.gov.au web standards

A survey of .gov.au sites and their adherence to mandatory accessibility requirements and best practice standards of web dev, UX, security and SEO.

[.gov.au web standards @GovAuStandards]

Today I'm looking at https://t.co/U2TxvtLMe3, which is quite good apart from security and accessibility. There are no WAVE errors but Lighthouse finds some problems, ones easily fixed, but not fixed owing to a lack of attention to detail. Complacency is not good enough @ACECQA

[.gov.au web standards @GovAuStandards]

3 years ago, NT had the worst site and SA the best. Now, TAS is the worst and WA is slightly better than SA as the best. The fluctuation in each site's scores shows a fundamental indifference to long term strategic management. Every state's top level website is underachieving.

[.gov.au web standards @GovAuStandards]

https://t.co/cGwROLaTqN lacks optimisation and caching headers, resulting in terrible performance. There's no meta desc. The site scores significantly worse than 3 years ago. This is the work of people who don't care about user experience @digital_nsw

[.gov.au web standards @GovAuStandards]

https://t.co/CLYSzenxfd is generally mediocre. No homepage meta desc, no canonical tag, incorrect viewport, poor security, poor performance. I'd be embarrassed if I had to admit this was my work @QldGov

[.gov.au web standards @GovAuStandards]

https://t.co/D6OLR1xCsb is better than the rest, but has rubbish performance, which is better than 3 years ago but still obviously slow even in a large city, and a broken HSTS header. @VicGovAu needs to be reminded people in regional areas deserve better.

[.gov.au web standards @GovAuStandards]

https://t.co/c5LomjxUqg is better than its peers but contains some sloppy errors, such as the canonical homepage being set to /home not the root. The result is duplicate pages in your analytics. Security is terrible. It's tedious to have to explain such simple things @sagovau

[.gov.au web standards @GovAuStandards]

Oh dear, https://t.co/W1gFt1XwAM is awful. No homepage H1, no meta desc, no HTTP2, almost no content, but surprisingly good security apart from no HSTS. The score is worse than it was 3 years ago. Why do the people responsible have no pride in their work?

[.gov.au web standards @GovAuStandards]

Unlike the previous two, https://t.co/7etFdNgPvL manages a canonical tag and a meta desc, and there are no accessibility issues, but security is terrible. Good in one area and bad in another is evidence of a lack of strategic management and quality control @WAGovernment

[.gov.au web standards @GovAuStandards]

Like the ACT, https://t.co/uOg4yi4hEH is Squiz, which is clunky but can be compliant if their staff are competent. But they're not. No HTTP2, no meta desc, no optimisation, 7.8mb homepage bloat, poor security and a failed HSTS header, which is worse than none at all. Pathetic.

[.gov.au web standards @GovAuStandards]

First, https://t.co/L6odwQJvWB scores worse than in July 2020. No meta desc, no OG meta, 5mb of homepage bloat, higher accessibility score but worse everywhere else and overall. This is utter incompetence @actgovernment

[.gov.au web standards @GovAuStandards]

I'm going to continue with this project. To get back into it, I'm going to redo all the top level state websites. I hope to see improvements on previous scores, but based on experience it's just as likely to find things have got worse.

[.gov.au web standards @GovAuStandards]

I have little positive to say about the self-appointed lords of their domain at https://t.co/oB5jPfl9Xl. WAVE errors, failed HSTS, and no homepage meta-description. FFS @APS_Commission practice what you preach.

[.gov.au web standards @GovAuStandards]

Ha ha ha. Except it's not funny. I once worked for an organisation that is part of Eastern Health. Their IT dept was useless, bureaucratic and incompetent. Windows PCs in offices had no security patches for years. https://t.co/5R6wp50W4B

[.gov.au web standards @GovAuStandards]

https://t.co/VKjG9EGbvc demonstrates interest in legal compliance regarding accessibility but a fundamental absence of competent web dev. Massive code bloat results in a catstrophic performance score. Pathetic security. Massive number of WAVE alerts. Pure mediocrity.

[.gov.au web standards @GovAuStandards]

I've had such a great holiday I forgot that I have been running this project for a couple of years. Hello 2023. I will resume reviewing the mediocre and banal world of Australian govt web dev now because the world needs more things to be depressed about...

[.gov.au web standards @GovAuStandards]

Yet another govt security clusterfuck. @myGovau and @ato_gov_au are utterly useless. https://t.co/5wVfDrS06Q

[.gov.au web standards @GovAuStandards]

City based web devs who work for govt need to keep this in mind when they build online services and stop ignoring performance (speed), which is by far the worst aspect of Australian govt web dev. https://t.co/evlDD32iQV

[.gov.au web standards @GovAuStandards]

https://t.co/fwh5NR3UYT scores well except for terrible performance due to no HTTP/2, a lack of optimisation and code bloat. Devs in CBD offices may not notice how slow the site is but taxpayers in remote areas on slow networks deserve better @healthdirectAU

[.gov.au web standards @GovAuStandards]

https://t.co/Z3CYvowHHH scores highly and is in the top 10 of sites surveyed but it has some security deficiencies. The dev team should be doing an audit like this weekly and fixing issues. There should be nothing left for me to find @dfat @AusGovCMS

[.gov.au web standards @GovAuStandards]

https://t.co/LPLYFXO1Ln may care about accounting standards but not about any other kind of standards, such as security, accessibility or basic competence. Such poor security in the the cybercrime era @AASBaustralia may have embarrassing consequences.