Archive for June 2010
Govt claims 2,000 money-saving ideas per day
Some early figures are emerging from the Spending Challenge website set up by HM Treasury / Cabinet Office / No10 (and based heavily on my code). And if we take them at face value, they're quite impressive - or depressing, depending on your point of view. Since launch a week ago, they've received 'over 26,000 [...] read on »
New data reveals gov web spend, usage & satisfaction
There's a huge amount of information to digest in COI's 'Reporting on progress: government websites 2009-10', published this morning. It lists, for virtually every government department, an assessment of staff numbers, staff and non-staff spending, page views and unique users, and where available, outcomes of user surveys, and assessments of accessibility and standards compliance. Inevitably, [...] read on »
Why WordPress 3.0 is a big deal
The latest release of WordPress pushed the version number from 2.9 to 3.0. Usually that 'point-zero' means it's a significant release: but you'd be forgiven if you ran the automatic updater, and struggled to see what was different. Sure, the admin interface is a little brighter, and a few of the labels have changed. But [...] read on »
Remember to say thank-you
A bit of a tricky moment this morning. As you might have spotted, Downing Street has launched an initiative asking 'public sector workers' to help the government find ways to implement the massive spending cuts proposed in Tuesday's budget 'in a way that is fair and responsible'. And as has become the norm for such [...] read on »
Govt skunkworks planned for November
Buried - inevitably - deep within a PDF file, the Cabinet Office has announced a start date of November 2010 for the 'skunkworks' team promised in the Conservatives' technology manifesto. But the Structural Reform Plan, reportedly the first of many to be published by government departments, says the skunkworks team's role will be 'to assess [...] read on »
Another PDF-driven gov website launches
The new Office for Budget Responsibility has a new website. It's quite nice looking: plain, sober, entirely befitting its subject matter. Its HTML validates, albeit with some 404 errors around favicon graphics; and it's easy to find your way around - although admittedly, with a tiny handful of pages, bewildering navigation would have been quite [...] read on »
What’s yon MP gibberin’ on aboot?
Those of you who don't hail from Northern Ireland will probably be unaware of Ulster-Scots. It's a language spoken in certain parts of the province, distinct from English, and is recognised in both the Good Friday and St Andrews Agreements. It's become increasingly visible in recent years: here's an example of a Northern Ireland government [...] read on »
Another national newspaper goes WordPress
Just to note that the Independent has switched its blogs from Livejournal to WordPress. Why? According to online editor Martin King, there was a simple reason for the move: 'to make them better.' Clearly a man after my own heart. He writes: 'We are demonstrating that globally standard programs can free mainstream journalism from the [...] read on »
Puffbox site wins election award
Puffbox is proud - and a little bit relieved - to announce that our work with LibDem MP Lynne Featherstone has been named 'best use of digital by a candidate at the general election'. read on »
Supreme Court’s untendered website cost revealed
My thanks to Charles Arthur at the Guardian for picking up my piece last week on the apparent commitment to using open source for government websites. In the same article, he notes an FOI request which reveals that the costs behind the admittedly quite pretty website for the new Supreme Court. It cost us £360,000. [...] read on »