Web abuzz over 'messy' IEC site

2009-02-06 10:27

Birgit Ottermann

Cape Town - A petition has been launched and a growing number of frustrated South Africans are blogging away about the IEC's "pathetic and embarrassing" website.

Despite recent news reports that the South African Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) had finally opened up its website to all users (the site was previously inaccessible to non-Microsoft users with browsers such as Firefox, Netscape and Chrome), South Africans still complain about the website in blogging communities.

"This is without doubt the worst design I have ever seen," a blogger called David wrote on the iMod blog. "The level of design is shocking," Ruark commented. "I know of 6th-graders that do better designs," Wogan added on the same blog.

"What an embarrassment to anyone involved," Red wrote on Deem's Weblog.

"Those of us in the IT industry know that we can easily compare and beat any so-called first-world country when it comes to IT initiatives, which makes this such a slap in the face of anyone delivering high international quality work every day in our country," he blogged.

R3m budget for website

There is also great concern in blogging communities about the R3m that has been budgeted for the new IEC website.

"I looked at this site and someone is certainly getting ripped off," LiamRG, a member of the Broadband & ADSL Forum commented.

"If that site is R3m then I'm a monkey's uncle. The site is fixed at 800 x 600 when the minimum standard is 1024 x 768. The colours are dreadful and content is written and layed out so poorly. Whoever owns the website needs seriously spend some time online and look at what other websites are doing. I doubt this person has any web experience," he wrote.

In November last year IEC chief information officer, Libisi Maphanga, was quoted in a news report as saying that the organisation planned to spend R3m to fix the website.

However, according to Maphanga, the R3m quoted, is the budget for an entire revamp of the website, which is still a work in progress.

"The IEC has not spent R3m on the version of the website that was recently released. The R3m published is the total budget of the entire website upgrade project. To date only 23% of the total budget has been spent," Maphanga told News24.

Two phases

Maphanga said that he was aware of the raging blogging debates and found the negative comments around the IEC's website "unfortunate".

"That some people see the current website version as 'messy and amateur' is unfortunate and we accept that it is how they choose to describe it, as long as they can understand that it is a product of the first phase and we deliberately focused on cross-browser compatibility and nothing more."

Maphanga explained that the project was divided into 2 phases: The first phase focused on a speedy resolution of the cross-browser compatibility problem, whereas the second phase is a detailed project to revamp the website completely.

"The scope of the first phase was limited to making the current website cross-browser compatible, that is, making the website open and accessible to most computer users by upgrading and/or removing only those imbedded scripts that did not work across most web browsers. The website has retained its original 1998 design and whatever technical limitations of its original design," he explained.

"It was a conscious decision driven by the need to open the website for other web browsers as quickly as possible. The total cost of delivering the first phase up to the launch on 16 January 2009 is R291 000."

The second phase, which promises a total revamp of the website, includes "a complete re-design, making use of modern technologies, use of content management systems and tools (CMS), addition of new functionality, better presentation and improved navigation and usability".

"It is a detailed fresh relook and rework not a cut paste project. It will take time and must be done properly. A team has already started this phase of the project," Maphanga told News24.

'Cross browser compatiblity should be standard'

However, according to Christopher Mills, a Cape Town-based award winning blogger and SEO guru, who works at The Forge Web Creations, the R291 000 spent so far, is still a huge amount.

"I've been in the web world for many many years and all I can say is that excessive money is being spent and the goods are not being produced," Mills told News24.

"Cape Town and Joburg have such talented agencies and individuals who would do this work for a fraction of the cost," he said.

According to Mills cross browser compatibility should be an automatic requirement.

"I would never release a website which doesn't work across at least FF2/3 [Firefox] and IE6/7 )[Internet Explorer], then there's Safari and Opera, etc.

"Paying for this is nonsense, it should be a standard requirement built into the quote and if the designer/developer is qualified to be doing this work, he/she would have no problem, because the code shouldn't need a whole lot of adjusting to suite the various browsers," he said.

Mills added that it would be interesting to know what CMS (Content Management System) software would be used for the website.

"Whether it's open source or a paid solution, perhaps even a custom solution, would be a big factor in terms of budgetary requirements," he said.

Deadline set for 30 November 2009

Maphanga told News24 that they will "definitely be using CMS software" but that the project team is still evaluating different CMS products.

"My brief to them is that they must find the most appropriate CMS software that will meet a set of guidelines and requirements, irrespective of whether it is open source or not," he said.

When asked whether there was a specific deadline for the completion of the website's revamp, Maphanga explained that the project would be completed in 5 phases and that the final phase would be completed by 30 November 2009.

1. Phase I - Cross-browser compatibility (completed on 16 January 2009);

2. Phase II - Revamping the main website including Results Reporting (30 April 2009);

3. Phase III - Usability and content enhancement (31 July 2009);

4. Phase IV - Additional functionality such as event management, podcasting, etc. (30 September 2009);

5. Phase V - Additional PLC extranet for local government elections and online training (30 November 2009).

"While we are aware that the website can do more," Maphanga said, "to us the website is but just one of the communication and marketing channels at our disposal and not the only one.

"The majority of the South African population does not have access to the internet which means that we have to include other media platforms available," he added.

'No last minute decision'

The big question remains, though, why the website was not ready for the election period. Why was it left until so very late, News24 asked Maphanga. The final deadline of 30 November is long after the elections.

Also, the revamping plans look like a last minute decision taken only after the public reported the severe problems experienced around the website since November last year.

Maphanga denied that the revamp was a last minute decision. "In the midst of many competing election priorities, the timing is a result of prioritisation of core business processes and projects," he told News24.

"It is not a last minute decision but the results of a detailed business planning process in which key priorities were determined and other projects (eg upgrades of registration scanners, scanning or results slip, enhancements of the results systems, etc) were considered to be of higher priority," he explained.

133T Project

In the meantime, a new organisation, the 133T Project, was formed by IT industry professionals in Cape Town last week "to sort out the IEC website".

"The 133T project began with an attempt to recreate the design of the IEC website in just 24 hours," Mills, who also is a member of the new organisation, explained.

"The 133T project will act as advisory body to government and corporate enterprises as well as watchdog organisation to monitor websites' inefficiencies, security risks and system weaknesses.

"It will also offer its services to the public and private sector, as well as use funding to deliver broadband access & skills to educational and community centres in need," Mills said.

Since News24 started investigating the story, the IEC has added a temporary new landing page to promote the final voter registration weekend, this Saturday and Sunday from 08:00 to 17:00. This page has a new look with easy links to help voters with registration and other queries. The rest of the website, though, is still the same.

- News24