Pirate's Cove

For those familiar with Fred! Thompson’s website, all you Fredheads out there, you knew that it was pretty website friendly. And, by that, I mean there were plenty of Fred! sponsored downloads that one could put on ones personal website, particularly blog sidebars and embedded in the main index, single post, or comments files.

He has web banners, fund raising widgets, headline widgets, buttons, and icons. Good ones. Definitely an A+. Whether you were a Fred! fan or not, gotta admit he had some good stuff. Website was good, too.

So, how do the rest stack up?

*Some important points on the rankings. Generally, most bloggers have a sidebar that takes stuff about 150 pixels wide. The scripts have to work. There has to be some variety. And the scripts/widgets must be eye catching. Also, I am not going to bother with those who have dropped out.

Hillary Clinton – awful, simply awful. Some may think I am picking on her, because she is a Democrat. Nope. I spent quite a bit of time searching her campaign site, and could not find any downloads. Perhaps one has to register. Not very open or friendly.

Hillary’s site gets an F for website friendliness. Her overall site design is cluttered and not particularly IE friendly, either.

B. Hussein Obama – he does have a downloads page, with plenty of stuff for Obama Girl to moon over, as well as buddy icons. The widgets page, unfortunately, is not very website friendly, as the widgets are simply Obama news, and too big for most sidebars.

D- for trying. I’ll give him an A for the overall site, though. (not going to link direct, as the widgets are huge. You’ll have to click to his page to see them)

John McCain – his site is what brought this post on, as I had offered to put a McCain button on the sidebar of Hooahwife and Friends for Silke. He has a few things on his downloads page. Wallpaper, some buddy and google icons, and a few widgets. But, they are boring. Most are black and white, devoid of color and style. Only two widgets, and both are black and white. I even took the occasion to send an email saying “hey, get some color!”

D+ for trying. Website has good content, nice pleasing design, though a little heavy on the scripts. Give it a B.

John Edwards – While Edwards does not have a large variety of different widget sizes, 5 of them would fit on nicely on a sidebar. Also present are wallpapers and a download one could put as an email footer, or, since there is no nice horizontal one to paste into one of the html files, you could just download it and link it using your own bandwidth so that it appears at the end of a post or something. Good colors and decent style.

Edwards gets a B for his downloads. His website is also nice, though a tad bit script happy, and, isn’t that the same picture he had on the welcome page from his 2004 run? B- for site.

Mitt Romney – Mitt’s downloads page is rather impressive. An email signature, IM icons, wall paper, banners and buttons, handouts, and even a screensaver. If you go and check out all the banners and buttons, he has plenty of different styles and sizes that would fit perfectly on sidebars, and some that would work well at the end of posts. He could use some slightly wider ones for the end of posts ones, though. A few are way to big to use. And there are ones that say “Fredheads For Mitt!” The only thing missing is a fundraising widget. Excellent color and style.

Mitt’s downloads get an A, since there is no fundraising widget. Website is good, give it a B+ since there are a few slowdowns.

Mike Huckabee – Mike’s downloads are pretty good. He has ones matching many of the States. Unfortunately, they are a bit wide at 175 pixels, and do not include every State. I suppose one could copy and then shrink them down, insert using your bandwidth. Maybe even change the code a wee bit to insert directly. Cool! He also has a few banner widgets which would work well. Furthermore, there is a page specifically for webpages, which include fundraising widgets and such. Also included is a LONG list of bloggers that are supporting him on that same page. Good touch! Decent colors and great style.

Mike gets an A+ for his website compatibility. The site itself is rather boring, no drop downs, but, the list of blogs kicks it from a C to a B-.

Rudy Guiliani – Rudy has the right idea, badges, news, fundraising, and even “join us” widgets. Even one specifically for My Space. The badges are the right size, but the news, fundraising, and join us ones are a wee bit too big for a sidebar. Missing is wide one for the end of a post. Good color and style.

Rudy gets a B- for the attempt. Website is ok, missing dropdowns in order to find stuff. C+.

Finally, Ron Paul – I hate to admit it, but Paul’s widgets page is decent. A “become a precinct leader” and one for fundraising, which have multiple styles each. And are the correct sidebar size. He also has banners and buttons, though, kinda basic. Even so, they make their point. However, missing large sizes to put in a post. Slightly boring colors.

I’ll give him an B for the blog style stuff. As far as his regular website goes, a bit cluttered, but, it gets the job done. B-.

All right, one more. Cynthia McKinney. Is there anything lower then an F? Her apparent official website looks remarkably like a blog, and a cheap one at that. She has no blog widgets. But, she does have a BS widget claiming 1.168 million Iraqi deaths. Her site format gets an F, too.

Of course, to be honest, consider that the candidates with the best sites are not the front runners :)

Which one is your favorite?

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Allie is Wired, third world county, Nuke Gingrich, Adam’s Blog, Right Truth, Shadowscope, Blue Star Chronicles, The Pink Flamingo, Leaning Straight Up, , Dumb Ox Daily News, A Newt One, Conservative Cat, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.