5. Government web site

1. Canadian government web sites are horrible.

·        It is not easy to find information that you wanted.

·        Navigation didn’t follow standard ways by many companies on the Internet
They came up with an excuse that they have to support many browsers, devices, people with color blind, etc. So, they ended up with complex web site in order to kick out all users approaching them for information.

There are many devices on the Internet, but all of them use a web browser to surf the Internet for information. They could support and test their web pages on popular browsers on the Internet such as Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, and Apple Safari. This would narrow down to 2 types of devices, i.e. 
·        Laptop, PC, tablet with large screens

·        Mobile phone with smaller screen sizes
The web site would detect or ask users for an option to load correct web page’s design on their device screen.
·        The mobile phone version would have less buttons and simple information shown per page. This is not a recommended way to access/read complicate subjects or information.

·        The rest of devices would have a standard way of data presentation. Users could zoom in, zoom out, or change fonts using browser's features on their devices as needed. 
The web site could support a few color schemes for blind color users. One of them should be gray scale. Governments could contact eye care specialists for typical scenarios or types of color blind in order to come up with good color scheme. If it’s impossible to support all scenarios, then they provide a phone number on their web sites.
Seriously system must be simple and it is not intended to support every single person with unique needs. Those persons should get help by another method such as telephone, social service personnel, etc. You can tailor a system to a single person, but kick out a majority of users.
2. CRA web site is not an exception (2022-01-11)
Perhaps they're using STRUT platform, which provides the look and feel of 1990's web site. It's rigid and looks ugly. 
Since users don't have an option of "go back" because of session expired, all web pages must be reviewed carefully before releasing it to public. 
Many pages have many options to choose from such as preview of page, submit forms, etc. Users may want to review the form before submitting. By clicking on preview form, the entire page was "replaced" by the pdf file for printing and download, i.e. no way users could go back and submit the form. Open a new tab to display "preview forms" or help page. This is the basic step in developing a web page or any application. 
I heard that CGI was the contractor developing this web site. CGI is incompetent in addition to CRA in signing off the project with failure in product review. 
It is always stressful to deal or communicate with federal employees or the web site, e.g. filling out the T4 web form 2021 tax year.
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* July 14, 2017: For Canadians with unique needs:

Service Canada office could handle federal government issues. Ontarian could also go to Service Ontario offices in Ontario for help.

Majority of Canadians:

There would be more Canadian resolved issues by using web services, thus the work load on government service workers would be reduced as a result.

* Most of us are ok with a gray scale scheme even though we have different preferences in color.

The goal is to offer a w0eb site for users to search and use information. This is not an art work.

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