Candidate Websites: A Cursory Glance

7 Jan

After browsing a few of the presidential candidates’ websites, I began to notice some similarities. I decided to have a go at all of them and see how they looked. For convenience, I limited the candidates to those who participated in the ABC/Facebook debate on 5 January 2007.

Some general observations:

  • Blue is the color of choice, present on all of the websites, and dominant on 7/10.
  • Every website has a banner at the top with a horizontal navigation bar underneath.
    • Every website has an “issues” link on the navigation bar.
    • Every website except three has a “blog” link. Romney and Thompson just doesn’t label the link as “blog,” while conservative Ron Paul doesn’t appear to have a link at all.
    • All the Democrats made their “donate”/”contribute” buttons in the horizontal navigation bar a different color (all red except for Edwards). Of the Republicans, only Romney and Thompson did.
  • Only McCain doesn’t have Facebook and Youtube links. Social networking is huge this election.
  • Like social networking, grassroots organization is emphasized. “Get involved” or “organize event” links abound.
  • Only Ron Paul’s website validates with W3C.
  • Clinton, Thompson, and Guliani go be their first names. This works for Hilary. Not for Fred or Rudy.
  • All the Democrats have Spanish versions of the websites; Romney is the only Republican with a Spanish version.

Specific comments:

Obama WebsiteBarack Obama     

Site: barackobama.com
Color: Blue
Thoughts: I like this design the best, though my view of the website may be biased by my view of the candidate. This is the only website with an inspirational quote at the top.
Clinton WebsiteHillary Clinton     

Site: hillaryclinton.com
Color: Blue
Thoughts: Not too much to say, it’s a pretty generic candidate site. Anyone see anything unique?
Edwards WebsiteJohn Edwards     

Site: johnedwards.com
Color: Yellow? Brown?
Thoughts: Edwards gets credit for not using blue as the main color, though I’m not really sure about the star…. Interestingly, Edwards is using a Creative Commons license for the website.
Richardson WebsiteBill Richardson     

Site: richardsonforpresident.com
Color: Blue
Thoughts: Richardson loses points for demanding a full 1024 resolution; that doesn’t jive with those of us on smaller monitors.
Romney WebsiteMitt Romney     

Site: mittromney.com
Color: Blue/Black
Thoughts: Romney faces the same resolution complaint; I don’t like horizontal scroll bars. Interestingly, there’s no obvious picture of Romney in this screenshot, though the flash animation in the center does change to include him. Unlike the other websites, there is no form on the front page to submit your email.
Huckabee WebsiteMike Huckabee     

Site: mikehuckabee.com
Color: Red
Thoughts: Huckabee decided to go for the Republican red over the Democrat blue. It provides variety, but it’s not exactly original.
Guliani WebsiteRudy Guliani     

Site: joinrudy2008.com
Color: Blue
Thoughts: That domain name just isn’t working for me. Of course, seeing as rudyguliani.com is a gambling website, he had to choose something else. I guess I object to the “join.” It’s too personal for me.
McCain WebsiteJohn McCain     

Site: johnmccain.com
Color: Black/Blue
Thoughts: McCain gets points for using a color other than blue, but… black? I suppose it’s dignified, but it’s also somewhat somber.
Paul WebsiteRon Paul     

Site: ronpaul2008.com
Color: Blue/Black
Thoughts: Without being able to get ronpaul.com (somebody should be selling that website for a sweet profit right now), this was a good choice. Another website that demands a full 1024 pixels wide. Some of Ron Paul’s pictures around the site, like that one in the top right, are kind of goofy looking, but he likes to go by Dr. Ron Paul. Finally, major points for being the only website to validate.
Thompson WebsiteFred Thompson     

Site: fred08.com
Color: Blue
Thoughts: The design on Thompson’s website seems very primitive to me, almost like a child’s drawing. That may just be me, though. Also, why don’t the fans at fredthompson.com just give him the domain? And, like McCain, no big picture on the front. I wonder if it says something about those two candidates…?

Of course a lot of this, like the pictures or code validating, will probably change, so pardon me if it appears inaccurate later.

That’s all I noticed for now. What do you see that I missed?

Update (1/8/07): I later found this comparison, which is focuses more on the technical details and actually attempts to be objective. My comparison, on the other hand, was more interested in design choices by the candidates.

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One Response to “Candidate Websites: A Cursory Glance”

  1. Kyle 26 January 2008 at 15:11 #

    Freddy’s site looks the least professional. His typefaces even clash. Obama has the best site for sure, and I think McCain and Guliani have the second nicest sites. So being the good internet savvy American that I am I think I will have to vote accordingly.

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