You may have noticed a new look to some of our pages on NHS Choices (www.nhs.uk).
We’re updating the technology we use to provide the service and that means we can improve how the site performs for its users, especially for the majority who now view NHS Choices on a phone or tablet.
We’re rolling out these changes gradually, making sure that we’re doing the right thing for people who use the service. The latest part of the website to benefit is our content on conditions, symptoms and treatments – the Health A-Z.
Health A-Z now has a more modern look and feel that’s designed to work as well on a mobile as it does on a desktop PC or laptop. This should make finding the right information and advice simpler, quicker and more intuitive.
As well as offering improvements to our users, changing the technology also has benefits to the service that runs NHS Choices – a reduction in effort needed to support the system that manages all our content. It also provides benefits to our partners who re-use NHS Choices content.
The new Content API is structured using the Schema.org vocabulary and all conditions are available in JSON and XML format. For the first time, partners can now syndicate a selection of our images to enrich the experience for their users. The Conditions API is available via the API Developer Portal which gives partners instant access to our APIs, widgets and documentation. Sign up and start consuming the new Content API right away at https://developer.api.nhs.uk. All current partners consuming our V1 API should have received an email communication about the change, if not or if you have any questions about the API please contact [email protected].
To help achieve a new look and feel, we have introduced new navigation features and chosen fonts, colours and page components to ease browsing and reading. We have also removed some pages and links that were not being used, or which were providing limited value.
Some features, such as interactive tools, videos and promotional panels have been scaled back to ensure we present the information that users need clearly, without unnecessary distractions.
We are continuing to explore what our users need and how we can best meet those needs. We’ll keep on refining the design of both content and the website itself, and we’ll keep listening to our users to make sure we’re doing the right thing.
We’d love to know what you think of the changes.