Well, it's been a few years since the book "Skip Intro" by Duncan McAlester and Michelangelo Capraro. I'm guessing that its lessons weren't quite absorbed by the web strategists for each of the presidential campaigns.

A thorough analysis of each site would be a worthwhile effort for several articles, but for now let's just take a look at how each site employs the splash screen.

Obama (http://www.barackobama.com/)

Well... this one smacked of Buy BUY BUYYYYY. The big, red "CONTINUE" button marches you right into the donate process... was that what you expected? There are form fields that trigger JavaScript errors... doh! Okay, there is a "SKIP SIGNUP" button... with text that fades nicely back into the button background. Lovely. Annoying. At least the site cookies you so you won't get that splash screen again... until you visit the website from work. Youch.


McCain (http://www.johnmccain.com/)

Okay... quite a bit different. Video and then four Big Bucket choices. The Join the Team area's "SIGN UP" button doesn't stump the user with JavaScript errors. In fact, all links take you to pages inside the site's chrome and navigation. There's even a "Click Here to Continue" link which could be designed better but is still pretty clear. Better content plan and better engineering... but still a splash screen.


Recap
Obama splash screen very problematic though very pretty.
McCain splash screen better in content and engineering though not as nicely designed.

Makes you wonder about what each campaign is trying to achieve... money or message? Sigh.

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