Dublin City Council Website – A Thundering Disgrace?

I’m in absolute agreement with you. On a positive note, I read a notice on the site about a month ago that indicated they were aware of the current inadequacies of the site and that a new site was being developed.

In the interim, it seems that they’re just going to let the current one fall asunder.

Of course, I can’t find that item on the site now……

@adhoc wrote:

Of course, I can’t find that item on the site now……

Ah Rofl. ffs

That could be good news Adhoc – about a new site… Or then again it could be more bloody lip service by the council while nothing gets done. I know which way I would bet on that one 🙁
The website has been critically defecient for a number of years at this stage. There is no excuse.

DCC’s website is possibly the worst in the country – and that it is one run by a public service, paid for by taxpayers is an absolute disgrace 😡

*puts 10 bucks down on a second bet – that DCC is in flagrent breach of EU legislation regarding access to information on the environment*

the dcc website is a load of shite on every level, looks crap with shag all functionality, which seems to be reducing by the week.

SDCC’s isn’t too bad (functionality wise) don’t like the look of it much though.

Well if there’s a relaunch on the way, there’s little point in being critical of a dying horse, but I’d be in agreement with what’s been said thus far. The design is terribly incoherent, the functionality dismal, and whole sections are regularly offline.

A classic example of the poor functionality is in the planning search, where if you want to return to the main search page with the address you’ve already entered, the page expires and you have to type it in all over again; the experienced victim knows at this stage to copy the address before progressing further. Addresses, even mainstream ones, can also turn up ‘no record’.

Press releases, Plans and projects are notoriously difficult to find, while the internal search is a fascinating exercise in halls of mirrors, smoke screens and the general art of delusion.

In fairness, many local authority are equally bad, if not worse, though things are improving drastically at the minute. Hopefully the same can be said of their phone book pages, which can be equally frustrating.

@GrahamH wrote:

Addresses, even mainstream ones, can also turn up ‘no record’.

You need to insert the star symbol i.e. *Westmoreland 😉

All – What would people consider best practice. I’ve attached links to the London Borough of Lambeth and City of Westminster web-sites where i’ve recently worked. Both of a high standard. I’ve also attached a link to the Lower Manahatten business improvement district site which is very good and has excellent visuals.
– http://www.lambeth.gov.uk
– http://www.westminster.gov.uk
– http://www.lowermanhattan.info/

Let’s see what DCC comes up with. Shane

Something that annoys me is why can’t their planning search page be accessed directly from the homepage? This must be one of the most visited pages on the site, but you have to click through three or four separate pages to get to it.

@GrahamH wrote:

A classic example of the poor functionality is in the planning search, where if you want to return to the main search page with the address you’ve already entered, the page expires and you have to type it in all over again

That wrecked my head for a bit too, but I found that if you click ‘search criteria’ after doing a search it gets you back to the main page with your originally-entered address or info still up.

when you’re at the search page simply add it to your favourites.

Similarly, when the page expires hit F5 and return. It’ll come back.

The one thing I do notice about the site is that it’s next to impossible if your computer has a prehistoric processor

I do have it saved in my favourites. But if I’m checking planning on the move I still have to through the rigmarole.

Another thing: The ‘Further Infomation’ bar in planning details is redundant. Whether or not there is FI on a proposal, a click on this bar will tell you that ‘There are no further information requests for this application’. If an FI request is made, it appears in ‘Decision’, or if the final decision has been made, it might be in ‘View Documents’, but never in ‘Further Information’. Please either remove it or use it, DCC.

The council had a good system going for a while where you could could view the whole planning app, planner’s reports, 3rd party objections etc. on site – extremely handy, but that seems to have been abandoned now. Might this be coming back with the relaunch referred to?

It must be said though that, even in its current state, DCC’s site is head & shoulders above any other in the country. Try finding planning application details on Wicklow Co Co’s site. The most you’ll probably get is a Planning List entry.

And not to be overly cynical, but one would have to wonder if there’s an element of design in the absence of certain extended planning details as mentioned above; similar to the €20 fee, it does help deter an additional workload, operating with already strained resources…

have to say i find sdcc’s to be the best … every element of a planning app is scanned in & up there to view, including all 3rd party submissions, the aerial map can be a little on the slow side but much better than dcc’s from what i’ve seen.

@DCC Website At Present wrote:

Planning Search

Updated 06-03-2009

The Planning Search facility is currently unavailable due to a neccessary system upgrade
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused

It has been like this for the last ten days. I was told by them after a day or two that it was to be back up and running the next day. Ten f-ing days later it’s still down – and no sign of when it’s going to be back up. Meanwhile Phase 1 of submissions on forthcoming Development plan lock off today, and of course with the site down it has been made a lot harder for people to cite specific cases should they wish to do so when putting in submissions.

Ten days later + its still down – Get your finger out DCC 😡

@hutton wrote:

It has been like this for the last ten days. I was told by them after a day or two that it was to be back up and running the next day. Ten f-ing days later it’s still down – and no sign of when it’s going to be back up. Meanwhile Phase 1 of submissions on forthcoming Development plan lock off today, and of course with the site down it has been made a lot harder for people to cite specific cases should they wish to do so when putting in submissions.

Ten days later + its still down – Get your finger out DCC 😡

It’s been saying that for 10 days but I’ve still been able to access it for the last 4 or 5 – go to the usual link and “search by map”