[switch007]

One niggle I have is the departments’ over-use of forms (from my perspective) in employing the ‘landing page’ pattern.

E.g. if you search ‘DVLA vehicle information’, you will land on this page https://www.gov.uk/get-vehicle-information-from-dvla and you have to click ‘Start Now’ to get the page you actually wanted. The same is for logging in to HMRC Personal Tax

I’d like the actual form I want on the same page

[imdsm]

I can understand that, but I think it's very subjective. For example, it's an opportunity to explain what the form is, and give any other information (do you need the form? do you need something else?) before the option of, if you're in the right place, click here to begin.

I think ultimately, it works quite well.

[switch007]

I do see it from both sides, definitely. It’s just as a frequent user, it gets in the way. Once you understand what the form does, you don’t really need to be told every time.

[globular-toast]

Can't you just bookmark the form itself? The example you linked seems to be a normal link to the form, I don't think it's posting anything?

[switch007]

Oh totally, that's a great suggestion. Though with ever-more pages conforming to this pattern, I don't want to have to bookmark them all - that's what a search engine is for.

I think it's still a valid discussion about first-time users vs frequent users etc and how much blurb you should show them each time. But they've probably already done the research on this and decided on it for a very specific set of reasons

[timblair]

This is actually an explicit decision, designed to maintain consistency of the user experience across GOV.UK services in terms of information architecture and content design. It's not something that departments choose to do (or not), and is codified in the GOV.UK Service Manual: https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/technology/get-a-domain-na...

[matthewcford]

This is so that search can work, they index service start pages so they have results for services that are hosted on other domains. There is also something about having a consistance UX, at least to the point of handoff to the service (which might not have been updated yet). The start pages also provide the user with guidance were say the service might be only avalible at certain times, or if you need documentation ready before you use it.

[londons_explore]

The fact the forms load so fast makes this less of a problem.

If the form took 10 seconds to load after clicking 'start now', I'd be more frustrated.

[switch007]

Definitely mitigates it. For me though it’s still an annoyance