July 2, 2013 — Everyone reading this has visited federal web sites and been shocked at their “billboard” nature.

When you visit healthcare.gov you see a great example of a federal web site that can run with the best.

On today’s show, host John Gilroy interviews Mark Pietrasanta, CTO, and Sean Fitzpatrick, director of Web Experience from Aquilent.

They were a leading part of the team that created healthcare.gov.

During the discussion we learn the value of creating personas, testing, and aligning design with agency goals.

In web design, a persona is a fictional character who the designers focus on.

For example, if the audience you anticipate visits sites with a mobile device, then you should make the site easy for mobile navigation.

Software developers are famous for testing code before release.

In the case of web design, creators watch how test subjects move around the page.

This way, adjustments can be made to improve ease of use.

Designing a user friendly web site has no value unless these tasks are aligned with the agencies goals.

Here, the objective is to give visitors more information on various health insurance plans.

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