In early 2009, then Federal Communications Commission Chair Michael Copps offered a frank assessment of the agency's website, fcc.gov. "The Commission has a wealth of resources on its website," Copps observed. "Some of it is easy to find and use; much of it is, unfortunately, difficult to locate and even more difficult to use—for us at the Commission, and, worse, for the public at large. The Commission must update its website to be more user-friendly."

A few months earlier, we had said the same. "Let's face it, fcc.gov still looks like it was thrown together six weeks after Netscape went public over a decade ago," our post complained. "The result: the only people who can really access it are telecom lawyers [and] public interest groups with their autoforms."

Since then the agency has gradually improved the site, making it much more search and comment friendly, more watchable, and adding staff blogs. But this week the Commission unveiled a new beta version (beta.fcc.gov) that doesn't just respond to Copp's concerns. It puts fcc.gov on the road to becoming one of the best government communications sites—anywhere.

First, there's the attractive and economic blue design. Instead of trying to stuff every conceivable department and category into the home page, like the current site does, beta.fcc offers four initial categories: "The FCC," "Our Work," "Tools and Data," and "Business and Legal," that more easily take users to everywhere else in the portal.

That's the key to this beta's success. Here are some of the best features of the new site.

Take action

Anyone who goes to beta.fcc will quickly notice a prominent subhead on the top right side of the page titled "Take Action." From there you'll be directed to a page where you can file public comments with the FCC on a wide variety of issues.

Back in the old days you had to know the docket number to file a comment on a hot proceeding. No more. The form offers a drop-down menu giving you a choice of over 30 proceedings from which to offer feedback, and a field into which you can type or paste text (of course, if you want to do it the old fashioned geeky way, no worries, the Commission's "expert" comment page is still there).

You can also easily get to the complaint and public discussion sections.

"Auctions" to "V-Chip"

Are you overwhelmed by the sheer volume of jargon and acronym-laden prose that accompanies FCC-talk? The new site now offers an encyclopedia! In beta form it seems to be a compendium of terms about telecommunications related issues—e.g., "roaming," and "retransmission consent"—plus a glossary about the FCC itself.

"Austin Schlick, General Counsel," for example, is an item, although oddly it can be found under "A" rather than "S." The encyclopedia addition is definitely a great move, but perhaps should focus less on the FCC's in-house biggies and more on the terms that tend to frustrate communications tech newbies, like "backhaul" and "intercarrier compensation."

Cool tools

Over the last year, the FCC has reconfigured or developed a host of new search engines, applications, and APIs. But they've been helter skelter all over the site. Now they're in one place—the Tools and Data section of the portal. These include the license search and overview tool, the broadband connection speed test, and the spectrum dashboard.

If you are a developer, all the APIs for FCC features and databases are now located in the same area. And the site sends you to the National Broadband Map, where you can track all kinds of high speed Internet trends across the country.

Where to find the mergers

One of the best things about the new fcc.gov is that it takes some of the really important issues with which the FCC deals and puts them on clearly identifiable pages. The present site has always had a mergers and acquisitions section, but it was something that users generally stumbled upon while searching for a particular case (e.g., Comcast and NBC Universal).

Now the "Business and Legal" section easily takes you to the mergers page. The "Our Work" section takes you to broadband, spectrum, and public safety pages. And lo and behold, the "The FCC" menu actually takes you to a page that explains what the FCC does.

The Federal Communications Commission regulates interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. It was established by the Communications Act of 1934 and operates as an independent U.S. government agency overseen by Congress. The commission is committed to being a responsive, efficient and effective agency capable of facing the technological and economic opportunities of the new millennium.

Good luck with that last sentence. At least it will be a lot easier to tell the FCC if it is falling short of these promises, thanks to the agency's new web site. If you've got feedback to give on the new version, you can post comments here.