How Would You Better Your Country's Official Website?

you see the problem with Nigeria site is that the collect millions on it and the designers do bullshit , i guest the best way is to do some kind of contest and post there design view here and everybody elaborates on it

deface it!!

disgrace to the whole world!!

tumfulu,

Apparently, your favorite past times are ad hominem attacks and a lack of english comprehension.  If you are out of school, I would like to know how you did in English. If you aren't, I would like to know who will be marking your english paper(s) cos I need to sign him up for some overdose of paracetamol.

Please read post #3 above to answer your request, you twit.

@gamine,

I feel ya sister.  At times you don't reply and your credibility is at stake. This is one of them.  As you noted, no one (well a few have actually) has taken me up on it.  My email address is in the public domain here.  I personally don't seek to see others work unless they ask for a review.  I am not here to say, "do you know who i am?" or "I know 100 programming languages" or to basically one-up anyone here.  I am here to learn that's all.

here, here goldenimp.

Besides, I am not here to compete with anyone or to one-up anyone.  I am here to learn.

@kehers
It is not a matter of knowing who is designing a new site for the country or any of your questions, she is only asking for reactions of how we think with our web mastering skills, we can help better our country's official website. The fact of the matter is that that web located at http://www.nigeria.gov.ng/ is not worth it to stay as the official website of Nigeria. A redesign is in fact NEEDED. This is the reason why I think Yawa opened this new thread with the topic as "How Would You Better Your Country's Official Website?" Funny enough, people are leaving the caption and talking about irrelevant things.

Let's face the caption and really take it serious.

@Yawa
Thanks for the topic. It is a good one.

@webmasters
Let's think of how we can do something here.

kehers:
If you weren't sure, why not ask instead of making assumptions?

here, here Omnipotens

You observed well that I didn't say "site review" or "what is wrong with these people?" or whatever along those lines.  I simply asked, how would we make the site better.  NL is a pretty popular site.  You never know who is reading it.  

I can tell from experience that I am a member of a Yahoo group hosted by my state indigines in the diaspora.  It has over 1000 members.  There were rumors amongst us that even the state governor is a member but since he or anyone in his council never responded, we had no reason to believe this.  In August, we had our annual convention in the states and he was invited and was there.  One of the first things he said was he was aware of the forum and that we should ignore most of what was written on there and that if we had questions, to ask him.  Go figure.

Back to this site.  Again, you never know who is reading this.  Supposing someone came up to you and asked, we have a budget of so and so.  We saw your post on NL.  Since you claim to have the silver bullet, here is the budget.  Put your money where your mouth is.  Besides, what is wrong with using a site to learn better?  By the way, I am not asking for how the site would be redesigned.  I am asking for your input in terms of how you would make the site better, as-is.

kehers:
I would steer clear of the "what will they do anyways?" mentality.  Not good.  In fact, don't even look at it from that angle.  Just imagine this were another country's site and I was seeking the same answer.  For example, www.usa.gov/ is not the best in the world but compared to our site, there is no competition.  It's not about being flashy or design or whatever.  It's about a good user experience ours unfortunately doesn't give you that.

So since no one wants to jump first into the deep end of the pool, here I go:

1) They need to get rid of the horizontal scroll
2) The nav section at the top needs to be more lively.  That background is making the items invisible.
3) Those 3 bars below the nav have to go
4) If you select a city under "weather report", you get a broken link - it needs to be fixed.
5) The site needs to be spruced up with more (positive) images of Nigeria, preferably, tourist attractions.

There you have it.

Kehers and all those who think like him with respect to my posts:
No need to ignore my posts o.  I don't know it all but do know a thing or two.  I am just trying to help.  Rather than ignore, I suggest you read them, learn from them and most importantly, correct me where I am wrong so that we can all LEARN something  

I would go with Omnipotens on this

and yeah, that Horizontal scrolling, too annoying!

chauvinism does exist!

 
If Nland is the no. 16th site Nigerians visit, y not?

If we agree it needs a redesign, how do we get at the webmaster that did the present or existing web to learn better design for the web or who do we connect with? In fact, how can webmasters get something done to rescue our country's online presence which is not fun to visit?

@omni
One way could be to either email whatever email address is on the site or do a whois and contact the developer/admin directly.  I did this with my state's website and I am currently talking with the guy who did the site.  Chances are he won't pay for anything that is why I am giving him theories and not actual code but at least there is communication going on.

Another way could be to target some magazine/newspaper that is highly read in the industry and write an article (make it a nice, diplomatic one ) on this very topic and not only lay out the problems but offer solutions.

@josy
nice one.  I did say you should send me an email and/or chat with me.  I won't post anything on a public domain.  Sorry.  So the ball is back in your court.

@omnipotens
u knew about my toasting? Well she agreed and i'll be flying her to the states so she can get more exposure
compared to ijebu ode

@topic
im browsin via mtn and though i opened the site before usa.gov, usa.gov opened while im still expecting nigeria.gov to still open.

Finally its come up. From a brief glimpse, it seems to lack only design proficiency.
That shld probably be contracted out.
Otherwise, site seems great and functions. Ooops! I notice some pages end in .html which cld make maintenance stressful

Needless to say, the site is nt repping the web community in nigeria, can't someone submit a proposal?

@webguru
Yeah, I was thinking more of a design as in actual redesign too.  I havent checked out the site in full but I dare say it lacks certain things like providing online services. Wouldn't it be cool if you could fill out some form online and get a printed pdf from it?  Also, some functinality needs to be stripped or rethought. Example: I clicked on "photo gallery" then i had to click a radio button to choose.  Then the page reloads with a gallery that i had to scroll horizontally to see.  Sucks big time.

@likewhat
Like email me.

i_laugh,

Your english, hmmm, as i dey read am, i_laugh    Please read my response to such requests before posting. Having said that, I don't have to be a cook to know what good amala looks/tastes like.  That is why there are restaurants - for those who either can't cook or don't have the time to cook.

Moving on to more productive issues:

You won't believe this: I saw a "feedback" link and clicked on it and was taken to a form. Guess what the first option in the dropdown was

http://www.nigeria.gov.ng/NR/exeres/A92C71A7-80E7-49F7-AFEA-AC9507B9823A.htm

p.s. don't bother submitting.  Okay, go ahead but don't say I didn't warn you o! 

deface it and hack it down!!