Houses of the Oireachtas
The Houses of Oireachtas website is one of the largest in Ireland. It has an extensive amount of web content, with over 800,000 pages indexed by Google at the time of this project.
Top: the Houses of the Oireachtas website after the redevelopment project. Bottom: the old website
The Houses of the Oireachtas Communications Strategy identified enhanced online channels as a primary instrument in achieving its key objectives.
Usability and accessibility
The Houses of the Oireachtas recently launched the first phase of its redeveloped site.
Given the large amount of web content that has built up over time, usability and accessibility were key issues in the project.
AMAS was retained to:
- Conduct a strategic review of the previous site
- Research audience usage and their likely requirements. This included the development of personas of key audiences
- Support the communications team in defining requirements, as well as procuring design and development services
- Create a new information architecture to ensure easy paths to the most important content
- Help specify and create new content for the site
The scope of this redevelopment phase excluded databases for debates and bills, as well as other legacy content.
Web 2.0
The new site has many Web 2.0 type features, including links to its new social media and content sharing channels (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube), RSS feeds and a version of the site for mobile phones.
The website also has a new education zone, featuring historical debates and speeches, a glossary and online games for young people.
Visit the Oireachtas website.
