Now that’s what I’m looking for in a site - D66
Number 5 on my review list is the party that got my vote in the past three elections: D66. D66 claims to be a democratic party and compared to others this party both a bit right and a bit left. I’ve been on their homepage before, but when I go there now (by the way, they have http://www.d66.nl for a url, now that’s nice and short!) I’m pleasantly surprised with a completely new website. This one is plain and simple, no information overload here. A clean theme with lots of whitespace and a clear sans serif theme. Now that’s what I’m looking for!
The need for a call to action
As with the ChristenUnie, D66 also has a strong call to action on their homepage. There’s a banner with “Participate! Become a volunteer and help with the D66 campaign!” and below are several other options for people to participate. I can’t overemphasize how important a call to action is. Your website always serves a purpose. For political parties, their website should convince visitors to vote for D66 and to contribute to the party in other ways. Encourage people to do whatever you want them to do! Let them know how they can help (and more importantly, make it easy and attractive, but that’s an entirely different subject).
Clear navigation and sub navigation
Apparently D66 still represents some of the things I find important, because the main menu bar has only four menu items, of which two: candidates and program. Easy to find what I came for! The other two items are for the political statement and news. Personally, I would like a call to action here too, maybe as simple as “Participate!” as one of the items. Usually I’m also all up for a contact item in the menu, but D66 put their contact item in the footer, along with a reference to their normal site (apparently this one is for elections only) and information for the press. That’s an appropriate and logical place for those, so no criticism here.
Clicking on the Program item guides me to a one-page webpage, similar to the website of CDA I discussed earlier. Below the main menu bar another one appears, that swiftly guides me through the election program. If I want to know more on a specific topic, it’s easy to just click on the topic and get to a separate page with more details. Breadcrumbs make it easy to return to the overview. All works well, no complains. Usually, I also like to read things in PDF. D66 does offer this option, however you have to scroll down the introduction to download the file. I’d put that option on top, make it easier.
The Candidates section works in pretty much the same way as the Program section. Also, I really like the sound option to get an audio version of the candidates’ biography. Maybe something similar would’ve been possible for the election program too?
Cross-browser functioning and conclusion
The website works well cross-browser and there’s a very good mobile website, quite similar to that of CDA, but with images well selected and therefore no weird crops.
All in all, so far this is my favorite website. I love the simplicity - I have all the information I’m looking for as a potential voter at hand. Nothing more, nothing less. Navigation is very easy and consistent. Content is well divided in pages with good use of hyperlinks, so information overload is avoided. I wish there was a call to action button in the menu, but other than that I think this will be a best-practice.
My final verdict:
- General design: 9/10
- Content: 9/10
- Navigation: 10/10
- Cross-browser functioning: 10/10
- Average: 9,5/10
