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Question of the day

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Illinois

[I’ve decided to rename this post and rewrite it slightly to make it our QOTD.]

* We’ve often complained here that the State Board of Elections’ website is a heaping pile of stinking electronic decay.

Well, they appear to have completely revamped their site. I haven’t had a chance to do much with it yet, but I figure we ought to run it through the paces today. So, click here, look around, and pick it apart. Thanks.

* The Question(s): What do you like about the board’s new site? What do you hate the most? Explain.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 11:20 am

Comments

well, that didn’t take long:

Runtime Error

Description: An application error occurred on the server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed remotely (for security reasons). It could, however, be viewed by browsers running on the local server machine.

Details: To enable the details of this specific error message to be viewable on remote machines, please create a tag within a “web.config” configuration file located in the root directory of the current web application. This tag should then have its “mode” attribute set to “Off”.

Notes: The current error page you are seeing can be replaced by a custom error page by modifying the “defaultRedirect” attribute of the application’s configuration tag to point to a custom error page URL.

Comment by bored now Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 9:06 am
… lipstick on a pig…

Comment by Amuzing Myself Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 9:34 am
Window dressing.

Comment by Tea Partier Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 9:36 am
One of my favorites is the coloring book in the “Educators” section. I’m glad to see that’s not gone. Another big plus in that section is a letter from our Governor, Rod Blagojevich.

Comment by God's Country Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 9:43 am
Yeah, it sucks.

Comment by anonman Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 9:44 am
The clip art … it burns, it burns.

Comment by Lakefront Liberal Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 9:45 am
This is worse than the old version. Seriously go outside of state government and hire a professional service and if you did fire the last guys. This site is worse than lipstick on a pig, at least in that analogy the pig looks better here the “pig” looks all the worse.

Comment by Lazy Intern Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 9:46 am
I still do not like this website. All they did was move the links around so that it was a little more pleasing to the eye. It is a mess to navigate through. The site would look better if it read, “Under Construction”.

Comment by polisciguy Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 9:47 am
using an old browser on Mac I get some weird box in the upper left corner that just seems to float over the page. strange.

also the rest of what I’m viewing is choppy, sloppy, and dull.

Comment by Amalia Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 10:04 am
Did anyone else notice in the candidate listing section that they listed the candidates for Lt. Governor above the names of that party’s candidate for Governor? Also, where are the listings of the retention judge candidates?

It’s still a piece of crap. Those responsible for this junk should be fired TODAY!

Comment by fedup dem Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 10:09 am
Why is a man’s old-fashioned top hat the icon for Local Elected Officials? Gives it a cheesy, out of date feel.

Comment by Way South of the Border Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 10:12 am
Serious editing and proofreading fail going on here:

This page is designed, for you, the local election officials. If you cannot find the answers to you questions, please use our search feature or email us with your suggestions and comments.

Comment by Way South of the Border Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 10:14 am
its the same website with a few logo changes and a picture of Abe Lincoln in the corner. Its like putting a dress on Dusty Baker and telling me I’m dating Tyra Banks.

Comment by Living in Oklahoma Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 10:21 am
What stuns me is that Illinois is home to some of the most innovative open government proponents and web UI designers - starting with 37Signals and Everyblock.com. I KNOW these guys would have been happy to help out if someone from Dept. of Elections had just picked up the phone and asked for help.
Please, please Dept. of Elections: Avail yourself to the resources available to you.

Comment by Mike Fourcher Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 10:27 am
Hey, at least they finally gave us the ability to open links in new tabs. Overall appearance and layout is goofy and needlessly complicated, but I’m glad I can now use a browser feature invented in the previous century.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 11:18 am
The site fails W3C validation. There are no less than 13 errors and 105 warnings; therefore, this site is not written according to web standards.

Comment by Squideshi Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 11:21 am
They should have hired Rich Miller!

Comment by Say WHAT? Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 11:26 am
SW, considering the failure of my new and now defunct website, I don’t think so. But we’re still working on it. Kinda. Need to get through the session first.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 11:27 am
I’ll agree with virtually all of the negative comments above. It has to take serious work and planning to make their election site this user unfriendly. I dread going there, though I must and they make it a huge pain to access what should be the simplest of things. No stars for the State Election Board.

Comment by Avy Meyers Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 11:37 am
It’s a fresh coat of paint.

Might as well turn this thread into an analogy contest.

Comment by Brennan Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 11:41 am
It is easier to get to the campaign disclosure search page now. But that’s about all I can say positive. (Of course, since that’s not what the average person calls that information, even that is not much of an improvement.)

Comment by Pot calling kettle Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 12:09 pm
I kinda like it. You can look up where anybody spent money. Couldn’t find how to look up all contributors to a candidate.

Hey in the small local races where you get letters to the editor for a candidate who kicked a neighbors pig 12 years ago, finding out who spent their money where in the past 20 years will sure add some food for fodder. All for free! yea it may be useless, yea it may be poor, but it will be yet another way to enjoy this campaign season.

This is gonna be like a restricter plate race, just sit back and with for the next wreck. The site is kinda like the gofer camera, neat little extra view, but doen’t really change the race.

Comment by the Patriot Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 12:11 pm
From an interface perspective, I think it might actually be worse. I do agree, Rich, that opening links in new windows is nice to finally have …

Haven’t had much time to test it all out yet, but the navigation remains cumberson and the graphics are just plain horrible.

And it seems to really slow down my browser. But maybe that’s just me.

Comment by Ben Matthews Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 12:11 pm
What works still is not downloadable data. Unless, users can search and download to text or spreadsheet files, they did nothing. Window dressing.

They should have used Madison County for a model. Von Nida did it right. We need that election availability for the entire state.

Comment by Alison Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 12:13 pm
Really, I typed comberson instead of cumbersome? I’ll blame that on the browser slow-down that did actually end when I closed the ISBE website.

Comment by Ben Matthews Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 12:14 pm
I didn’t know it was possible, but they have actually been able to make their Website worse than it was.

I thought they were going to change their Website? All they did was organize it into a new template.

And that new template isn’t even an improvement. The entire front page is made up of little widgets that highlight random things, rather than providing me with a concise structure and useful tools.

Here are my questions based on a voter’s main reasons to go to the site:
- How do I find out who represents me and/or who will be on my ballot in November? Or at least who won the primary? Please, give me some info, anything, about actual candidates!
- Where is my polling place?
- Why did you make it harder to search for contributions? You want me to use a drop down menu to find the right link? A drop down menu?!?! Circa 1997?

Comment by George Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 2:05 pm
Is it really that hard for them to clearly label a section of the home page to do what most people come to the site to do - namely “SEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS”? I’ll bet if they bothered to do site analytics, that’s what most people come to the site for. Make it friggin easy.

Oh, and why bother remaking it again but not hiring a real designer and user interface expert. GEEEZZEEE.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 2:58 pm
This is really plain, maybe for people who rarely use the internet. The graphics would have been better if a high school kid were able to do them.

I went in to see who my elected officials are, without your 4 digit extension on your zip, you have to go through quite a process. I did not know streets had more directions than the basic 4. Or even streets and almost 2 dozen other road/street specifiers, beside Ave, court, etc.

It is really plain, the graphics are rudimentary at best. Dull, not easy for someone who does not use the internet frequently, or has a lot of patience or experience.

Comment by Third Generation Chicago Native Thursday, Apr 22, 10 @ 4:31 pm