Technical aspects of marketing

In general government sites aim at a broader audience than commercial sites. We must ensure that the disabled can use our online information. Our audiences also include as a matter of policy the socially excluded. Our audience includes people on especially secure systems (such as the rest of government and some businesses). We tend to have more professionals or policy experts interested in our information -- and so end up publishing far more long detailed documents than many commercial sites.

This means that the technical aspects of government sites will differ from the typical audience for many commercial websites. Government users may sit behind firewalls that strip out scripting. Corporate and business users probably work on networks whose system administrators do not allow them to download software… so there is no point offering them free downloads of plug-ins. Socially excluded users may be accessing on older equipment. Some of our audiences are international, and for them speed of access (as well as other content issues) may be a priority.

This means that to reach these audiences effectively, the technical aspects of the site must match the needs of our audiences. Mandatory compliance with the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative recommendations will help ensure this. Here are some other considerations.

* What standard of modem speed is the target audience likely to have?
* What standard of colour display will the user’s computer have?
* What are the issues of compatibility with older browsers?
* Are graphic files small or will they add to the download time for the site?
* Are graphic links really necessary for the site?
* Will the audience require any plug-ins to download information? Do you offer alternatives so that the site will work without them? Remember many users cannot download free plug-ins.

Although the main part of any website will be constructed using HTML, the target audience for the website will help decide the format that should be chosen for storing subsidiary documents. There is no reason why several formats could not be employed at the same time to ensure maximum usability. In particular our professional or policy audiences may want documents provided primarily to be printed out.