Writing for government carries a special responsibility. The words we choose shape how people think about policies, services, and institutions. Clarity, honesty, and readability affects trust, engagement, and democratic participation. In his 1946 essay Politics and the English Language, Orwell makes this case: vague, pompous, or clichéd writing isn’t just stylistically poor — it undermines … Continued
Written by Cassandra Cyphers. When working on a shared, public-facing project like your city’s website, multiple people are coming together to create content. Each person contributes unique perspectives, vocabulary, and tone of voice. But too many styles across a larger body of work like a website can feel chaotic to users. It erodes trust. A … Continued
Government websites should be built around helping people take action, not giving explanations. Most local government websites are full of passive content. They explain what the government does (like programs, laws, rules) instead of helping people with how to do something. If your website is like this, it’s not a digital service — it’s an … Continued
If you are like most government agencies, your website is full of PDFs. You create them for meeting agendas, annual reports, public notices, forms, and the list goes on. You have thousands on your website. They are easy to make and our tools make them the path of least resistance. But PDFs are both a … Continued
A lot of government PDFs are about to be against the law. Even small agencies have thousands of them. The vast majority of them aren’t accessible–and it’s expensive and time-consuming to fix them. This is a big problem. A new audit tool from Code for America Code for America just released a new AI-powered tool … Continued
Governments love FAQs. People don’t. We make FAQs because they seem like an easy way to provide information, but they actually make it harder for people to find what they are looking for. They force people to formulate what they need as a preset question. They have to scan a long, random list of questions … Continued
The new web accessibility law could mean better government services for everyone. Seize the opportunity. Accessibility is good design When we make government websites accessible, we design services that work better for everyone. Accessible websites make information: Easy to find Clear to understand Usable by everyone—regardless of their abilities Good design isn’t about aesthetics. It’s … Continued
In April 2026 a new web accessibility law goes into effect for state and local governments. If you have PDFs on your website (you probably have a lot), they need to be accessible (they probably are not). This is a big deal. Some qualify for exceptions (and you need to move them into clearly labeled … Continued
It’s hard to create content for local government permits. There’s a myriad of rules and processes. Things get muddled with if/then circumstances and special cases. This leads to confusion and sets the wrong expectations. A process that may in fact be simple appears overly burdensome. Or a complex process seems more simple than it is. … Continued
We often visit a local government website for a simple purpose: find street sweeping hours, pay a parking ticket. Instead of clarity, we’re met with a labyrinth of links, random information, and dead-end pages. The Library of Babel is a 1940s absurdist short story about overwhelming knowledge and the search for something meaningful. Its author, … Continued
