Web Sites for the Gov Race:

A few weeks back I took a shot at Pirro for having her website state that it’s “under construction”, which I will point out still is. This just mind boggles me since I can pull any 12-year-old off the street who could at a minimum get her photo up there.

This time around though, I thought I would checkout the website of those running for Governor and give my impressions.

Bill Weld: I was impressed with this site. The coloring was good with four well placed photos of the great state, with Weld’s photo overlapping. I like the fact that the web master didn’t try and overwhelm me early with every piece of information possible. I felt welcomed as it had the feel of a brochure that you would find in the office of a Boston travel agent.

The links were inviting with his “volunteer center” being very user-friendly. He also had a link that opens up another box that allows visitors to register to vote.
I rate it an 8 out of 10.

John Faso: The home page has no main focus point when you first get in making it all very confusing. Unlike Weld’s site where the first thing you see is “Bill Weld for New York” standing out in the middle, Faso’s site has your eye trying to stand still as there is things jumping out all over. I first thought I was at a CBS 2 news site instead of Faso for Gov, because that was the biggest thing my eye caught. The CBS 2 link is in the middle, while Faso for Gov is in the top left being consumed by links to every news station imaginable.

Additionally the text choice is horrible and not very appealing. Next he has “What’s New” with today’s date yet all the news is old. A link to latest news would have done just as well.

I have to say I wasn’t very impressed and hope that he got that site donated because he definitely shouldn’t have paid for it.

I rate it a 5 out of 10

Pat Manning: Again another site like Faso that has just too much going on for a homepage. At least Manning’s site does have some central focus when you go in, with them being photo’s. He also has a “message from Pat Manning” on his homepage that should have been cut off with a link to the rest of it on another page.

Like Faso the font and text is a poor choice with the color blue so rampant that it makes you want to leave before your eyes go blind. My biggest complaint is the “check out our endorsements” section on the left hand side, where he has everyone with a pulse in the Conservative party listed. I could have sworn reading through that I saw Steuben County dogcatcher at one point.

I rate it a 6 out of 10

Randy Daniels: By far the most impressive. Randy is the main focus, with a nice pace of ever changing photos and comments. You can see whoever put this site together really new what they were doing and has a flair for design. Another interesting thing is he has a link that translates his message into four other languages, Korean, Chinese, Creole and Spanish. He also has a link informing you how to register to vote like Weld.

What I liked best though is that his site invites you to explore. The links up top are rollovers that invite you to choose other options and explore his record and vision all within a comfortable setting.

Besides a dead link of photos on his Creole page, the site was just beautiful.

I rate it a 9.5 out of 10