Canada’s Sorry Site
Check out the newly designed official introductory page on the site for Canada.
De gustibus non disputandum and all, but… to me it resembles a dog’s breakfast: far too many things going on in far too many guises. And to turn the site to partisan purposes, with the Conservative blue and Conservative slogans, is in poor taste I think. All in all, right for WalMart, maybe, but not for our front door. Oh, and the “pick-your-language” splash page that used to have a close-up of a wavy flag, now has jet fighters.
If you’ve forgotten what the old site looked like, you’re out of luck, it seems, because the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine grays out every instance of an image on an archived introductory page, which blanks the bulk of all the pages. I don’t know if this is government policy or just some technical glitch, but it makes for a near perfect rewriting of history. Anyone happen to have a screenshot of the way things used to be?
I believe those are the Snowbirds in Tutors on the splash page, not “jet fighters”. That particular jet was designed and built in Canada, and generations of Canadian pilots have trained on it. The photo on that initial page also cycles through a number of different images. I do agree about the busyness of the main site, though.
Sorry, Simon, but I have to disagree. I like the visuals of the new site and wasn’t distracted by the colors. I guess it’s a highly personal response.
I don’t have any objection to updating a website, but I do have an objection to making Canada’s web presence partisan. I also think that websites should err on the side of the KISS principle rather than loading it with info. Somehow this site makes me think of our flag heritage moment. So if we are having a straw poll, I think I’m going to go with Simon’s view.
What a coincidence – I noticed the changes (revolting, IMHO) yesterday when I was waiting for the budget. As I drifted off to sleep last night, I thought to myself, “Tomorrow I’ll check out the Waybackmachine and get a copy of the old site to compare the two”. Guess I’m too late. Never have the words “True North Strong and Free” looked less Canadian.
Can’t say I like the ‘true north strong and free’ motif, and I’m not crazy about the splash page image.
I’m ok with the look of the main page, but it could be less cluttered.
Good to see you posting Emma! (Emma’s from Vancouver…) :-)