.

Exploring the Free CKEditor 5 Drupal Plugin Pack

Good public sector websites require good content, which can take time to produce. You can shorten the needed time to create content by extending the default editor in Drupal. As you know, CKEditor has been the default text editor in Drupal for over a decade now. In addition to the core editor, they also provide the free CKEditor 5 Plugin Pack. This Drupal module extends the functionality available in the core CKEditor 5 module with existing features found in the standalone CKEditor. By spending a few moments in Composer, you can unlock powerful features for your users like:

• Auto Image
• Block Indentation
• Find and Replace
• Fonts
• Full-Screen Mode
• Highlight
• Page Break
• Select All
• Templates (requires Drupal 10.3)
• Text Transformation
• To-do Document List
• Word count
• Free version of WProofreader grammar and spell checker

The CKEditor 5 Drupal Plugin Pack is free to use, with no sign-up required.

Beyond the free pack, CKEditor also offers premium CKEditor plugins for Drupal that address common user challenges, such as:

• Ensuring content pastes correctly from Word or Excel into Drupal.
• Facilitating collaboration within the editor, including track changes, revision history, mentions, and commenting.
• Integrating an AI assistant into the Drupal editor without hassle.
• Importing and exporting content to and from common business document formats like Word and PDF.

For solutions to these challenges and more, check out the CKEditor 5 Premium Features module for Drupal or explore the demos.

If you’d like to talk with Hounder, hit them up at https://hounder.co/