Government Online

The website operated by the Department of Canadian Heritage routinely ignores the Government's standards for website design.

Example:
Canadian Heritage Department
Heritage Day
Failed Validation: 59 errors

Failed validation report: Heritage Day page. For a full-size view, click on the image.

More:
Canadian Heritage Department
Home Page
Failed Validation: 17 errors

Canadian Heritage Department
Canada Day
Failed Validation: 6 errors

Canadian Heritage Department
Celebrate Canada Committees
Failed Validation: 19 errors

Canadian Heritage Department
Canada Day Poster Challenge
Failed Validation: 8 errors

Canadian Heritage Department
Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women
Successful Validation

Canadian Heritage Department
Deputy Minister of Canadian Heritage
Failed Validation: 13 errors

These are not government websites. They are websites designed and operated by three political parties that are fighting tooth and nail to become the next government of Nova Scotia. One of them will form the next government and thus will, in a few weeks, be in charge of the design and operation of all Nova Scotia government websites. Their campaign sites can be viewed as a part of their resume as they compete for voter approval.

Nova Scotia Liberal Party
Election Campaign Home Page
Failed Validation: 13 errors

Failed validation report: Nova Scotia Liberal Party 2006 election website home page. For a full-size view, click on the image.

Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative Party
Election Campaign Home Page
Failed Validation: 21 errors

Failed validation report: Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative Party 2006 election website home page. For a full-size view, click on the image.

Nova Scotia NDP
Election Campaign Home Page
Failed Validation: 202 errors

Failed validation report: Nova Scotia NDP 2006 election website home page. For a full-size view, click on the image.

None of these three parties has seen fit to include a statement of their policies about website accessibility and/or interoperability. This omission provides, by itself, a revealing comment on the awareness, or lack thereof, of these party leaders with respect to the importance of such considerations in communicating with the public in 2006. If these standards are thought to be unimportant when they are fighting for public approval, is unlikely they will be given greater significance after the election is decided.

These validation tests were performed by using the W3C Validation Service.

"It is highly recommended that X/HTML coding be checked by running all documents through an X/HTML syntax checker. Style sheets should be checked with the free W3C online validator."

This statement, including the links, is quoted directly from the Nova Scotia Government's Website Design and Content Standards. The validation recommended by this government standard is the W3C Validation Service, the same one I used to test these political party websites.

BTW, the Nova Scotia Government's Website Design and Content Standards page validates successfully.

---

Addendum: May 22, 2006 11:23 UTC
This is a government website. Elections Nova Scotia is completely ignoring the government website standards.

Elections Nova Scotia
Elections Nova Scotia Home Page
Failed Validation: 38 errors

Failed validation report: Elections Nova Scotia website home page. For a full-size view, click on the image.

More:
Elections Nova Scotia
Candidates and Parties
Failed Validation: 35 errors

Elections Nova Scotia
Results and Stats
Failed Validation: 34 errors

Elections Nova Scotia
Voter Information
Failed Validation: 35 errors

Elections Nova Scotia
FAQ Page
Failed Validation: 60 errors

Elections Nova Scotia
Electoral District Finder
Failed Validation: 61 errors

Here's an example of a government page that is designed without consideration of how it will work for the viewing citizen:Elections Nova Scotia
Map of Electoral District #2, AntigonishThis should take you to a map of the Antigonish electoral district. What you get is a huge 1.9 megabyte file that takes a full 7 minutes to download if you are on a dial-up connection (about 40% of connections are still dial-up at 56k). After the download was complete, I got not a map but an error message: "There was an error opening this document. This viewer cannot decrypt this document." This is a pdf file that requires proprietary Adobe Acrobat software to display the map. There's nothing wrong with my Adobe Acrobat software — it has worked fine with numerous pdf files I've looked at in the last few months. The main point is that this huge file with the long download time, and the pdf decryption hassle, is completely unnecessary. You can provide a satisfactory map like this as an ordinary jpg or gif file. A good full-screen map (say, 1000 pixels wide) would be about half a megabyte in jpg format, much less than the pdf file, and there would be no decryption problems.

The only reason for providing this map in pdf format is the convenience of the webmaster; if the interest of the citizen viewer was taken into consideration pdf would not be the choice.

Government websites…must raise citizen confidence by enabling a good user experience. Therefore usability must be ensured…What is a good government website from a usability perspective? It is a website that meets the goals of stakeholders while meeting the needs of users in the performance of their tasks. It goes beyond minimum adherence to best practice and policy…
— Source: Quality Framework for UK Government Website Design

The website operated by Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada (PSEPC) routinely ignores the Government's standards for website design. Six examples follow:

Example:
Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada
A-Z Index
Failed Validation: 78 errors

Failed validation report: PSEPC page: A-Z Index. For a full-size view, click on the image.

Example:
Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada
Department Organization
Failed Validation: 82 errors

Failed validation report: PSEPC page: Department Organization. For a full-size view, click on the image.

Example:
Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada
First Responders
Failed Validation: 74 errors

Failed validation report: PSEPC page: First Responders. For a full-size view, click on the image.

Example:
Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada
Basic rescue skills
Failed Validation: 83 errors

Failed validation report: PSEPC page: Basic rescue skills. For a full-size view, click on the image.

Example:
Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada
Citizens
Failed Validation: 74 errors

Failed validation report: PSEPC page: Citizens. For a full-size view, click on the image.

Example:
Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada
Site Map
Failed Validation: 13057 errors

Failed validation report: PSEPC Site Map. For a full-size view, click on the image.

These validation tests were performed by using the W3C Validation Service.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's website routinely ignores the Government's standards for website design. Seven examples follow:

Example:
CBC home page
Failed Validation: 200 errors

Failed validation report: CBC home page. For a full-size view, click on the image.

Example:
CBC News
Failed Validation: 185 errors

Failed validation report: CBC News page. For a full-size view, click on the image.

Example:
CBC Weather
Failed Validation: 93 errors

Failed validation report: CBC Weather page. For a full-size view, click on the image.

Example:
CBC Sports
Failed Validation: 193 errors

Failed validation report: CBC Sports page. For a full-size view, click on the image.

Example:
CBC Program Guide
Personalities A-Z Index
Failed Validation: 565 errors

Failed validation report: CBC Personalities A-Z Index page. For a full-size view, click on the image.

Example:
CBC Archives
Canadian Satellites
Failed Validation: 318 errors

Failed validation report: CBC Archives — Canadian Satellites page. For a full-size view, click on the image.

Example:
CBC Archives
Science and Technology
Failed Validation: 691 errors

Failed validation report: CBC Archives — Science and Technology page. For a full-size view, click on the image.

These validation tests were performed by using the W3C Validation Service.

The Parliament of Canada website routinely ignores the Government's standards for website design.

Example:
Welcome to the Parliament of Canada
Failed Validation: 38 errors

Failed validation report: Welcome to the Parliament of Canada page. For a full-size view, click on the image.

This validation test was performed by using the W3C Validation Service.

This week, I've looked at more than 300 webpages operated by the Government of Canada, and checked each for compliance with the Government's standards for website design by running them through the W3C Validator. All of these GoC pages have failed validation, except one:

Government of Canada
Home Page
Successful Validation

Successful validation report: Government of Canada home page. For a full-size view, click on the image.

This validation test was performed by using the W3C Validation Service.

The Library and Archives Canada website routinely ignores the Government's standards for website design.

Example:
Library and Archives Canada
Canadian Confederation Bibliography
Failed Validation: 815 errors

Failed validation report: Library and Archives Canada, Confederation Bibliography. For a full-size view, click on the image.

These validation tests were performed by using the W3C Validation Service.

The Finance Department's website routinely ignores the Government's standards for website design. Six examples follow:

Example:
Department of Finance
Home Page
Failed Validation: 23 errors

Failed validation report: Department of Finance home page. For a full-size view, click on the image.

Example:
Department of Finance
The Honourable James M. Flaherty, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Finance
Failed Validation: 2 errors

Failed validation report: Department of Finance, Minister's page. For a full-size view, click on the image.

Example:
Department of Finance
Diane Ablonczy Parliamentary Secretary
to the Minister of Finance
Failed Validation: 5 errors

Failed validation report: Department of Finance, Parliamentary Secretary's page. For a full-size view, click on the image.

Example:
Department of Finance
Deputy Minister Ian E. Bennett
Failed Validation: 3 errors

Failed validation report: Department of Finance, Deputy Minister's page. For a full-size view, click on the image.

Example:
Department of Finance
Accessibility, Design Standards
Failed Validation: 9 errors

Failed validation report: Department of Finance, Accessibility, Design Standards page. For a full-size view, click on the image.

Example:
Department of Finance
FAQ
Failed Validation: 80 errors

Failed validation report: Department of Finance, FAQ page. For a full-size view, click on the image.

These validation tests were performed by using the W3C Validation Service.

---

Here's another problem in this Department of Finance website.

In the Accessibility, Design Standards page, this statement appears: "The Finance Canada WWW site has been designed...for use with a computer screen resolution of 800×600 pixels."

Data gathered over the last six months, at three websites with a total traffic of 76,600 viewers, yielded the following statistics on monitor screen sizes in use at this time:

    Width × height (in pixels)
       800×600     29%
      1024×768     64%
      1152×864      1%
      1280×1024     6%

The 800×600 screen, favoured by the Department of Finance as its standard for the purpose of designing its website, is now used by less than one-third of Internet viewers. By this arbitrary decision, the Department of Finance has cavalierly brushed aside more than two-thirds of Canada's population. Any taxpayer-funded website should work properly when viewed with any monitor screen from a width of 800 pixels to 1280 pixels.

And there's yet another problem with the Department of Finance's approach to website design. In the Accessibility, Design Standards page, this statement appears: "The Finance Canada WWW site has been designed for use with MS Internet Explorer version 4 or more recent and Netscape version 4.7 or more recent."

Precise browser statistics are impossible to obtain, but the following are believed to be reasonably representative figures for the WWW at this time:

         IE          75%
         Firefox      9%
         Safari       5%
         Opera        3%
         Mozilla      2%
         Netscape     1%
These do not add to 100% because other browsers
exist and are used to some extent.

The Department of Finance policy to design its website to work with Netscape, while ignoring Firefox, Safari and Opera, is at least five years behind the times. It cannot be defended today. Any taxpayer-funded website should work properly when viewed with any of the most-used browsers — IE (for both PC and Mac), Netscape, Firefox, Safari and Opera, at least.

This is easy to accomplish — design your website to meet the W3C standards, and then all browsers that comply with these standards (as all good browsers should) will display your website properly. This is the reasoning behind the Canadian Government's policy requiring that: "All GoC Web sites must comply with W3C Priority 1 and Priority 2 checkpoints to ensure sites can be easily accessed by the widest possible audience." This is the reason I've tested these GoC pages with the W3C Validator. This is the reason these GoC pages should not contain validation errors.

The Library of Parliament's website routinely ignores the Government's standards for website design. There are 4127 webpages in the section dealing with the Federal Political Experience of Members of the House of Commons (four examples below), and another 876 webpages in the section dealing with the Federal Political Experience of Senators.

That's a total of 5003 webpages, in this "Federal Political Experience" section alone, and each of these contains dozens of errors.

Example:
Library of Parliament
Federal Political Experience
Harper, The Right Hon. Stephen Joseph
Failed Validation: 28 errors

Failed validation report: Library of Parliament webpage Federal Political Experience, The Right Hon. Stephen Joseph Harper. For a full-size view, click on the image.

Example:
Library of Parliament
Federal Political Experience
MacKay, The Hon. Peter Gordon
Failed Validation: 28 errors

Failed validation report: Library of Parliament webpage Federal Political Experience, The Hon. Peter Gordon MacKay. For a full-size view, click on the image.

Example:
Library of Parliament
Index Page
Members of the House of Commons
1867 to Date, By Name – Z...
Failed Validation: 213 errors

Failed validation report: Library of Parliament Index Page Z, Members of the House of Commons, 1867 to 2006. For a full-size view, click on the image.

Example:
Library of Parliament
Index Page
Members of the House of Commons
1867 to Date, By Name – A...
Failed Validation: 433 errors

Failed validation report: Library of Parliament Index Page A, Members of the House of Commons, 1867 to 2006. For a full-size view, click on the image.

All of these Library of Parliament webpages have been updated in the last four months, thus should be fully compliant with the latest government standards for website design.

These validation tests were performed by using the W3C Validation Service.

---

Here's another problem in these Library of Parliament pages.

Each of the MP index pages has this near the top:
"To view the federal political experience of a Member of the House of Commons, click on one of the underlined names listed below."
Problem: There are no "underlined names below". There are lots of names, but none are underlined.
Example:
Members of the House of Commons
1867 to Date, By Name – S...
Each of the Senator index pages has this near the top:
"To view the federal political experience of a Senator, click on one of the underlined names listed below."
Problem: There are no "underlined names below". There are lots of names, but none are underlined.
Example:
Senators, 1867 to Date By Name