Ugly, cumbersome and user-unfriendly.
This is what you will find when you browse most government-run websites.
What you won’t see is why these outdated websites cost taxpayers thousands of hryvnias to develop.
Despite the fact that there is no legal requirement for government agencies to have dedicated websites, just about every agency and ministry runs one. City and oblast councils, their departments as well as multiple state funds and committees are all represented on the web.
Until earlier this year, when the law on access to public information was approved, it was up to state agencies to decide what to put on their web pages. But the new law requires them to give the public online access to decisions.
The Cabinet of Ministers website, which pumps out a lot of government-related news onto the web in Soviet propaganda-style manner, happens to be one of the most expensive web projects undertaken at the cost of the taxpayers.
In 2002, the government paid Hr 969,300 for it, which apparently was not enough to give it a functioning search engine. “Basically it’s just a news feed of the government’s actions, but if you want to find anything, you can’t,” says Ruslan Kokin of Yozz web studio.
The website was designed by Softline, a company whose website says it was created by former Kyiv Polytechnic Institute students in 1995. Since then it has developed dozens of government websites, including the site of the Security Service of Ukraine, the Anti-Monopoly Committee and a handful of ministries.
Vlad Bovsunovsky, the spokesman for Softline, said that the cost of the website was so high because it was a joint bill for 25 ministries and government agencies related to the mother website.
“Plus, it included the price of servers, which was much higher in 2002 than it is now,” explains Bovsunovsky. “Another reason is that website is in Java, not PHP. Java is always more expensive”.
They have template designs yet the navigation is like a labyrinth. It seems that these sites were created by inexperienced students between 2000-2005.
– Kateryna Barynova, Pula Design web studio
He says currently his company is working on an update to the Cabinet website. It will be ready in March 2011 and it will cost Hr 200,000.
Olexander Olshansky, deputy head of Ukrainian Internet Association, says a website can cost anything from Hr 20,000 to one million to develop.
He says that developing a website in-house is good because “it is a quick and skimpy way to get a website. But still it is better to arrange professionals to do their job” to avoid mistakes and embarrassment, he says.
Website developing companies call state-run websites a disgrace. “All of those are outdated,” said Kateryna Barynova from Pula Design web studio after taking a look at five such websites, including the ones run by the Ministry of Education, Cabinet of Ministers, President’s Administration, state railway company Ukrzaliznytsya and the Independent Testing Center.
“They have template designs yet the navigation is like a labyrinth. It seems that these sites were created by inexperienced students between 2000-2005,” she said.
Barynova said the president’s website is the only exception: “Its interface looks more logical and the design is not so bad. But still it has some technical errors. I give it four points of the five. Others are one or even zero.”
The current version of the president’s website was upgraded in February 2011 after Viktor Yanukovych came to power. It is run by a dedicated information department at the administration.
“It has the most attractive design out of the five,” agrees Kokin of Yozz . “The Education Ministry website also stands out for their design. This shows that state websites can be logical and attractive if its owners want them to be. But still there are some defects.”
The Education Ministry website is one of the newest among the peers. It was launched on Sept. 9, the ministry said. “It was created with our own effort, with no extra expense,” the ministry said in a written response to an information request from the Kyiv Post.
It is supported by one of the departments and claims to be one of the most popular government websites with 643,000 unique visitors in September and October, the government boasted in a special press statement released recently on the Cabinet website.
Unlike the Education Ministry website, which was produced in-house, the state railway company Ukrzaliznytsya has a professionally-designed website. But you would never know it by the looks and usability.
Created in 2002 at the cost of Hr 150,000, it has features like an inflexible search engine that produces no result unless you know some tricks, and some font size 10 headlines. “It looks like a mockery of people with poor eyesight,” says Kokin of Yozz studio. The support of this website costs Hr 1,200 per month, which is equal to the cost of hosting of a tiny company website.
Olshansky of the Ukrainian Internet Association, says that design is secondary for a state-run website. “What really matters is informational completeness and accuracy. And updating frequency, of course,” he says.
Kyiv Post staff writer Olga Rudenko can be reached at [email protected]
