/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/authors/jonathan-rubin/ Recent content on Digital.gov Hugo en-us /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2018/07/20/plain-language-summit-2018/ Fri, 20 Jul 2018 10:00:00 -0500 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/event/2018/07/20/plain-language-summit-2018/ The federal Plain Language community is holding their first all-day summit in Washington D.C., and you’re invited! /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/03/17/at-last-user-experience-performance-descriptions/ Tue, 17 Mar 2015 11:10:03 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/03/17/at-last-user-experience-performance-descriptions/ To improve your digital systems with user experience (UX), you need people. And to get people in government, you need position descriptions. While DigitalGov has collected a wide variety of position descriptions, /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/03/16/why-your-apis-need-design-help/ Mon, 16 Mar 2015 10:00:28 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/03/16/why-your-apis-need-design-help/ Anything built should be built right. It doesn’t matter if it’s built of wood, carbon nanotubes or code. So it’s encouraging that the practice of User-Centered Design—getting customer feedback at every stage of a project—is catching on with /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/09/can-you-crowdsource-your-user-experience-research/ Tue, 09 Dec 2014 12:00:34 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/09/can-you-crowdsource-your-user-experience-research/ In one sense, almost any type of user research is crowdsourced—you’re talking to people and using that information to improve your system. But in a true sense, crowdsourcing is more than just collecting information, it’s collaborating on it. We want to have real conversations, not one-time emailed suggestions without followups. So here’s a few tidbits /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/11/21/results-2014-federal-user-experience-survey/ Fri, 21 Nov 2014 10:00:29 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/11/21/results-2014-federal-user-experience-survey/ The Federal User Experience (UX) Survey helpsus to learn how we can best improve the effectiveness, ease-of-use, and value of federal digital systems by connecting their teams to their customers. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/11/13/world-usability-day-engagement/ Thu, 13 Nov 2014 09:00:09 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/11/13/world-usability-day-engagement/ There are many buzzwords thrown around in the digital government universe, but the most impactful ideas are rooted in one action: engagement. Whether it is a tweet, a mobile app, or a community of practitioners, every digital program or service requires interaction between an organization and its customer. Engagement is also the foundation of all /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/11/07/welcome-to-user-experience-month/ Fri, 07 Nov 2014 12:00:33 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/11/07/welcome-to-user-experience-month/ One challenge with digital government: it’s hard to see people. If you work at a U.S. Post Office, you interact with your customers, talk with them, and even see what they are feeling by looking at their faces. You can understand their experience fairly easily. In the digital world, technology decreases physical distance but increases /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/09/04/national-cancer-institute-launches-new-user-experience-lab/ Thu, 04 Sep 2014 10:00:47 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/09/04/national-cancer-institute-launches-new-user-experience-lab/ Why does a Cancer institute need a User Experience lab? Simply put: To learn about their customers—people living with cancer and those who care about them—and build the best possible products with them in mind. “Cancer has a journey and we wanted to create a /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/08/08/design-sketching-the-easiest-prototype-method-ever/ Fri, 08 Aug 2014 10:00:19 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/08/08/design-sketching-the-easiest-prototype-method-ever/ When it comes to Web and software design, the pen(cil) is often mightier than the Design Suite. What I mean is: Tech is cool, but don’t fall under its spell. It’s often when you remove the technological layers between you and your thoughts that the best ideas sprout. You’ve heard of great ideas that started /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/30/508-accessible-videos-why-and-how-to-make-them/ Mon, 30 Jun 2014 10:00:51 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/30/508-accessible-videos-why-and-how-to-make-them/ Making Web content and video accessible to people with disabilities is the law. Ensuring a video is accessible requires planning. Taking steps from day one will save you time and money. To verify that a video is accessible you’d need to incorporate three elements: Captioning Audio descriptions An Accessible video player Why Accessibility Matters Many government /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/30/508-accessible-videos-use-a-508-compliant-video-player/ Mon, 30 Jun 2014 10:00:37 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/30/508-accessible-videos-use-a-508-compliant-video-player/ When you watch a video on your computer, the window that displays your video is called a “video player.” It usually has start, pause, and other buttons. You might not be aware that you’re using a player at all—you just watch your video. A fully-accessible video player (e.g. Section 508-compliant) /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/30/508-accessible-videos-how-to-make-audio-descriptions/ Mon, 30 Jun 2014 10:00:33 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/30/508-accessible-videos-how-to-make-audio-descriptions/ An audio description is an additional audio track that describes and gives context for essential visual information, making videos and multimedia accessible to people who have low vision (very poor vision), or who are blind. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/30/508-accessible-videos-how-to-caption-videos/ Mon, 30 Jun 2014 10:00:22 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/30/508-accessible-videos-how-to-caption-videos/ What are Captions? In a video, captions collect all audio information and describe them using text. They include not only spoken content but also non-speech information such as sound effects, music, laughter, and speaker identification and location (for example, audio spoken off-screen). Captions appear transposed over the visual elements in /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/23/using-visual-content-to-drive-engagement/ Mon, 23 Jun 2014 10:00:41 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/23/using-visual-content-to-drive-engagement/ When USA.gov was preparing to launch our campaign introducing the 2014 Consumer Action Handbook (CAH), we wanted to create highly-visual social content to see how it would do in comparison to standard text and link social media content. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/22/how-to-make-a-mobile-paper-prototype/ Thu, 22 May 2014 13:00:44 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/22/how-to-make-a-mobile-paper-prototype/ What if a single piece of paper could make your mobile app work 20 percent better? It’s hard to imagine something as unimpressive as paper influencing our 21st century smartphones, but it’s true. Well before we get into the design and coding phases, we can show customers /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/19/sign-up-for-digitalgov-citizen-services-summit-friday-may-30/ Mon, 19 May 2014 03:03:16 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/19/sign-up-for-digitalgov-citizen-services-summit-friday-may-30/ We won’t build the government of the 21st century by drawing within the lines. We don’t have to tell you the hard work of building a digital government doesn’t exist in a vacuum or a bubble. Show us social media without mobile, Web without data and user experience without APIs. You can’t? That’s right—in reality, /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/13/what-is-a-terms-of-service-and-how-do-i-get-one/ Tue, 13 May 2014 10:00:33 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/13/what-is-a-terms-of-service-and-how-do-i-get-one/ Imagine this: You just found a great online tool that can help you do your federal job 100% better. You’re all ready to download it and start conquering the world when someone asks, “Have you checked the Terms of Service?” You’re not sure what they’re /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/09/make-gov-apis-better-with-user-experience/ Fri, 09 May 2014 10:00:29 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/09/make-gov-apis-better-with-user-experience/ APIs and User Experience go together like gummi bears and ice cream. An API is a product just like a car, a website or a ballpoint pen. It’s designed to help someone do something. Products /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/09/usability-case-study-fda-consumer-graphics/ Wed, 09 Apr 2014 10:00:33 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/09/usability-case-study-fda-consumer-graphics/ User testing isn’t just for websites—it’s for any product that has an audience. Which is everything, really. And that includes print materials, signage and infographics as well. Focusing on the User Experience is especially vital for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is committed to effectively communicating about products that affect the public /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/02/kids-gov-usability-case-study/ Wed, 02 Apr 2014 10:00:02 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/02/kids-gov-usability-case-study/ Launched back in 2001, Kids.gov has the unenviable task of trying to keep pace with the rapidly changing online habits of youngsters. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/03/18/data-gov-usability-case-study/ Tue, 18 Mar 2014 08:42:54 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/03/18/data-gov-usability-case-study/ We all know listening to your customers is important. Not just reading their comments, but talking to them, actually getting in a room with them, and having them test your product. But if basing a whole-scale redesign around one series of user conversations makes you nervous – it should. That’s because sometimes when we listen, /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/02/03/what-happened-at-our-user-experience-summit-with-slides/ Mon, 03 Feb 2014 15:42:10 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/02/03/what-happened-at-our-user-experience-summit-with-slides/ We were hoping for 30, but we got more than 100 user experience professionals and novices on Jan 28, 2014, for our User Experience (UX) Summit at the General Services Administration. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/09/17/usability-testers-unite-join-our-community/ Tue, 17 Sep 2013 08:53:11 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/09/17/usability-testers-unite-join-our-community/ I’m the kind of guy who loves tests. Not SATs, or BMI tests, but usability tests: connecting target customers with a government website and watching how they interact with it. Our DigitalGov User Experience Program (formerly known as First Fridays) has taught dozens of agencies how to conduct /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/07/02/business-usa-gov-usability-case-study/ Tue, 02 Jul 2013 11:14:32 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/07/02/business-usa-gov-usability-case-study/ When redesigning a site, it’s easy to place menu items, text and other content wherever you can make them fit. It’s harder to take a step back and ask the strategic question: Is this the best place for this? A good rule of thumb is to never make any changes randomly—base your decisions on user /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/07/02/fueleconomy-gov-usability-case-study/ Tue, 02 Jul 2013 11:08:48 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/07/02/fueleconomy-gov-usability-case-study/ Many technical websites have a hard time explaining information to the general public. This happens because users don’t understand the industry-specific or scientific terms. Fortunately, solutions to these problems are fairly easy—changing menu and navigation item text, or adding a line of explanatory text on key pages or complex graphics. The DigitalGov User Experience Program /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/06/28/6-way-to-improve-web-user-experience/ Fri, 28 Jun 2013 08:47:13 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/06/28/6-way-to-improve-web-user-experience/ If you want a better user experience on your government website, there’s a simple secret: early planning. Good designers know that it’s much more difficult to make changes to something after it’s built than before. This is true for /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/06/19/army-mil-usability-case-study/ Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:11:35 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/06/19/army-mil-usability-case-study/ If you want to make a website more efficient and user friendly, then it’s not enough just to have your most valuable information on the site. People are busy—they want to find what they’re looking for, and they want it fast. You don’t always need to redesign an entire site to make things easier to /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/05/04/video-copyright/ Sat, 04 May 2013 12:14:45 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/05/04/video-copyright/ Don’t include Internet music, video, or graphics in your video unless you understand the copyright. Yes, this is a pain, but companies take copyright very seriously and regularly file both takedown notices and lawsuits against offenders. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/04/29/atf-gov-usability-case-study/ Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:21:56 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/04/29/atf-gov-usability-case-study/ The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives has some really valuable information for the public that a lot of people search for on ATF.gov. It’s important that the information is easily and quickly accessible. Government agencies reach a wide audience with their information, so making sure everyone can understand your content is important. The DigitalGov User /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/04/26/how-to-do-usability-testing-with-kids/ Fri, 26 Apr 2013 17:02:56 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/04/26/how-to-do-usability-testing-with-kids/ What do kids know about Web design? As we found out, quite a lot. Recently our DigitalGov User Experience Program teamed up with the Kids.gov team to get some big time feedback from some pint-sized testers. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/03/22/regulations-gov-usability-case-study/ Fri, 22 Mar 2013 11:29:33 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/03/22/regulations-gov-usability-case-study/ More and more people use search as their primary means of finding what they are looking for. When users get confused by the search results, or can’t immediately find what they are looking for, they’re going to get frustrated. They may even leave the site for good. The DigitalGov User Experience Program helped test Regulations.gov on October 5, 2012, to /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/03/21/saferbus-mobile-usability-case-study/ Thu, 21 Mar 2013 11:51:29 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/03/21/saferbus-mobile-usability-case-study/ When designing a site, remember that your terms and icons are like signposts that show people where your links and pages lead. Make sure that you use words and pictures that are easily understood or people will have trouble using your site. Small changes like underlining links or adding arrows to indicate expandable information can /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/02/19/contractor-vehicle-navigator-usability-case-study/ Tue, 19 Feb 2013 11:39:15 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/02/19/contractor-vehicle-navigator-usability-case-study/ When users interact with a website to find information, it is important that we help them find their way by using plain language, clear terminology and visible help text. On December 7, 2012, the DigitalGov User Experience Program helped test the U.S. General Services Administration’s Contract Vehicle Navigator website. This Navigator site helps contracting officers find /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/01/23/commerce-departmental-library-usability-case-study/ Wed, 23 Jan 2013 11:37:08 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/01/23/commerce-departmental-library-usability-case-study/ A website with too much information on the homepage, or any page, will overwhelm users in less than a second. They will be unable to find a starting point to accomplish what they came there to do. If users are not able to locate the information they need and/or are unable to get past the /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/12/17/sam-gov-usability-test-study/ Mon, 17 Dec 2012 12:04:42 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/12/17/sam-gov-usability-test-study/ One of the most vital parts of any website is its starting point. When a visitor arrives on the main page of your site, they should be able to quickly tell what the main tasks are and how to perform them. Visual cues and plain language are the best ways to accomplish this. The SAM.gov /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/12/14/irs-usability-case-study/ Fri, 14 Dec 2012 16:05:59 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/12/14/irs-usability-case-study/ Acronyms and jargon are fine when you want to communicate quickly to an internal audiences or to like-minded readers. Once the scope of your audience widens, however, these elements can make your pages harder to understand. The IRS recognized that its pages about tax planning for retirement were reaching an audience beyond tax professionals, and /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/12/06/weather-gov-usability-case-study/ Thu, 06 Dec 2012 16:43:22 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/12/06/weather-gov-usability-case-study/ After conducting a usability test and listening to customer feedback, the Weather.gov team and the DigitalGov User Experience Program identified these three issues as both important and quickly solvable. Problem 1: Terminology and Labels Confusing The terminology and labels used were either too technical or too abstract for users to understand—a far cry from the plain /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/11/05/nsf-gov-usability-case-study/ Mon, 05 Nov 2012 11:57:16 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/11/05/nsf-gov-usability-case-study/ Many government websites are informational in nature – you don’t sign up for things or buy anything. Instead, you look for something – a name, a ruling, some contact information. Informational sites – and scientific sites in particular – can be a challenge to design. With so much information, how do you make the important /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/10/15/gsa-intranet-insite-usability-case-study/ Mon, 15 Oct 2012 12:21:03 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/10/15/gsa-intranet-insite-usability-case-study/ Not all usability changes are dramatic. Sometimes a few small tweaks can make a site significantly easier to navigate, or make important but hidden content pop off the page. The DigitalGov User Experience Program helped test Insite, GSA’s intranet, on September 21, 2011. GSA took the feedback from their usability test and made some changes to the /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/10/15/gsa-fedramp-usability-case-study/ Mon, 15 Oct 2012 12:16:23 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/10/15/gsa-fedramp-usability-case-study/ Websites allow newer government programs to establish a visual identity that introduces them to users and conveys the importance of their work. On April 18, 2012, the DigitalGov User Experience Program helped test GSA’s Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) site, which at that point was less than six months old. Three immediate needs were /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/10/15/office-of-natural-resources-revenue-usability-case-study/ Mon, 15 Oct 2012 12:01:22 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/10/15/office-of-natural-resources-revenue-usability-case-study/ After watching a DigitalGov User Experience Program testing session, ONRR stakeholders and the testing team identified three major issues that could be quickly fixed to make the site more usable for its audience. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/07/11/government-video-laws/ Wed, 11 Jul 2012 12:33:55 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/07/11/government-video-laws/ Government videos need to follow two main laws: People with disabilities must be able to fully experience them, and They must adhere to privacy laws 1. Making Video Accessible for People with Disabilities (Section 508) Federal employees are required by law (Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973) to make the materials they create /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/05/07/find-free-video-stock-footage/ Mon, 07 May 2012 10:50:12 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2012/05/07/find-free-video-stock-footage/ If you’re creating video, stock footage can be your best friend. If you need shots of people walking around, a photo of Chicago, the sound of footsteps or a Latin soundtrack, someone else has already probably already created it and made it available for free!