Home So-Called “Worst Website in Government” To Be Rebuilt With Drupal

So-Called “Worst Website in Government” To Be Rebuilt With Drupal

The Federal Communications Commission, which regulates communication technology including the Internet, was once credited with having the worst website in federal government.

But the agency is committed to upgrading its technology under the leadership of Microsoft veteran Steven VanRoekel. The FCC has been beefing up its developer offerings and it announced today that the new website will be built using the open source content management system Drupal.

“This decision is a significant step towards modernizing our own underlying online infrastructure — a key stage in redesigning and rebuilding FCC.gov,” VanRoekel said.

The old website, designed ten years ago, had become a sprawling mess of information due to a “Web 1.0” mentality, VanRoekel said. The changes at the FCC are driven by the desire to engage the community and make the FCC’s data more available, officials at the agency said.

“As we think about FCC.gov reimagined, one of the things I harken back to is really thinking of “dot gov” like a “dot com where we equated citizens as both our customer and our shareholder,” VanRoekel said at the Gov 2.0 Summit two weeks ago.

He went on to talk about how the technology on the website should taken into account customer service, market innovation and agility. Apparently the agency decided that Drupal, which is known for its robust developer community, would be the best platform to encourage innovation and move the government website in a new direction.

The FCC is the latest government website to use Drupal, which already powers the White House website as well as the Department of Commerce’s Commerce.gov and the Department of Education’s Ed.gov.

“We understand that citizen shareholders deserve a government that moves quickly to deliver information, facilitate transactions, and inform and engage Americans. As we continue to reimagine what FCC.gov can — and will — be, we’re excited to do so alongside the Drupal community,” VanRoekel said.

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