Web Watch: Relaunching a Grand Old Web Site

The already-legendary Obama campaign has set a high bar for Internet communications in the political sphere (and pretty much every other sphere), and the new GOP.com finally looks like it's playing in the same league.

Given the spiffy new design and smart tools for engaging people online, you might be surprised to hear that the launch of the new site in mid-October 2009 resulted in some less-than-positive buzz. Many would-be visitors had trouble accessing the site, and critics were quick to point out a few notable gaffes. Some of the critiques had more to do with politics than with Web best practices, but others were well-founded and illustrate important points that nonprofits should keep in mind as they redesign and relaunch their Web sites.