PatnaDaily.Com - Readers Write

I saw a news item in PatnaDaily.Com today (Oct 5) about the launching of the Patna Nagar Nigam website (www.patnanagar.com). I was obviously too excited to see it. For citizens of Patna, it is going to be very useful, as the online population is increasing and becoming more accessible to masses. I believe the benefit of having a web presence is immense for both the citizens as well as the Government (Nagar Nigam) alike.

But as has always been the case with government websites in India, there are few things which are lacking and few things that can rather be removed. Aninda Bose has written an excellent piece on State of Govt. Websites. Indians have earned a name (good for being the innovators of IT, bad for stealing IT jobs), but when it comes to the application of IT in their own country, they have failed. We cannot even create great looking, service oriented and user friendly web-sites:

Specific comments are:

1. Use of animations: Any good web designer will never include fast moving text and graphics in the website. It distracts user. It is simply not desirable. What is the need to have cartoons floating around in the index page of PMC? They can be included in a separate area called "Humor" or elsewhere.

2. Lack of emphasis on service: The most obvious information PMC website should provide is the list of services available to citizens and how to obtain them. Also, there should be equal content in the local language (Hindi), as I believe many users are more comfortable with local language. What is the need of downloading Hindi font when there is no content?

3. Emphasis on "About Us": This site doesn't have a contact email address but is full of phone numbers of all officers. Do you think these officers will answer their call for ordinary citizens? There should be just one number for PMC, which provides all information, and nothing else.

4. Disclaimer Page: (http://www.patnanagar.com/privacy.htm). It does not look like anybody has paid much attention here. They included it because most websites have to have a section. Did someone actually read it before posting? Where is the information about the famous "RTI" Act?

5. Important Omissions: Where are financial disclosures (like annual reports), local transport info, school info, etc? I know they may not come under PMC, but at least they can provide some links or information.

6. Emphasis on: Designed & Developed by Graphic Trades, Patna. See Disclaimer & Privacy Policy. Is it needed in a government site? But nevertheless, this is a positive move and I hope other government agencies will take note of it and the Patna'ites will welcome this.

Comments:

Very much agree with the author. Many changes need to be done. Obviously there is a great requirement for an e-mail address to the site so that the citizens can also give their inputs. Adding Hindi content is also a very good advice.

But even after these lacking we should the praise the authorities in PMC for this commendable job. We hope many upgradations on the same in coming future. - Piyush Devbrat - Oct. 6, 2006

Mr. Upadhaya:

I couldn't agree with you more. While the web site is certainly a positive step towards a better, informed Bihar, it leaves much to be desired.

1. Scrolling marquee on the top (a sure indicator of an Indian amateur web designer), scrolling picture on the left, a tasteless moving cartoon at the bottom. I am still trying to figure out what's the point of the bottom section.

2. Text justification - yet another sign of an amateur designer who comes from the school of MS Word.

3. Java-based top scrolling marquee. Since Microsoft doesn't supply Windows XP anymore with Java preloaded (thanks to the Sun-Microsoft lawsuit), users with less technical experience may not even download Java if they were not told to do so.

4. Extremely poor quality of Patna Map. Just take a look at it. And why do these maps open in a different tab or another instance of the browser? What's the point?

5. Nearly all the photos have been lifted from PatnaDaily.Com photo gallery section. I wonder if they sought permission from PD or not.

6. Photo gallery section only has small thumbnails, no larger pictures.

7. Under About Us, the history of PMC page is blank.

8. Birth/Death Registration - why the forms are nothing but a large image instead of a PDF file? Wouldn't PDF be more professional?

9. Several typos - a) Tax & Charges - Reads 'Dont' have user Id?' Apostrophe in Don't come after 'n' and not 't'. (b) Under Schemes -> Storm Water Drainage - storm is spelt 'strom'. (c) On Schemes -> Road Networks page 'summary' is spelt 'summery'. Okay, so I am being a bit anal here but a professional site, in my opinion, doesn't have any room for such silly mistakes.

10. On Download page, all the forms are in JPG or Microsoft Word format. Very unprofessional in my opinion. Either they should be online forms (some hardcore programming required) or should have been in PDF format for users to download, fill out manually, and faxed or delivered by hand.

Please realize my criticism is not particularly directed towards PMC web site. It's a great effort and must be lauded by all of us. These flaws are the hallmark of most government web sites in India that are increasingly being designed by unqualified people who rely heavily on copy and paste technology. I am just hoping someone in the Nitish government reads this and asks the web designer to show some professional work or contract it to someone who has a track record of designing excellent, no cookie-cutter web site that doesn't always look like a page borrowed from Microsoft Excel or Word! - Aninda Bose - Oct. 6, 2006

First of all let me congratulate the Nitish government to at least start something like www.patnanagar.com. It was good to see a place where people can get some information about Patna to start with. I am sure no one would have expected the same an year ago.

Yes, there is a lot of scope for improving the website. I did not even find a place where we can provide our comments. There is no "Contact Us" link. Nevertheless, I am sure we this government would improve it.

Let's wish all the best to PMC on this new beginning. - Atul Kumar Singh - Oct. 6, 2006

I can't agree more. At least the government came up with a website. It's just a beginning. Value additions based on your feedbacks can always be done. - Vinod Kumar - Oct. 7, 2006

Discussion on this topic is now closed.