techPresident - McCain to Formally Announce on Letterman - Comments

They should rethink their entire internet operation...

Encoderer — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 17:11:15 -0500

I'm not sure what branding the McCain website is supposed to re-enforce. A basic part of any design is picking the right pallet. They appear to have skirted this step by making a website that's almost entirely black & white.

It's impossible for me to understand why anyone thought this would be a good idea. It's like he's running for funeral director.

Furthermore, the only actual content on his website is flash-based. That means no screen readers, no dynamic text resizing, no search-engine indexing, no copy/paste, no right-click-save-as to capture a picture from the website, and if you're running AdBlock or Flash Block or if you simply don't have flash installed it literally has NO CONTENT on the front page.

Not to mention, there is no logical focal point. My eyes literally don't know what to look at. The "main content area" (aka, the main flash video) is too far to the right & in the middle to grab it. When I load the page the McCain logo catches my eye, but it's not visually pleasing. There's no balance. Separate content areas don't align and aren't symmetrical.

It's an abomination.

The only site I've seen that's worse from a major candidate is Rudy's. Don't even get me started there. It's clearly just a "pre-announce" website but if it's any indication of what's to come, McCain might win by virtue of default. The flags in the header are all pointed different ways like the picture was taken in a hurricane or something, and the picture of Rudy is just awful. His smile and the way he's clutching his hands make him look like an evil madman.

Now that Vilsack is out of the race the website-critique curve has just gotten a little more difficult and Rudy is the number one victim.

This is 2008, people. There is no tolerance for having anything but a top-notch web operation.

But...

David All — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 22:29:28 -0500

I think the timing probably had at least a little something to do with the fact that they wanted to edit and embed McCain's actual announcement on Letterman in to their website -- and get it out to folks to preview before the show airs.

Check it out here.

But you're right, they could/should have announced it on their blog this morning that he was... Oh wait... The blog's coming soon...

Heh.

________________________________________
David All
The David All Group
http://davidallgroup.com
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McCain to Formally Announce on Letterman

Michael Turk — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 21:55:19 -0500

I received a McCain e-mail at 9:14 with the following message:

Tonight, I will be appearing on the Late Show with David Letterman on CBS. During this broadcast, I am going to announce that I will be a candidate for President of the United States. As one of my closest and most loyal supporters, I wanted you to see this announcement first on my website. I will make a formal announcement and embark on a tour in April.

This is an exciting announcement and I hope you will watch CBS tonight at 11:35 PM-12:37 AM, ET/PT.

Thank you for your support, your generosity, and your ongoing involvement in this campaign. We have a lot to look forward to and I promise you this campaign will make us all proud.

In yet another indication that the McCain folks need to find a new Internet guy, this e-mail was kind of a bonehead move. A message sent at 9pm announcing a TV appearance at 11pm is going to miss a lot of people. Even those on the left coast are leaving work by 6pm and probably missed the missive.

This is a message that should have been sent this morning to drum up media interest in the announcement, as well as supporter interest in watching. A staggering majority of the people on his list probably won't see this until tomorrow, and it will be too late to catch the event.