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The publishing service GOV.UK has developed a new strategy with three principles for using the central government web platform.
The service, which is part of the Government Digital Service (GDS), has announced that it wants to reduce the complexity of its publishing systems and increase publishing speed, with plans to take action in several areas over the next two years.
A blog post by senior product manager Tobi Ogunsina and senior performance analyst Jade Fryer said the aim was to provide a welcoming front door for “the users”, the 2,300 civil servants who publish and manage content on GOV.UK.
They identified three main needs: reducing the effort and cost associated with supporting a large number of applications; enabling a GOV.UK app as an alternative to the large, linear units of content used for presentation on a website; and greater flexibility in content ownership through less intervention and duplication in the publishing process.
Patterns and processes
This led to the decision to adopt three principles: The first is to create common patterns and processes for all publishing apps managed by the service, making them easier to use, manage and improve.
The other two are designed to model content to avoid duplication and enable reuse, as well as to support agency staff in self-service and thus improve the publishing workflow.
Much of the work will focus on the nine publishing apps managed by the publishing service – along with six supporting tools and four APIs – and on creating common design and architectural patterns.
In addition, there will be efforts to break content into smaller pieces for organization and classification and to make the publishing process easier to navigate.
The service has set up a team focused on content reuse and modelling, as well as small groups within specific disciplines focused on cross-service initiatives. It has also shared the strategy with senior editors and publishers within GOV.UK.
“Ultimately, we want everyone involved in the publishing process to be able to easily create and manage their content so that people can access, trust and understand it,” Orgunsina and Fryer said. “Our strategy will play a critical role in achieving these goals.”
