Still, WhiteHouse.gov, not to be confused with the funny site that once parodied the White House under the Clinton years known as WhiteHouse.com that eventually became a porn site before that too was removed from the Web, with it's silly launch of the virtual tour isn't on the list of the worst government Web sites.
With my last position, we looked going into the government sector with our clumsy document management approach. In doing so, I had to look at many government Web sites. Some were quite usable, some weren't, and some were just a total waste of taxpayer dollars.
Here is a list of the five worst federal government Web sites:
With those criteria in mind, here are the five worst websites. (All statistics provided by the departments which operate the sites and are not necessarily comparable.)
1. TIME.gov
Traffic: 21 million visitors between January and August 2010
Problems: This site will tell you what time it is in one time zone in the United States at a time. That's it.
In theory, it should be easy to design a clean interface that quickly provides the information, but instead designers say the site is slow and "clunky," using the outdated Java coding language.
"The site's cluttered and outdated interface, sub-par functionality, and non-existent social media optimization hinder its credibility and professionalism, making it a poor reflection of the U.S. government," said Rebecca Rubin, a web marketing associate at Blue Water Media, a District web design firm.
This is one instance in which the private sector trumps the public. The privately run www.timeanddate.com gives you the time all over the world, explains time zones and the concept of daylight savings time, and allows you to embed a world clock on your own site for free.
2. WEATHER.gov
Traffic: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) websites, including weather.gov, got 63 million visits between January and August of 2010
Problems: Weather.gov's problem isn't that it offers too little information, like time.gov. Instead, designers say it offers way too much—"The website has like 10 million things on the front page," said Owen Astrachan, a Duke University professor of computer science.
The page links to more 100 other sites, prominently features a confusing map, and is very awkwardly sized.
"NOAA has a nice logo, and the banner has some hope," said Romano. "But unfortunately, it was stuck into an awful template that partially resizes with your browser. The royal blue glares at you like this was the first website built when there were only five web-safe colors to choose from."
3. USDA.gov
Traffic: Not available. The USDA includes 21 different agencies, and the department as a whole does not keep track of overall visitors or page views, according to a USDA spokesman
Problems: "This looks like a typical government site…and there is practically no design here to speak of," said Romano. "The colors are muted and the layout is a standard template so there's not much to critique, except to say it looks like a programmer did this without any thought as to how someone would actually be using and navigating the site."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture does work on dozens of different issues simultaneously, and so it's not too surprising that its primary website is busy and difficult to navigate.
4. SSA.gov
Traffic: 80 million visits in 2009
Problems: This site's primary audience is the elderly or those approaching social security age, and designers say the site looks like it was designed by those very same people. (Yet, how does the elderly navigate through so much?)
For example, the page offers a setting to enlarge the size of the text for seniors or those with poor eyesight. Astrachan clicked on the "Need Larger Text?" link and found that once on that page, it is almost impossible to leave it. In fact, a link that reads, "Close this window to return to prior page" is not functional.
In addition, the page's column layout isn't symmetrical, giving visitors the sense of imbalance on the site. "The colors, type and button styles date it significantly," Romano said.
In fairness to the Social Security Administration, its website does offer some valuable services, like calculating your own retirement benefits, online.
5. USMINT.gov
Traffic: 138 million visits from January 2009 to August 2010. This includes visits to the U.S. Mint's informational site and its catalog, which sells specialty merchandise
Problems: Probably the oddest of the five websites listed here because of its unusual design and its astounding number of visitors. In truth, the design is modern and sleek, but still faces major issues.
The page's all-white background and tiny template clash terribly, and Rubin from Blue Water Media said that "the layout is not made to fit modern wide-screen computers."
The page also includes a scrolling ticker with the latest U.S. Mint news updates, a feature Astrachan called unnecessary. "The scrolling graphic on the bottom, I could live without that," he said. "I'm not on ESPN that I need the scores updated along the bottom of the screen."
Jennifer Koscielniak, the web design director at Blue Water, added, "The absence of consistency between the main site and the online store becomes a red flag. Users can become confused as to where they are and how to get back to where they were, [and] they question whether or not to trust this site to make a purchase."
