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Government, NCA, 2 Telcos Websites Mobile Unfriendly—Google Test Reveal

By Samuel Dowuona || Adomonline.com
Technology Government, NCA, 2 Telcos Websites Mobile Unfriendly—Google Test Reveal
APR 24, 2015 LISTEN

Google tests on the responsiveness of Ghanaian-based websites on mobile devices has revealed that over 90% of government and public institutions’ websites are very mobile unfriendly.

The tests also showed the websites of two leading telcos, Vodafone and Tigo, and that of the ICT industry regulator, National Communications Authority were also mobile-unfriendly.

The tests were done by a team from Ghanaian Mobile App Developers and Industry Researchers Zottech and Stimuluz and it included 75 websites, mainly from the public sector.

On April 21, 2015, Google launched a new test tool for the responsiveness of websites on mobile devices. This was because Google found that over 50% of Google Search is done with mobile devices (Smartphones and tablets) across the world. So the tool, available on http://goo.gl/d567kP , was designed to push web designers to reconfigure their websites and make them easily accessible on mobile devices.

The team therefore ran the web addresses of all 75 locally-based websites on the new Google Mobile Friendly Test Tool on http://goo.gl/d567kP . They also ran mobile device test using Samsung Galaxy S4 and a Samsung Galaxy tablet.

Out of 75 websites tested, 21 came out as mobile-friendly and 54 were either “not very mobile-friendly or not mobile-friendly at all.”

Divine Puplampu was the leader of the team that ran the tests and he told Adom News some of the sites looked okay in the mobile device test but the Google said otherwise, so in those instances they took the Google test verdict.

He said the main challenges with the websites included difficulty in navigating those sites on mobile devices, small texts on the sites, being forced to do horizontal scrolling even in landscape device mode, and generally poor user experience.

The IT wizkid said the failure of those sites simply means they were not designed to be easily accessible on mobile devices.

“It is down to bad design and if the designers of those websites do not do anything about it fast Google is very soon going to stop prioritizing those websites in the results of Google Searches on mobile devices,” he said.

Top of the list of the websites that failed the test are the Ghana government website ( www.ghana.gov.gh ) and the website of the presidency ( www.presidency.gov.gh ) in that order.

The president’s personal website ( www.johnmahama.com ), the ruling party NDC’s website ( www.ndc.org.gh ), and the biggest opposition NPP’s website ( www.newpatrioticparty.org ) also failed the test.

Telco industry players failed too
Even the websites of communications Ministry ( www.moc.gov.gh ), the telecoms regulator, National Communications Authority ( www.nca.org.gh ) and National Information Technology Agency ( www.nita.gov.gh ) also failed the test.

The Telecoms Chamber website (www.telecomschamber.org) and interestingly, the websites of two top telcos, Vodafone ( www.vodagone.com.gh ) and Tigo ( www.tigo.com.gh ) also failed the mobile responsiveness tests.

Websites of the following public institutions are part of the few that passed the test:

Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Ghana , Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ghana Revenue Authority , Electoral Commission of Ghana (E.C) , Electricity Company Of Ghana (E.C.G) , Fairwages & Salaries Commission, Civil Society Training Centre, Ghana Health Service , Office of the Head of Civil Service, Ghana National Service Scheme and Ghana Police Service and University of Ghana.

Beside those, other private websites that passed include www.myjoyonline.com , cififmonline, ghanaweb.com , Metro TV Ghana , MTN Ghana , Airtel Ghana , Surfline GH , Blu , Viasat 1 Ghana , and Peacefmonline.com.

Below is the full list of websites which failed the Google Mobile Responsiveness Test:

1. www.ghana.gov.gh - Official Government of Ghana Portal

2. www.presidency.gov.gh - Presidency of the Republic of Ghana

3. www.mlgrdghanagov.com - Ministries of Local Government and Rural Development

4. www.mofad.gov.gh - Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development

5. www.mint.gov.gh - Ministry of Interior
6. www.mfa.gov.gh - Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration

7. www.gaf.mil.gh - Ministry of Defense
8. www.mwrwh.gov.gh - Ministry of Water Resources Works and Housing

9. www.mot.gov.gh - Ministry of Transport
10. www.ghanatrade.gov.gh - Ministry of Trade
11. www.dvla.gov.gh - Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority

12. www.meteo.gov.gh - Ghana Meteorological Service

13. www.gipcghana.com - Ghana Investment Promotion Centre

15. www.gfzb.com.gh - Ghana Free Zone Board
16. www.nhis.gov.gh - National Health Insurance Scheme

17. www.copyright.gov.gh - Copyright Office
18. www.moh-ghana.org - Ministry of Health (Ghana)
19. www.mogcsp.gov.gh - Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection

20. www.mofep.gov.gh - Ministry of Finance, Ghana
21. www.moe.gov.gh - Ministry of Education
22. www.moc.gov.gh - Ministry of communications Ghana

23. www.nita.gov.gh - National Information Technology Agency (The agency responsible for developing/maintaining Government websites)

24. www.nca.org.gh - National Communications Authority Ghana

25. www.brandghana.org.gh - BrandGhana Office
26. www.bog.gov.gh - Bank of Ghana
27. www.rgd.gov.gh - Registrar General Department
28. www.parliament.gh - Parliament of Ghana
29. www.gegov.com.gh - GeGov Initiative
30. www.cagd.gov.gh - Controller and Accountant General Department (Not accessible as at 7am today)

31. www.niaghana.gov.gh - National Identification Authority

32. www.gogpayslip.com - Government of Ghana Payslip

33. www.eservices.gov.gh - Eservices Ghana
34. www.ghanaimmigration.org - Ghana Immigration Service

35. www.ghanaports.gov.gh - Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority

36. www.gcaa.com.gh - Ghana Civil Aviation Authority

37. www.vra.com – Volta River Authority
or www.vraghana.com - Volta River Authorigy
38. www.ssnit.org.gh - Inaccessible as at 7am today

39. www.knust.edu.gh - Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

40. www.ashesi.edu.gh - Ashesi University
41. www.statsghana.gov.gh - Ghana Statistical Service

42. www.newpatrioticparty.org - New Patriotic Party (NPP: Development in Freedom)

43. www.johnmahama.org - Official Website of President John Dramani Mahama Inaccessible as at 7am today

44. www.ndc.org.gh - National Democratic Congress
45. www.starrfmonline.com – Starr 103.5FM
46. www.vodafone.com.gh - Vodafone Ghana
47. www.tigo.com.gh - Tigo Ghana
48. www.ghanafa.org - Ghana Football Association
49. www.telecomschamber.org - Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications

50. www.ghanawaec.org - West African Examinations Council

51. www.gbcghana.com - Ghana Broadcasting Corporation

52. www.ucc.edu.gh - University of Cape Coast
53. www.central.edu.gh - Central University
54. www.uew.edu.gh - University of Education, Winneba

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