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The initial screen of the Europa website and the first index page have had a major revamp and now provide a more useful access route into the contents of the site. The new home page at http://europa.eu.int describes itself as the “Gateway to the European Union”. The index page http://europa.eu.int/index_en.htm offers a wealth of access points while maintaining a clean and relatively uncluttered look which is closer in style to the redesigned lower pages.
On the left of the screen are three headings with sub-sections: Discover the EU (which includes the EU at a glance pages); Living in the EU; and Interact with the EU (providing information about contact points). By bringing the information on citizens' rights, travelling, studying and working in the EU (listed under the heading Living in the EU) on to the front page, searching will immediately be simplified for the many users who previously struggled to dig out the answers to these frequently asked questions.
The top centre part of the screen lists key current affairs and news items with a link to the news page for full details and access to the RAPID database. Below that is located the main access route for information about the EU arranged under the tabs Activities, Institutions, Documents, and Services. The default is Activities - no doubt the most frequently used approach to information seeking. Instead of the rather awkward mouse rollover of the previous version of the site, users now simply point at the relevant tab and that menu is displayed. It remains in place until you point at another tab, so selection of menu items is simpler.
On the right of the screen are quick links to the Presidency (currently the Irish Presidency), the European Year of Education through Sport 2004, and Europe Direct. Language versions can be selected from a drop-down menu on the right of the banner, though only the current official languages are available at present and the new ones will be added gradually.
Below the language option is the site search engine where a number of welcome changes have been made. Search terms can be entered from the home page and a simple search will be carried out. From the results page you can start a new search by clicking on the “Simple search” button. This brings up the simple search template. Instead of just entering search terms it is also possible from here to limit your search to one or more policy areas (use the CTRL key to select more than one). The ”?” button provides help on how to enter your search terms, e.g. a comma represents the Boolean OR operator and a space is interpreted as AND. The search can also be restricted to HTML pages only. If the results are not satisfactory, you can use the “Refine your search” button, which takes you to the Advanced search screen, also directly accessible from the home page. Here you have further options to define your search. The default is searching full texts with the option of specifying from a menu that the results should contain all words, the exact phrase or any of the words. It is also possible to define terms which should be excluded. Alternatively you can search in titles, descriptions or keywords. The latter two options search within the metadata of the pages. As in the simple search there is the possibility of limiting the search by area of activity, but additionally there are options to limit also by language, by a variety of file formats, and by date of publication. The new functionality is to be welcomed and should make it simpler to identify relevant results, but it will be a matter of testing over time to see whether the new search features really do deliver.
One of the aims of the revamp is to attract new audiences, particularly young people, to Europa. It certainly offers an interface which is simpler to use and which provides direct access to information sought by many members of the general public. At the same time it still provides structured access from the top page to the key sources for information professionals and those seeking to dig deeper into the resources. This however is only the first step in its latest transformation. It is hoped that by the end of March 2004 new features such as simpler navigation, animated graphs and interactive games will be in place. From spring 2004 the Commission is going to introduce content management tools to automate and improve the handling of the information on the site and it expects all the planned changes to be completed by summer 2004. Europa contains some 2.5 million pages of information, had c.300,000 visitors per day towards the end of 2003 and will in future be operating in 20 official languages so it is an immense task to manage the site efficiently. Despite the difficulties sometimes encountered in pinpointing specific bits of information there is no doubt about the value of the content of the site.
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