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Friday Jan 30, 2015

User Feedback Plays Key Role in New USPTO Website

Blog by Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the USPTO Michelle K. Lee

I’m excited to let you know about our newly redesigned website that improves the experience of doing business with the USPTO, and is a key part of our rollout of next generation technologies. Chief Information Officer John Owens and his team of IT specialists are dedicated to modernizing the USPTO’s IT infrastructure in 2015 and beyond.

This redesign is the first phase of upgrading users’ USPTO online experience that focuses on updating the (1) navigation to allow users to access needed information more easily and quickly and (2) to make the presentation of information on our web pages clearer and more streamlined. Following the completion of the first phase, the USPTO team is now working on ways to improve our “transactional sites,” which are the online tools and systems where users transact business with the USPTO such as filing for trademark registrations or paying the fees for patents that we look forward to sharing with you soon.

The official launch date for the website is February 5, 2015, when you will see the results of our phase one redesign.  When users visit www.uspto.gov they will be taken directly to the redesigned site and if you haven’t already visited the site, I encourage you to take a tour of the beta.

In developing the new site, we met with hundreds of users—both frequent users and new visitors to the site—to learn what information they look for, study and how they attempt to find it. We also conducted an in-depth analysis of the site’s navigation including extensive user experience testing of the new design and wide-ranging best practices comparisons. The new navigation makes it easier to access information about our services and learn how to accomplish tasks. It’s also friendlier for those of you using mobile devices. I invite you to watch a one-minute video that highlights some of the site’s new features.

Thousands of USPTO web pages were redesigned and there are many ways we can continue to make the site better, but we can’t do that without your help. When we launched the beta in December, we asked users to take a look at the new site, and more than 15,000 people have so far. We also set up an Ideascale site, a place where you can submit your thoughts and comments about the beta, and vote up or down, or comment on ideas submitted by others. We received some great input and we’re looking forward to continued interaction with you on additional ways to fine tune the new site. We’ll continue to provide improvements even after it becomes the official agency site.

We value your feedback, whether it is about our new website or any of our other initiatives. With your input, we can work together to better meet your needs.

Comments:

Love the new site, the kids site , and the blog - thanks!

Posted by Steve on February 02, 2015 at 01:42 PM EST #

Why is all of the text on the new website gray? It's hard to read. Why not just use black? It's easier to read. I liked the look of the old website better, and knew where to find everything I needed. Now I have to relearn where to find everything. Would it be possible to go back to the old website? Thank you.

Posted by Randall Svihla on February 06, 2015 at 04:42 AM EST #

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