Utah's official Web site hailed as country's best by Brown U.

Brown University ranked Utah's official Web site, www.utah.gov, as tops in the country among state government Web sites, up from third place last year.

Researchers at the Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions at Brown University reviewed 1,559 Web sites and evaluated them against a broad range of criteria, including availability of online services, disability and foreign language access, quality control, ease of use, privacy and security policies and credit card payment options.

During 2004, the site processed 2.4 million transactions and experienced more than 17 million visits. It is a collaborative effort between the state and Utah Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of e-government firm NIC.