{"id":553,"date":"2005-12-01T00:10:06-05:00","date_gmt":"2005-12-01T05:10:06+00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peterjanes.ca\/blog\/?p=553"},"modified":"2005-12-03T22:11:21-05:00","modified_gmt":"2005-12-04T03:11:21+00:00","slug":"election-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peterjanes.ca\/blog\/2005\/12\/01\/election-tech\/","title":{"rendered":"Election tech"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thought I’d do a quick objective review of the big three<\/cite> national political party websites from a technology perspective. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, although one is an obvious leader.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The NDP party website<\/a> is run with open-source software<\/a>. They have an RSS feed<\/a> (although it’s not <link\/><\/code>ed for autodetection and easy subscription). The site is functional—it’s nice to see a Search form—and accessible (as judged by Lynx).<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Next on the list are the Liberals. Their site<\/a> is run with what appears to be custom-developed software (written in .NET, which means they’re running on a Windows server). There’s no RSS in sight, and not even a prominent form to sign up for party news via e-mail. Lynx shows pages full of [left_main_pic.gif]<\/code>, [spacer.gif]<\/code>, and the like, but at least it’s logically laid out so you can navigate through the whole site.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Then there are the Conservatives<\/a>. The website is built on commercial PHP-based software<\/a>. Unfortunately it features a lot of Flash-for-Flash’s sake, which (in Firefox at least) means their Javascript dropdown menus are completely hidden behind the slideshows of static images. (There’s also a fairly major problem with the fading text in the “banner”, which is cutting off lowercase characters’ descenders… familv<\/cite>, communitv<\/cite>, unitv<\/cite>.) They do have a unique feature in targeted RSS feeds<\/a>: you can choose from stories, press releases, speeches, and so on. Accessibility is a beast though. Navigation links are all jammed together (VolunteerDonateJoineNews SignupSend an eCardRequest a lawn signContact Us<\/cite>) and there are a few [cpc-ReadMore.jpg]<\/code> image placeholders visible; worst of all, though, is that content is intermingled with sidebars, headers, footers, etc., with a lot of each page’s unique material relegated to the very bottom of the page.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

So I think the conclusion is obvious: If it were all about the technology, the NDP would have my vote. Of course, they haven’t chosen a candidate in my riding<\/a> yet…. And now they have: Stephen Maynard<\/a>.<\/ins><\/p>\r\n\r\n

Unsurprisingly, but unfortunately, none of the sites detects the language the browser prefers. Both the Conservative and NDP websites default to English but provide a link to the French version; the Liberal site makes the user choose on its splash screen, which I guess is marginally better.<\/p><\/ins><\/div>

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