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by jackdeansmith 2310 days ago
As a US guy, I've never looked at this site before. The extreme clarity of pages like https://www.gov.uk/vat-rates is really refreshing.
2 comments

Indeed, that's a nice example. I felt the design could even improve public relations. If I were a UK citizen, I'd be relieved to find the information so well-designed and presented.

I've read here and there about the UK Government Digital Service, and have a very good impression. Reading a recent related article, it sounds like they have their priorities right!

https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2019/11/05/transforming-gov-uk-the-f...

The UK has long been an early adopter of proper web design for government websites.

Seeing the average Canadian gov website, and hearing stories from people who've worked on some at the federal level, makes my head hurt.

The Canadian and provincial governments are getting better though. See the OSAP (Ontario Student Assistance Program) application page, which is fully mobile and vastly simplified from the hot mess it used to be. Also, just look at https://ontario.ca in general, which is clearly inspired by Gov.UK.
All it takes is one group to do it right and everyone wants to copy them.

Good job UK, this Ontario site looks like a semi rip-off of the gov.uk sites (which is a good thing).

Everything slowly gets better online, it just takes time.

In Germany, I can't even find the VAT rate info page at the ministry via google. I end up with this: https://www.bundesfinanzministerium.de/Web/DE/Themen/Steuern...