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April 25, 2007

Well, not to the building, but to its online presence. Although I thought I checked the White House website with some regularity, that must not be true. Apparently the change in design occurred way back on August 31, 2006. According to a govexec.com briefing, a WH spokesman said, "The site will have better graphics, navigation tools and a 'superior' search engine."

The site is clearly laid out in a "Web 2.0" style. For the non-geeks among us, Web 2.0 carries a lot of meanings and connotations, but as it relates to web design the phrase stands for some general principles: simplicity, central layout, a focus on content, soft and neutral colors, spiffy icons, plenty of whitespace and big text. Although WhiteHouse.gov doesn't incorporate every Web 2.0 principle, it certainly gets close and in the process gives it a much more stylized look.

Update: The re-designed White House website got me thinking about other sites switching to Web 2.0. (I'm happy to report that ITA incorporated many Web 2.0 characteristics long before it was ever a fad.) So I decided to check out our blogroll and list what I thought were the three best designed sites. They are, in no particular order: Freakonomics, Positive Liberty, and Matthew Yglesias. What are yours? Interestingly, my three favorite generally incorporated Wed 2.0 characteristics.

Posted by Joshua Claybourn at April 25, 2007 10:47 AM

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