Liberal Leadership Website Review Update 7
(en francais)
Stephane Dion Dion becomes the latest leadership candidate to bring his website in for a complete overhaul. The difference is profound. The new site is a Joomla Content Management System (CMS) install, utilizing what looks to be a heavily customized Rhuk Solar Flare II template. Entry page with English/French choices as well as English and French direct links to items on the site such as 'Why I'm running' and 'Get Involved'. Works well, but that picture ? !
The new site represents a leap forward for Mr. Dion. The header looks professional. Included is a search feature. If you want to see the power of CMS, try entering something like 'environment' in the search box (one of the themes of Dion's campaign). Top right of the header contains a 'Quote of the Day' feature. Nice touch, as long as it's kept current. This shouldn't be hard in Joomla as there are numerous 'Quote of the Day' plugin modules that will automatically rotate the quote based on a database that you load.
The menu is straight forward, easy to use and understand. The only thing missing is a 'Join' and 'Donate' option. The 'Get Involved' menu item takes you to a page with a catch-all form for volunteering, joining and donating.
The main page is clean, crisp and well organized.
The 'Highlights' section features 'Upcoming Events' and 'Latest News'.
The right hand side of the page is setup as a sort of action centre. The 'Get Involved' works here, but again, the site could use a Join and Donate link. Still no link to the Liberal Party's online membership form. Some graphics to highlight the section would also help. Approach the front page as if you only have 10 seconds to get a user to do something.
RSS - no RSS feeds present. As with all the other Joomla installs of candidates, this is puzzling. Joomla installs with RSS turned on by default, and is quite simple to manage for various site categories. RSS is an effective content distribution tool. No blogs or other interactive features.
Policy: I guess the 'Why I'm Running' section qualifies as the Policy section. After spending over half an hour on the site, I couldn't really point to any set of issues that define Stephane's campaign. It's there, just not presented in a way that I would remember it when I left the site.
Privacy Policy - no privacy policy
Overall a much needed improvement. The site now has a much more professional look and feel. The content presentation is greatly improved. The only thing remaining now is to take that final step to turn the site into an active tool instead of an internet postcard.
6/10
Ken Dryden
You can actually join the Liberal Party now, from the 'Join the Party' page. A minor point maybe, but a crucial aspect in a campaign that revolves around signing up members in the early stages.
7/10
General: Cerberus is running a Blogger Endorsement tracking. Currently there are 40 declared bloggers and 144 undeclared. That's a lot of online influentials looking for something to do.
Updated Rankings:
- Micheal Ignatieff 8.5/10
- Bob Rae 7/10
- Ken Dryden 7/10
- Scott Brison 6.5/10
- Gerard Kennedy 6.5/10
- Stephane Dion 6/10
- Maurizio Bevilacqua 6/10
- Joe Volpe 5/10
- Carolyn Bennett 3/10
- Martha Hall Findlay 0/10 - Donation Page still not fixed.
Related Posts, Blogs and Websites
Liberal Leadership Candidates Website Review - original review
Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 1
Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 2
Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 3
Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 4
Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 5
Liberal Leadership Website Review - Update 6
Rob Cottingham - other reviews on the candidates websites
Liberalia.ca - a Liblogs member's reviews
Liberal Leadership Odds - a great little site put together by Sean at Trickle Down Truth. Tracking many aspects of the race. Sean is inviting other bloggers to cross post items to the site.
Blogger Endorsement Tracking - by Cerberus
WE Speak at 12:53 a.m.
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