Yesterday I promised further first impressions of the new Total Politics website. Instead I have done a more detailed review. I have not seen a copy of the magazine yet, but I am likely to be a regular reader on the website so I’ve approached the review from this angle. This is a long piece, and I’ve reproduced my conclusions at the top.

I’d be grateful for corrections for any mistakes in the comments.

Total Summary

Let’s not beat about the bush: I like it and I will read it , and in some ways Total Politics will be a unique resource - editorially and for some months at least until somebody else catches up with the resource centre.

With adjustments to the screen colours, I’d say it’s at about 80% of where a mature version of the site should be - very good indeed for a first day launch of a complex new website built from scratch. Throw in the site adjustments I’ve highlighted, and I’d take that up to about 85%.

Is it as a viable proposition and a viable business? I don’t know - look in 18 months time to see if it is still here and in what form.

What needs to be right for success? All the usual things - delivery on time, good writing, facts correct and all the other attributes that create a good editorial reputation.

The longer term future of the site will depend on the “free magazine for elected politicians” business model proving profitable, and the website a volume and mixture of traffic to promote the areas of the business which will generate cashflow.

Total Website?

The website has a number of sections, accessed by a normal navigation bar. A quick run down of the sections.

• Home: The front page. A clean design which emphasizes elements from the different sections of the magazine.
• The Magazine: A contents list for the current issue, sorted by section and with hyperlinks to the individual articles.
• Blogs: Total Politics starts with 3 blogs, about Local Government, Campaigns and Public Affairs.
• E-zine: The magazine presented in a “virtual magazine” application. Not there yet.
• Daily Politico: An minute interview of 50 quick questions. Presumably it will feature one politician or commentator a day.
• Subscriptions: Where you give them money.
• About: Just what it says - what is Total Politics?
• Editorial Board: Photos of the cross-spectrum editorial board - an “interesting line-up” (says Mark Pack ).
• The Team: Photos and short biographies of the magazine’s editorial team.
• Web Comic: Hoby’s Melville cartoon strip. I can’t tell whether they are custom created, or from Hoby’s general archive. I think probably the former.
• Contact: What it says, with incredibly hard to read green text on a slightly different green background for the email addresses.
• Political Speeches Database: Part 1 of the resource centre. Speeches “lovingly collated and archived”. Serious data - 324 (I estimate) speeches, going back to at least the 1920s. This could be a unique resource. On the other hand, politicians will probably be happy for anyone to build a database of their speeches, so it’s uniqueness will depend on the amount of time required for anyone else to build a competitor. This sections includes a search facility.
• Political Blog Directory: Part 2 of the resource centre. I’m assuming that this is based on an updated version of the directory from Iain Dale’s Guide to Political Blogging 2007. Around 1100 blogs categorised by Party, Category and Country. I predict a lot of fun and frolics on the categorisation merry-go-round. No search engine at launch.
• Political Quotations Database: Part 3 of the resource centre. 1360 (I estimate) quotations. A good resource, but not as unique as the speeches. Categorised, with a search facility.

Blogs

I really applaud a high profile blog about Local Government - UK Politics has been crying out for one of those since before I started blogging back in spring 2007. Similarly for a blog covering the nuts and bolts of campaigning.

The Public Affairs blog is an interesting step over the line into the Public Relations blogging niche. Heather will be interested.

Resource Centre

One of the points to try and make the website “sticky” is a section of three resource databases: a political blog directory, a political speeches database and a database of political quotes. At this point, this first phase constitutes a “unique in one place” resource, but they will need to keep innovating and adding material, and new sections every couple of months - or competitors will emerge.

Total Content on the Website?

The answer is that, yes, it will all be there - so you will be able to see the whole magazine online. I asked Iain that question in a webchat a couple of months ago, and the reply was that it will all be on the website - but that subscribers would get a “magazine reader” application, while the hoi polloi would have to read normal webpages (which I prefer anyway). Having all the text there is a good idea for helping search engines find it as HTML, too.

If you are wondering about what “magazine reader” means, it is an application that gives you a simulation of a physical magazine onscreen, where you can - for example - click in the bottom corner to turn the pages. Think of the terminals for reading the Lindisfarne Gospels at the British Library, or go and see the reader used by Blogger and Podcaster magazine (which it is useful to be aware of anyway if you are a blogger), supplied in that case by Flippersoft.

Totally Technical Taste

The site is built on a software platform called B2Evolution, which is a CMS (Content Management System) which also does blogs quite well. Complicated, but powerful - a good choice. The blog comment system has a facility that lets people who read your comments get in touch with you directly, if the original commenter enabled it.

Totally Designed

The look is clean, and generally I like it. The “look” feels quite like the new BBC Front Page - pastel blocks arranged with gutters between. A Google chat with someone who shall remain “Nameless” brought the comment “why do they need all those bright colours?”.

I like the toolbar design, which is also clear - but using graphical blocks rather than text elements will require most of the buttons to be redone when a single new one is added to one end. I also think that it might have been worth branding the “resource” centre as a more distinctive resource, rather than simply as the “three buttons on the end”.

Total Problems?

A few issues - but not many. I’m going into a bit of detail because I have seen similar problems regularly elsewhere, and this is a good opportunity to write about them.

Background Colours

Colours are the cause of the one serious flaw I can see with the site - and that is that a number of sections have such dark backgrounds that the text will be uncomfortable for extended reading, especially on older laptops screens. Here are a couple of screenshots to illustrate the problem. This one needs fixing quickly.

If it was me, I’d look at making the background colour of the section below the “print” and “email” icons lighter by about 80-90%, or even making it white, and putting a trim bar of the darker shade at the bottom below the text to close off the base of the page. But it isn’t me!

And a Temporary Fix

There is a workaround, however - if you are having trouble with the navy blue text on coloured backgrounds, try doing a <CTRL-A> (Control-A), which will select all the text and highlight it in white - so you will be able to read it. Here is a screenshot.

Main Content Frame Slightly too Wide

This will be a tiny niggle for some and a “nails scraping on a blackboard” annoyance for others - the main content box is slightly too wide. It is about 1020 pixels wide, which means that on a 1024 pixel wide monitor with a full screen window a tiny horizontal scrollbar is created which removes a sliver of content is missing from each side.

I have no objection to losing a slice of the Editorial Intelligence advert, but to have the end of the menubar chopped is annoying.

I check this type of thing using the web-developer toolbar for Firefox - a useful Add-in.

Too Deep a Masthead

The front page masthead is deep enough to take up a large part of the “Above the Fold” space on the front page. Iain comments that this is to allow space for an advert above the masthead, so I won’t comment further at this point.

Loss of Magazine Section Heads

If I increase my text size by one stage (CTRL and + in Firefox), for example because I have bad eyesight or a small monitor with high resolution, the headers on the sections within the “Magazine” area of the site become:

“Total”, “Total”, “Total”, “Regulars”, “Total”, “Total”, “Total Politics”.

Personally, I would just drop the word “total” from the section heads on the website, but that is a design compromise / decision.

Total Objectivity?

I don’t see any problem at all with a publication being neutral while being published by a group of opinionated politicos. One or two people have been busily trashing it in advance on general “bash anything within 200m of Iain Dale” principles. I don’t like that - all new initiatives should be welcomed, so let’s see how this one goes. I give Total Politics exactly the same welcome that I did for Liberal Conspiracy and for Politics Home - I wish the site well because we need more decent quality political debate, not less.

Total Conclusion

Let’s not beat about the bush: I like it and I will read it, and in some ways Total Politics will be a unique resource - for some months at least until somebody else catches up with the resource centre (much of the material is available in the public domain).

With adjustments to the screen colours, I’d say it’s at about 80% of where a mature version of the site should be - very good indeed for a first day launch of a complex new website from scratch. Throw in the site adjustments I’ve highlighted, and I’d take that up to about 85%.

Is it as a viable proposition and a viable business? I don’t know - look in 18 months time to see if it is still here and in what form.

What needs to be right for success? All the usual things - delivery on time, good writing, facts correct and all the other attributes that create a good editorial reputation.

Wrapping Up

I’ve still some thoughts to blog about the business model, and some ideas and suggestions - but that will do for now. I’ll post a follow-up article in a day or so.

Tags: iain dale, magazine review, sarah mackinlay, total politics