It’s been suggested to me that V’s website is a bit heavy on the advertising.
I don’t see it, do you?
Category Archives: Web design
Journal de Montréal launches website, nobody notices
I came across it in a search – an article the Journal de Montréal wrote that was entirely based off an article from La Presse. I was surprised to find a new website for the Journal, one that looks just about identical to the one for the Journal de Québec and similar to the one for 24H, not to mention the Toronto Sun and the rest of Sun Media.
The fact that the Journal is producing little journalism of note (what with their journalists being locked out and all) is probably a big reason. The fact that the website is so forgettable is another (I’m not even going to bother with a review), as is public support for Rue Frontenac, the website setup by those locked-out workers.
Nevertheless, this is significant. The Journal had been prevented from launching a proper website because of clauses in its labour contract that gave the union some say in it. Employees started Rue Frontenac in part to show that they’re not opposed to having an online presence and a website – they just want one unique to the Journal and not some cookie-cutter site that gets lost in the giant Canoe web.
So much for that.
The Journal also setup a Twitter account (@LeJournaldeMtl), which apparently quickly followed and then unfollowed a bunch of people, resulting in it getting suspended for spammy-like activity.
CFQR adds to website
925theq.com
Only eight months after they rebranded themselves from “Q92” to “The Q”, CFQR has opened up its website to more interesting content.
New features include:
- A “recently played” list (which right now includes a bunch of Christmas songs)
- A page of local news headlines and a movie guide both “powered by The Gazette”
- A community calendar
- And a bunch of other crap I won’t bother linking to
There’s also a schedule, which has scrubbed the name of Tammy Moyer from her late-morning show. She hasn’t been fired, says Program Director Brian DePoe. Rather, she’s “taken a leave from the Q to deal with some personal life issues.”
As they await more “clarity” on the situation, the show is being hosted temporarily by Chris Reiser.
Polish woman wants to save local Canadian TV
Continuing my research into the origin of stock photos, I should point out that CTV’s Local TV Matters site makes generous use of microstock.
This woman with a bullhorn, which used to adorn its splash page, is from a stock photographer based in Poland.
And that giant “on air” sign is from a 3D animator. It even comes with an off-air version, or one that says “vacancy”. There’s no French version, though, which forced CTV to kind of awkwardly photoshop their own.
Save local TV!
Star redesign: I don’t hate it
After inexplicably hyping it for weeks, the Toronto Star finally unveiled its website redesign last week. I took one look at it and was unimpressed, but figured I’d return for a closer look.
Toronto Star's thestar.com
Colour me more impressed.
I’m still not crazy about the visual design, which is filled with rounded corners, blue-grey gradients and just about every other Web 2.0 cliché in the books, but some of the functionality is worth noting.
One is the topic pages. News organizations have to get used to the fact that the Internet provides them with a different way to present information. Background doesn’t have to be repeated in every newspaper article to re-educate the reader. Instead, you can simply link to a previous article in a series, or better yet to a summary of the topic so far (kind of like what you’d see on a Wikipedia page). Many topics have short introductions followed by a list of articles on that topic. It’s simple, but very useful. The best part is the “hot topics” banner at the top of the page, which allows quick links to the big issues of the day.
Another is the timeline view, which translates as “everything published on this website, in reverse chronological order.” If you don’t know what you want to read, go here and just read whatever is new. There are other views like the “visual news” view, which presents stories as a series of pictures, but that’s only useful if all stories lend themselves to good pictures. Many don’t and are illustrated with boring file art instead, lessening the usefulness of this page.
Text in these boxes don't have enough ...
More from teehan+lax, Torontoist and the Star itself.
Dear “Friends of Louise Harel”
Friends of Louise Harel
Good for you with the website rallying anglos to the defence of Louise Harel. Providing a new voice in the election campaign is always welcome. And you’re getting the francophone media to use anglo headlines, which is always a plus.
Here’s the thing: Maybe people would believe you more about the surge of Montrealers from ethnic communities who have come out in support of her if the pictures on your website weren’t stock photos from a U.K.-based stock photo service.
These aren’t Montrealers, nor are they friends of Louise Harel, so why are there pictures of them on your website? Does Harel not have enough real friends that you’ve had to import pictures of fake ones?
UPDATE (Oct. 5): And I see you’re also plagiarizing blog posts. (Original, FOLH version)
Union Montreal’s new website
Union Montreal's "English" website
I got an email Friday morning, just as the municipal election campaign officially began, informing me that Union Montreal has redesigned its website.
So, of course, I checked it out with my usual critical eye. I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. The design was clean and simple, the page looked fine even with the style sheet turned off. They’ve got the usual Facebook and Twitter and YouTube and Flickr accounts. They’re even releasing their content under a Creative Commons license.
Great, I thought. So where’s the English version?
After a bit of searching, I could find some pages that had a link at the bottom that said “English”. That would bring me to an English version of those pages. But then I’d click somewhere and it would bring me back to the French website. Or it would be the English page and all the navigational text would be in French.
I asked the guy who emailed me, Marc Snyder, what’s up with all that. He said they’re working on it:
We’re progressing in the right direction: I think this is what a work-in-progress is all about 😉
Building a website that’s bilingual isn’t easy. Most cool content management systems don’t think of building in support for bilingual websites. So many do so through third-party plugins. In this case, the website is WordPress based and they’re using the Qtranslate plugin.
But to launch a website so publicly without even basic information in English (at first, there wasn’t even an English bio for the mayor) seems a fairly major gaffe. Even now, most of its content isn’t accessible in English. Instead, you get a short apology with a link to the French version.
Remember, this is supposed to be the anglo party, embracing both languages of this diverse metropolis. Vision Montreal, with ex-PQer Louise Harel who speaks little English, and Projet Montréal, which doesn’t even translate its name into our language, both have better English versions of their websites.
Maybe next time someone from Union Montreal criticizes Louise Harel for alienating anglophones, she can point out the fact that people don’t need to look up what “Arrondissement de militantisme” is before they can donate to her party.
Oh wait, she can’t. Neither can Michel Richard Bergeron. Because both Vision Montreal’s donation form and Projet Montréal’s donation form have random untranslated bits of French on them.
I realize this is small-time politics and we’re not dealing with real big budgets here, but these are forms people fill out to give you money. If you’re so careless about translation, I can only imagine what kind of controls you have on the $100 I’d be putting in your campaign fund.
Colour me pas impressionné.
Pitter-Patter
Patrick Lagacé (top), Patrick Lagacé (right) and Patrick Lagacé (bottom)
HE’S MULTIPLYING! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!
It’s good that Cyberpresse always has extra images of Patrick Lagacé around, just in case you forget what he looks like.
UPDATE: It seems some people have had enough.
Global Quebec’s new website
GlobalQuebec.com
After redesigning its newspaper websites, Canwest has done the same with its Global network, giving each station its own proper domain name and doing lots of Web 2.0 stuff like SEOed URLs and using bluish grey everywhere.
Global Quebec’s site still takes virtually all its news content directly from The Gazette (which in turn links to Global videos for major stories).
Mercier Bridge construction begins (and it’s on Twitter!)
Starting next Monday, what’s been described as a “first in this country” construction project will be undertaken on the Honoré-Mercier Bridge. It involves 1,300 prefabricated concrete panels which will replace the bridge deck in a way that is designed to minimize traffic disruption.
In other words, they’re going to replace a bridge without closing it to traffic.
It’s not quite so simple (there will be night work that requires rerouting traffic), but it’s still pretty impressive.
The rusted Mercier Bridge is in dire need of replacement
The first stage starts on Monday, when the ramp for the 138 East (from Châteauguay) is closed and replaced. Traffic will be sent along a side road to the other approach on the 132. The other three ramps on the southern side will be replaced one by one, and then work will begin on the bridge itself.
What’s impressive about this operation to me though isn’t the construction, but the communications. A (fully bilingual) special WordPress-based website has been setup (complete with RSS feed and question-and-answer forum), and there are Flickr, YouTube and Twitter accounts to make sure everyone is aware of what’s going on and can share information easily. Unlike what you see with most marketing campaigns, these tools are used quite effectively.
This YouTube video shows the steps that will be taken over the coming weeks to replace the southern access ramps. It’s long, but it’s clear.
Kudos.