The Dead Roo

The PM’s webpage, www.pm.gov.au, has undergone a renovation. The 2003 - 2006 version of the PM’s website can be viewed here, the 2002-3 version here, and the earliest version (1998) here.

One of these days the government might even come close to designing a half decent content oriented web site. They’ve tried with this most recent one, but it’s still dominated by big and deliberately nationalistic pictures of the PM, with content people might actually want pushed to the margins (the footer to be precise).

Of interest is that the “Govt Report Card” page has been dumped. It’s link used to adorn the most prime position in the previous version.

There is also a distinct change in tone. It’s a lot less “familiar”. “Email the PM” has become “Contact the PM”, “Your PM and his Team” has become “The Ministry Team”, the welcome message has been pushed to the side. A list of other major design and content changes that I’ve noticed is available over the fold.

Signifigant changes include:

• the “Govt report card” page has been dumped.
• a link to the PM’s bio is now on the front page.
• fixed width has been dumped for a full browser width design
• something resembling a news feed has been placed on the front page, with links and descriptions of the PM’s statements and speeches, in the past this information was always two clicks away
• the welcome message used to dominate the front page, now instead there is a picture of the PM, the flag and parliament.
• there is a link to the “kidZONE” page on the front page
• the colours have been lightened
• “email your PM” has become “Contact your PM”
• there is a new and rather absurd looking page icon of the PM’s head
• once again there is a video on the front page, something not seen on the PM’s webpage since June 2003

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