Serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis. © James Conner.
John Walsh has finally added issues and about pages — they’re called What John Fights For and John’s Story — to his website. This is a smart move, as it counters criticism that he’s hiding his platform from the voters. His energy plank is missing, but I expect it will be inserted into his platform soon. I’ll examine his planks later this month. I’m using the rest of this post to examine some design elements of his website, and others, that concern me.
I’m probably tardy in noticing these improvements because of (a) my computer monitors, and how I use them, and (b) a design feature of Walsh’s website. I use two monitors, one with a 20-inch screen that displays at 1,600 by 900 pixels, the other, my primary monitor, with a 24-inch screen that displays at 1,920 by 1,080 pixels. My browser’s window covers the entire screen of my primary monitor.
As you can see in this screenshot (opens in new page), parts of Walsh’s website spread across the entire screen: the mountains of Montana background image, and the dark blue menu bar at the top. The main panel is 900 pixels wide and centered on the screen. John’s Story and What John Fights For are aligned to the right margin, not a problem on smartphones, iPads, many laptops, and small desktop monitors. But on my primary monitor, these menu items are well to the right of the main panel. They could have been there for days and I might have missed them because that’s not where I expect to find them. Walsh’s website is designed for smartphones, tablets of the iPad genre, and laptop, but not for big desktop monitors.
There’s nothing remarkable about Walsh’s website’s design. Big wide background banners are the current rage in website fashion. The ever changing official website for the State of Montana features a 1,240-pixel-wide, translucent main panel set against full screen images of Montana’s natural wonders. Republican Senate candidate Steve Daines’ campaign website fills my screen with a background image of Daines sitting in a hay barn, with content panels blocking the photograph here and there in the middle of the page. The website for John Lewis, Democratic candidate for the U.S. House, has a similar layout, as does the website for Lynn Stanley, Democratic for Montana’s House District 8.
These background banners are eye candy. Noisy eye candy. They’re distracting. They draw the viewer’s attention from the main panel, slow down the loading of the home page, and reduce the signal to noise ratio, never a good thing. I prefer simple designs that lead readers to the information they’re seeking.