Government websites 'most difficult to use'

More than a third of people questioned in a recent study on website usability said that government sites were the most difficult to use.

Financial service websites and retail and e-commerce websites were also rated poorly by the 1,000 respondents to Webcredible's survey.

Thirty-four per cent rated government and local authority sites difficult to use. Financial-services websites were the second worst with 16 per cent of the vote and retail sites came in third at 13 per cent.

Even gaming websites made the most-difficult list, with nine per cent of the vote. The main problems faced by those surveyed concerned site layout and difficulties in finding information.

The easiest sites to use were those of news and media companies with travel sites coming in second.

Trenton Moss, director at Webcredible said: "Website user experience has become a big deal. Users are increasingly frustrated if they find a website difficult to use and will tend to drop off commercial sites for this reason.

"It's crucial that websites in all sectors invest in providing their users with the best user experience possible," he continued.

Slow page loading times also cause 70 per cent of us to get 'web rage', according to a study released in December.

Which websites do you find most difficult to use or get most frustrated with? Tell us in the Web User forums.