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Why Felix Arroyo is running; why Tito Jackson needs a new Web designer
By adamg on Mon, 06/22/2009 - 8:23pm
At-large council candidate Felix Arroyo (the younger) introduces himself to the Blue Mass. crowd.
At-large council candidate Tito Jackson unwraps his campaign Web site. It actually has a nice home page, and I'd be willing to forgive him the James Bondian doomsday countdown clock except: When you click on any of the menu links, absolutely nothing happens.
Or rather, absolutely nothing seems to happen. In fact, the links work. The problem is every single page (except for the PayPal donation link) consists of the same exact giant red/head shot taking up the first screen, with the actual text underneath it. Unless you mistakenly hit the scrollbar, you'll never see whatever it is Jackson wants you to see when you click on, say, "Issues." Terrible UI for anybody who isn't a high-priced designer with a giant monitor.
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Comments
Unix box
Tito's site looks fine on my Unix box. [ Read: me = least common denominator.]
That being said, I'll have to run the UI by my designer wife. I think the technical term designers use is "hiddeous".
Thank you for your feedback
Tough crowd. I work with Tito's team and think version 1.0 of the site does what is most important: introduce Tito and his ideas for Boston. With only a 14% turnout in the last Boston City Council election we hope to generate a sense of urgency for the change Boston needs on election day, Sept. 22nd hence the countdown. We do appreciate the UI suggestions posted earlier. We're making improvements to the site everyday and will continue to do so.
Anyone who wants to weigh-in on the issues should check out Tito tonight in the Back Bay. He's attending a candidate's forum tonight at the community church of Boston - 565 Boylston Street at 6:30pm. We would love an opportunity for you to meet Tito in person so you can share your ideas as to what changes Boston needs.
The bottom fifth of my
The bottom fifth of my screen flickers when you click on a new link , but its not quite obvious I changed pages so its not very smart.
On another note I do find the whole page to be interesting. He is so big, everything is so red and the running clock make me feel like maybe Tito is coming to destroy Boston in 90 days, like Godzilla.
Same here
I could tell that something had changed by the sliver at the bottom, but still, not great design.
But that's nothing compared to how it looks like a Comcast or Verizon or something ad, not a campaign website.
http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
I like it
I like Tito's!
The big huge header is not great, but be honest, how many times are you going to visit the site? You've been to enough websites that you know what the "scroll bar" does, so you know what to do.
Love his twitter updates at the bottom.
City council candidates have the same problem city councillors have (and I don't just mean the extra "l" in councillor).
They have little if any real power. If you go to the 15 websites of the 15 candidates, no doubt every single one says, "We need better schools," and "We should demand safer streets," and, "Affordable housing is a must!"
Those are the same issues we've had for years, decades, and centuries, in Boston.
Whomever can come up with novel ideas gets my vote; whomever doesn't pander does, too.
That is one HUGE-ASS HEAD
OMFG that Tito-Head is bigger than life!
John that is the point,
John that is the point, there are 15 other people in the race all saying the same thing. The problem is Titos site is just a giant head and a clock. I realize there is more content but the average person spends well less then a minute on a site with many spending less then 10 seconds. People will click on a link, see it does not work, and then move on.
I used to think people were being picky until I started analyzing internet usage and had to field customer complaint calls for a company I worked for. It was amazing to see how long people spent on sites and to hear the problems some of these people had. You have to go into these things assuming audience is not all that bright. That is not to say they are stupid rather it is just that most people would be confused by the screen not updating and would just leave. That is why, if you notice, many websites actually change the top banner on every page so people know for sure the page changed, even on slow connections where the page uploads very slowly from top to bottom.
don't remember who, but I met a candidate who was creepier...
...than an old dude in a playground.
I met him at the Wake Up The Earth Festival, and I just couldn't figure out why, but he creeped the hell out of me.
Might have been that he was busy watching the crowd as he shook my hand (after he'd walked up to me.) He didn't demonstrate the slightest interest in the booth I was working, or its cause.
And, when he asked for my signature, without having explained WHY I should give it to him (ie, what was his platform?), and I said "Well, I'd be happy to check out your website, and if I support your platform, give you my signature and vote"...he turned on his heel without saying a word and walked away.
Creepy Candidate
That would be Doug Bennett - the man of the people living at India Wharf.
Looks fine
On my 1680x1050 monitor. :)
Fine/Not Fine
It's OK on the current version of Firefox...except that OK is not good enough. Like most at-large folk, he lacks content and provides only the vaguest goals with no specifics.
Oh, well ...
If we're going to get into the actual content. :-)
Maybe Tito should change his
Maybe Tito should change his name to LaToya.
(Yes, I know, obvious joke ... )
Creepy
Red background, countdown... is he a mad scientist about to unleash a plague on the unsuspecting citizenry?
The only thing this site is missing is a biohazard logo.
Did someone tell him red was cheerful?
Red
Red is the color of POWER. The color of Sox. The color of BU. The color of Menino's nose and cheeks. The coach of the Celtics.
You can't go wrong with Red...but he did somehow.
they fixed it. a campaign
they fixed it. a campaign responsive to constructive feedback. go figure. word.
Much better! The clock is
Much better! The clock is still a little disturbing but it is not quite as scary as it was before. The pages make quite a bit more sense now as well.
I do think that the twitter bubble on the front page is a bit silly... BUT maybe its ok because it helps take the edge off of the clock and the red background.
That's still one mighty big head
That's still one mighty big head