[LINK] re: eCensus web page design

Tom Worthington Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au
Wed Aug 9 08:41:04 AEST 2006


I wrote Fri, 04 Aug 2006 09:26:30 +1000:

>Some comments on the ABS eCensus page. I can't comment on the actual 
>eCensus form, as I have not yet been delivered a number needed to 
>access it. ...

Some time Sunday night a Census form appeared at my front door. 
Someone must have buzzed the census collector into the apartment 
building. The census form for a neighbor is still lying outside their 
door. It is not clear why the forms were left lying in the hallway, 
rather than put in the locked letter boxes.

Here are some comments on the process:

* SECURITY FLAW IN INSTRUCTIONS?: Along with a booklet and paper 
census form I received an eCensus number. This was in a sealed 
anti-tamper envelope. To access the eCensus system you need both the 
eCensus number and the census form number on the paper census form. 
This provides a level of security much like the combination of a card 
number and PIN for a bank ATM.

However, the security of the system will be compromised if the 
instructions with the eCensus number are followed: these suggest 
writing the census form number above the eCensus number. As a result 
the security provided by having two separate numbers is compromised.

* WEB SITE NOT AVAILABLE IN FIREFOX: As previously discussed, the 
eCensus web site was not available via Firefox under Windows XP. The 
fault has been reported to ABS, but does not appear to be common to 
other users.

* WEB SITE AVAILABLE IN IE: The web site was available in Microsoft 
Internet Explorer. Previous problems with the home page have been noted.

* ACCESSIBLE VERSION: I then selected "Start Accessible Version". 
Although I selected the accessible version the "eCensus Login" web 
page displayed appears little different to the design of the home 
page, with a blurry image at the top.

There are four bullet points of complex text before the user is 
promoted for Census form number and eCensus number. This is daunting 
for the reader. This is presumably intended to reassure the reader 
but is more likely to confuse them at this point. It would be better 
if the text was below the fields or in a separate help page.

The text refers the user to the FAQs, but there is no link to the 
FAQs in the text. Because of the cluttered design of the page header 
it is difficult to see there is a FAQs link above.

The only difference between the accessible and regular versions of 
the login page appears to be that the accessible version has one 
field for entering the census form number, whereas the regular 
version has the number split into four parts with seven, one, four 
and one digits. The significance of these groupings in not explained 
to the user and so could be confusing.

The census form "number" has two check letters in it which will be 
confusing for the user and are hard to read when hand written on the 
form. The eCensus number, while machine printed in a large font, has 
insufficient spacing between the digits to be easily read. Also it is 
a very long twelve digit number. In total the user has to enter 25 
digits, which is excessive.

* HOUSEHOLD FORM PERSONS PRESENT: After pressing the "Login" button, 
the next screen "Household Form: Persons Present" appeared in less 
than a second. Like the home page, it was necessary to scroll 
sideways to read lines of text.

* LOCKED OUT FOR 30 MINUTES: The display of page was so fast that I 
was unsure that I had entered the logon correctly. I then pressed the 
back button on the browser and after reentering the census numbers 
received an error message:

"Error: Logon failed (code 570). Please wait 30 minutes and try 
again. If you continue to receive this message, please call the 
Census Inquiry Service on 1300 651 181 and quote error message number 
570 to the Customer Service Representative."

All of this text is in red (which it should not be) and scrolled off 
the right side of the screen.

At this point I recalled the note on the home page warning against 
using the back button. However, it appears bizarre to penalize the 
user with a thirty minute wait for a simple mistake. The impression 
the message gives is that the user has done something very bad.

If this was a commercial system, at this point I would decide to take 
my business elsewhere. An organization so incompetent and insulting 
to its customers as to design this interface is not one likely to be 
trusted by its customers. However, this is the ABS (who I used to 
work for as Census user database administrator) and I know they are 
capable of much better work than this.

I may try again later. However, it is very likely the average user 
would give up at this point and use the paper form. The ABS eCensus 
user interface clearly needs much more work. Other government 
agencies in Canberra have experts in user interface design and test 
labs to test the designs. The ABS should make use of that expertise.



Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington at tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150
Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd           ABN: 17 088 714 309
http://www.tomw.net.au             PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617  




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