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The revamped GovHK portal (www.gov.hk) with enhanced design and functions for more efficient delivery of information and user-friendly navigation was officially launched today (March 24).
"Our goal is to make Government services as easy, convenient and pleasurable to use as the best offered by the private sector. We have been inspired by commercial websites to make it as easy as possible for our users to accomplish whatever purpose they have in mind when they visit GovHK. We have added new 'I Want To...' sections throughout the site to provide shortcuts to the most commonly sought information and services," said Government Chief Information Officer, Mr Jeremy Godfrey.
"We have also tried to make the portal more lively and appealing, with more human touches, a brand new layout, and enriched colours and graphics. Users can personalise the interface by choosing from six colour options, including one designed for visually impaired users," Mr Godfrey added.
The portal puts together a list of commonly used government forms for users' convenience. Users can easily locate these forms either by topics such as employment or by life events like moving home. Some forms can be filled out and submitted online.
"More of our users are accessing the Internet while on the move, so we have enhanced the mobile version of the portal to feature the full content of GovHK. The content is packaged in optimal size and format for convenient browsing on mobile devices," Mr Godfrey said. With a simplified look and fewer dynamic features, the new mobile/accessible version is also designed to cater for the visually impaired.
Meanwhile, in view of the growing popularity of social media, GovHK has incorporated a Web 2.0 element which provides a sharing function for users to share GovHK content on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
GovHK was launched in 2007 to provide one-stop online government information and services. Since its launch, customer satisfaction surveys have been carried out regularly to gauge users' opinions for service improvement. The revamp has taken into account users' feedback and best practices followed by commercial websites.
Ends/Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Issued at HKT 14:07
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