HuskyCaucasian Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 I thought whether to post this in the Republican or Democratic thread, but in the end I decided to give it it's own place because I think it could be an interesting conversation. It was pointed out to me this morning that the GOP launched their new website this morning. GOP.com or RNC.org They say it's in BETA, but WOW is it really bad in my opinion. This not as a critic of the GOP, this is criticism from a guy who manages 2 websites every day and has 2 personal side project websites. They are clearly trying to put a younger face on the GOP, note the annoyingly large faces they are using in the top of the page. But the over all layout and UI is large and bombastic... not to mention oddly layed out. Perhaps the most ironic part is that their Future Leaders page... has no one on it! Kind of ironic really. And they did one of the things I have MOST about some websites. After going to the home page, Michael Steels walks out onto the webpage and starts talking. I HATE those dumbass flash video things. They anny me to no end. My opinion is that this should have been kep under wraps until it was done... and for the love of God... hire a real web designer. I'm a hack and I could have done better with a off the counter Drupal template. I hate to sound like I am piling on the GOP, but this is a really bad website for a major political party. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiSox_Sonix Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 *sigh* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthSideSox72 Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Oct 13, 2009 -> 09:38 AM) Thanks to Twitter for this: The header background image has and odd resemblance to... the Chinese Flag! Dude - its a solid red background. And someone made the leap to the Chinese flag from there? Maybe you could just set up a bot to auto-post RSS feeds from the DNC and ObamaCo in here, and save yourself some time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HuskyCaucasian Posted October 13, 2009 Author Share Posted October 13, 2009 QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 13, 2009 -> 10:08 AM) Dude - its a solid red background. And someone made the leap to the Chinese flag from there? It's the odd similarity to the Giant star surrounded by smaller stars. I'll remove that post if it can bring the attention back to talk about the website itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsideirish71 Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Oct 13, 2009 -> 10:10 AM) It's the odd similarity to the Giant star surrounded by smaller stars. I'll remove that post if it can bring the attention back to talk about the website itself. You need to take off your Obama blinders, and your DNC change glasses for a second. Its a basic wordpress/drupal type site with some basic web 2.0 crap on it. Yes flash animation is annoying. But come on now, its not so terrible you need to start a thread on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HuskyCaucasian Posted October 13, 2009 Author Share Posted October 13, 2009 QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Oct 13, 2009 -> 10:23 AM) You need to take off your Obama blinders, and your DNC change glasses for a second. Its a basic wordpress/drupal type site with some basic web 2.0 crap on it. Yes flash animation is annoying. But come on now, its not so terrible you need to start a thread on it. It has nothing to do with blinders or political affiliation. I really do think it's horribly bad. I've done better with less resources. I'll gladly lend my time to the GOP if they want it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsideirish71 Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Oct 13, 2009 -> 10:26 AM) It has nothing to do with blinders or political affiliation. I really do think it's horribly bad. I've done better with less resources. I'll gladly lend my time to the GOP if they want it. Whats so bad about it. The fact that they use Red, I mean its kind of shocking the Republicans are using red and all. Or is it the fact that its a simplistic design. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigSqwert Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 13, 2009 -> 10:08 AM) Dude - its a solid red background. And someone made the leap to the Chinese flag from there? Even though I think this is a silly thread the header does resemble the Chinese flag. Do you not see the stars in the banner? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HuskyCaucasian Posted October 13, 2009 Author Share Posted October 13, 2009 QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Oct 13, 2009 -> 10:35 AM) Whats so bad about it. The fact that they use Red, I mean its kind of shocking the Republicans are using red and all. Or is it the fact that its a simplistic design. The red doesn't bother me at all. Their overall color scheme is ok. It's not only simplistic, but everything is HUGE! The GOP faces logo is HUGE. The dropdown menus bar is HUGE. The "Sound Reasoning" blog thing on the right is gigantic. There is very little content on the home page, but it takes up a TON of space. I can understand a sight like ESPN.com being ugly because they are cramming a ton of info into a single page. GOP.com has only a few things, but they take up massive amounts of space. It's just really badly themed. I would use the Democrats.org site as an example of good webdesign, but i dont want to be accused of favortism, so I'll reference the Libertarian website: LP.org. Compare LP.org and GOP.com and tell me which is a better design. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrangeSox Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 I like the "What Up" column by Michael Steel. That hip slang is sure to bring in the younger crowd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HuskyCaucasian Posted October 13, 2009 Author Share Posted October 13, 2009 QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Oct 13, 2009 -> 10:54 AM) I like the "What Up" column by Michael Steel. That hip slang is sure to bring in the younger crowd. WORD! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rex Kickass Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 13, 2009 -> 11:08 AM) Dude - its a solid red background. And someone made the leap to the Chinese flag from there? Maybe you could just set up a bot to auto-post RSS feeds from the DNC and ObamaCo in here, and save yourself some time. The walking Michael Steele made me laugh. My computer doesn't have a lot of memory so it sorta looked like someone was stop motion animating a shrinky dink across my screen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostfan Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 If my computer has a lot of porn on it does this mean it has a lot of RAM? DA-DUM DUM TSSS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DukeNukeEm Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 I definitely see the Chinese flag comparison and Micheal Steele calling his column "What Up?" is really embarrassing. But I dont think the website is that awful, not like anybody is really going to give a f*** about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve9347 Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Ok, sure it's an ok wordpress site, whatever. I can design a site that looks much better and much less forced for I'm sure less than they paid some idiot to do it. This thing is pretty bad for something as visible as the GOP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanOfCorn Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Considering that was the one and only time I will ever visit that site, I'd say it was all-in-all, pretty damn bad. But, you know what...they are asking for help to code it, so it will only get better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrangeSox Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ Oct 13, 2009 -> 11:54 AM) Considering that was the one and only time I will ever visit that site, I'd say it was all-in-all, pretty damn bad. But, you know what...they are asking for help to code it, so it will only get better. Can't those damn socialists pay for their own work?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HuskyCaucasian Posted October 13, 2009 Author Share Posted October 13, 2009 (edited) GOP.com has officially crashed. And they've decided to declare Jackie Robinson a republican... even though he was a self declared independent. Edited October 13, 2009 by Athomeboy_2000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiSox_Sonix Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Oct 13, 2009 -> 03:15 PM) GOP.com has officially crashed. And they've decided to declare Jackie Robinson a republican... even though he was a self declared independent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanOfCorn Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Top ten reasons why the GOP redesigned website is fizzling: From the Atlantic... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HuskyCaucasian Posted October 13, 2009 Author Share Posted October 13, 2009 QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ Oct 13, 2009 -> 02:50 PM) Top ten reasons why the GOP redesigned website is fizzling: From the Atlantic... 10. In a section devoted to "future leaders," there were none. 9. In the subsequent rush to get up a "future leaders" page, they choose "you." 8. The last GOP accomplishment cited on the accomplishment page was from 2004. 7. The what's up page -- hip! starts with this sentence: ""the internet has been around for a while now" 6. Administrator passwords were accidentally posted. 5. When the RNC hosted a kick-off conference call, the website was down. 4. The website cites Jackie Robinson as a GOP hero. Robinson wasn't a GOPer, and he criticized the GOP on race. 3. The first question on the conference call was from an Hispanic Republican who asked why the GOP site didn't have a Spanish-language page and noted that the White House had one. 2. Bragging about web redesigns is so 2004. 1. It's not timed with the start of any major advocacy campaign -- or political campaign. And it portrays itself as something it's not: diverse and ready to embrace new ideas. That may be what the party leadership aspires to, but, at least when it comes to diversity, a few pictures of Hispanics and African Americans doesn't make up for ... well, the history of the party. #6 is staggeringly dumb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanOfCorn Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 I think Al Gore is sabotaging the site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrangeSox Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 The GOP totally suXorz at teh internets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostfan Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Oct 13, 2009 -> 03:48 PM) lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HuskyCaucasian Posted October 13, 2009 Author Share Posted October 13, 2009 QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ Oct 13, 2009 -> 02:59 PM) I think Al Gore is sabotaging the site. more like all the people that got the admin passwords. I'd have been curious to poke around Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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