Ok, ok, so the vote by picture thing maybe wasn't the best guide in the world (a fun one, nonetheless). How about we try a different angle to decide some key elections? Let's look at the information each candidate delivers through their web site. But, more specifically, let's judge the web site itself and use that as a metric for who to vote for. Sound fair? Of course not. Let's have at it!
As a general rule for this and future Web Site Showdown posts, I'll use the ever-popular and highly subjective Points System to grade each web site. Criteria will vary by web site on the basic premise of what strikes me as I visit each site. I'll focus primarily on the home page of these sites, only because I love to skim and don't have time to nit-pick every page.
First up we have Greg Nickels versus Al Runte.
Color and Branding
Nickels's site was created by someone who most likely is used to designing print ads. Look at that giant orange-on-blue "Re-elect" text. Very in your face. Also pretty ugly. A thinly-ruled orange and white background further distracts from the main content area. Nickels: -2
Runte's site is pretty clean and toned primarily with a blue color that fades into his Seattle waterfront banner. A good bit of white surrounded by a light blue background adds welcome clutter-free space to the page. Blue's also a good choice: lots of people like blue. Runte: +2
I'm surprised no one picked green, given we're the Emerald City and all.
Graphics:
Pretty poor Photoshop job there on Nickels's site of himself; you can pretty clearly see the white space haloing his head, due to a bad lasso job. Otherwise the graphics are average. Nickels: -1
Decent, albeit not great, shot of the city seafront on Runte's site. His headshot is nice and friendly, however; much better than his image in the voters' guide. Runte: +1
Content:
Nickels's site reads like a brochure. Not great, not bad. Nickels: +1
Runte's site is more like a blog, and feels much more current than Nickels's. The posts feel much more first-person and personal than Nickels's. Runte: +3
Layout:
Why does every page in the site have to feature that silly 3-step panel on the left hand side? Nickels: -1
Runte's site breaks no boundaries, but optimizes space in the center for content and doesn't repeat elements needlessly. Runte: +1
Useless Stuff:
Man, Greg, what is up with that banner of moving pictures at the top of your site? Try clicking on a picture - nothing happens! Why is that there? Also, why do I get to view every page as a PDF or in a popup, text-only window? Is there a reason why I get a breadcrumb on what is effectively a flat site? Hey, I get today's date at the top of the home page - thanks Greg, I forgot what day it was. Hey cool, I get to view only 5 news items on the News page. Uh...why? Why would I ever want to do that? Nickels: -10
Runte's site has some nit impracticality, but nothing that hit my priority list. Runte: 0
Missing Stuff:
Nickels, any thought to RSS feeds? A blog? Nickels: -2
Runte, you effectively have both. Runte: 0
Overall, we have Nickels at -15 and Runte at 7. Congratulations, Al Runte, your web site wins!
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