FCC releases new website prototype
A look and the current and future design of the FCC’s website. (FCC)
The Federal Communications Commission hit another benchmark in its IT modernization plan Monday, releasing a prototype of its redesigned website.
The website’s design — which can be viewed at prototype.fcc.gov — is the result of a six month research project where the FCC’s team studied how people interact with the current website and re-organized the site’s layout based on feedback.
In a blog post, FCC CIO David Bray wrote the commission’s research found visitors preferred the site to “prioritize important content for practitioners, as well as guide consumers to their dedicated section,” making it faster and easier for users to find particular information.
“We learned typical website users do not come to FCC.gov to browse content; they want to get the information they are looking for quickly and in as few clicks as possible,” Bray wrote.
The new website is responsive and 508-compliant, allowing users to access information either by topic or FCC Bureau and Office home pages.
The prototype now is currently a dummy home page, meaning users cannot explore the rest of the site from the new design. Bray said the full site will go live no later than Sept. 30, allowing visitors to access redesigned content approximately three levels deep into the website’s taxonomy.
Until then, Bray said the FCC will be working on the back-end functionality of the site, as well as applying an HTTPS-only standard, a security feature that is gaining momentum among federally run websites.
The FCC will also be integrating a new search feature, which will aggregate results for both FCC.gov and the commission’s Electronic Document Management System.
The website redesign is part of Bray’s overarching plan to modernize the commission’s IT systems, which FedScoop explored earlier this year. The FCC’s website has been a pain point for the agency, crashing several times in the past year due to an increase in traffic related to commission’s new net neutrality rules.
