With five terms under his belt, a Democratic Senator for Pennsylvania, Arlen Specter, will be going for his sixth term in 2010.

Content: 8/10
There is a good amount of background information about Arlen—enough to be thorough but not long and drawn out enough to have readers lose interest. News and video links keeps the content fresh. Furthermore, an adequate amount of important issues are addressed.

Functionality: 8/10
Options to learn more about Arlen, donate, and how to get involved are unmistakably listed on the navigation bar on the right. There is also a link to videos associated with Arlen and a useful one that allows supporters to register to vote if they have not done so. There is some inconsistency with labeling when navigating from one page to another. For example, the news section is labeled “Latest News” on the homepage and changes to “Headlines” on the “Life & Career” page.

Ease of Use: 7/10
Like most sites, this included a navigation bar. The text for the links could have been labeled more clearly for it to be more intuitive. For example, issues were listed under the “Helping PA” button. Instead of listing all issues links in the drop-down menu, there was another link that was labeled “Issues,” which defeated the purpose of a drop-down menu. Also, the website breaks down different aspects of issues nicely by using bold fonts, headers, and bullet points though it would have been favorable to see more consistency amongst that.

Aesthetics: 7/10
On the whole, the layout, colors, and images of the website are visually appealing. The font of the text on the main navigation bar might have been done intentionally to be straightforward and loud (especially the “DONATE” link), However, that choice of font and alignment of text on the links creates an unpolished look and certainly does not add to the professional feel of the website.

Keep on the lookout for another campaign website review. And remember to check back on my first post about Competitive Analysis for a further explanation on these criteria.