The team at auDA has been finalising our new website to provide an improved digital experience that puts the needs of users first.
auDA is endorsed by the Australian Government to manage the .au domain for the benefit of all Australians. As auDA CEO Rosemary Sinclair AM said, "auDA’s commitment to administering a trusted .au means it’s important our website caters to the broad community of users and stakeholders that make up the Australian and international internet communities”.
With the launch planned for late 2024, we sat down with members of the project team to discuss the design approach, technical uplift and accessibility improvements that informed the new website’s development.
Taking a user-centric approach
The design of our website was based on research to understand the perspectives of our website users. auDA partnered with an expert web design agency to explore the needs of our different user groups and develop a website design that is user-first.
auDA’s Senior Manager, Brand and Marketing, Emily Hardy explained that “leveraging agency capabilities alongside internal and external user testing allowed us to design a solution focused on making our site as helpful and useful as possible.”
The structure of the new website considers the breadth of auDA’s activities and how users search and interact with our information. auDA’s Manager, Marketing and Brand, Will Bond, said “We carried out user testing to inform the new website structure. Based on user insights, we’ve made resources and tools related to registering and maintaining a .au domain name easier to find and navigate between, supporting .au domain name holders with information they need.”
Information about .au domain names is complemented by content about other key auDA activities including internet governance advocacy, our Public Benefit Program and corporate governance. “A key part of the project was writing content to support our new site. We’ve refreshed existing content and developed a range of new content to provide easy-to-understand information about .au and auDA’s work,” added auDA Manager, Media and Communications, Rebecca Papillo.
The new search function and accessibility of the website are major improvements for users and key improvements for auDA Chief Technology Officer, Adam King. “We have an information rich website so we’ve invested in making things easier to find and providing the most used information in prominent locations.”
A strong website to support a sustainable .au
To bring our new website design to life, we partnered with external web developers who worked alongside auDA developers. An important part of the project was building a website with a solid technical and functional basis with the capability to present content in dynamic and interesting ways.
For auDA Web Developer, Deepak Potsangbam, the new website gives us more flexibility and the ability to create dynamic webpages that can present information in a range of ways. “The modular design gives us great future capability so we can continue improving and enhancing our site and its services.”
Adam also noted the new website has led to significant improvements to our website infrastructure. “Cyber security is critical to our work at auDA and as part of our constant risk and security assessment, we’ve deployed a site that is well positioned for emerging technology both today and in the future.”
Accessibility a key focus
The team at auDA has also invested in improving the accessibility of the new auDA website. We’ve built the website according to WCAG AA web accessibility standards to better ensure essential information about the .au and auDA is accessible to everyone.
While auDA’s work covers complex areas with technical language, we’ve shaped what we say and how we say it with a focus on writing in plain English wherever possible. Digital Communications Adviser, Tom Lace, noted that “Distilling the world of domain names, the DNS and internet governance into clear and accessible information that’s easier for people to understand means we are better serving our stakeholders and the Australian internet community.”
The launch of the new website is a step forward on auDA’s accessibility journey and we are committed to continuing to improve the accessibility of our website.
Reflecting on the importance of our new website, auDA Chief Communications Officer Sophie Mitchell said, “Our website is the digital representation of what auDA does. It ties together auDA’s activities into something that enables website users to learn about and engage with .au domain names and auDA activities. We’re proud of the new website and we can’t wait to share it with you.”
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