This is a prototype of an alternative vision for
North Star. It is a concept and not a functional
or finished web site. I created this alternative
prototype for a simple reason: I was treated like
crap by individuals involved in establishing the
revised North Star site. My skills were insulted
and the abilities of state employees were denigrated.
Those individuals spent who-knows-how-much money
to buy a crappy site design from an expensive consultant.
In my opinion, that site does a lousy job of representing
the State of Minnesota, and wasted a lot of taxpayer
dollars.
My
opinion: Northstar could've been done better and
cheaper if management had been open to using existing
state resources. From my reading of statutes, using
those resources was mandated by existing state law.
If I'm correct in my understanding of the statute,
going outside to hire expensive consultants when
state employees could've done the work was a violation
of the law -- and of common sense.
It
should also be noted that the Northstar portal project
violated the standards of the very agency that conducted
it, standards that agency expects other state entities
to follow.
I
publish this critique as a protest of the management
style that created the current site. I have made
no requests to have this design replace North Star,
nor am I interested in participating in a redesign
of that site. I do believe the North Star cosmetic
design is flawed, but no one should consider my
criticism to be an attack on anyone, personally
or professionally. I have no desire to become active
in North Star or the portal project in any way that
does not directly affect the sites that I create
and administer. It is simply a different look at
what can be done by a state employee without outside
consulting help. It is offered in the spirit of
open, constructive debate, which was sadly lacking
during the North Star development process.
Obviously,
my design has issues. The graphics need refining
and some of the photos have poor resolution. The
page will display properly if viewed with Internet
Explorer, but has not been optimized for Netscape/Mozilla.
Only one button on each menu works, the rest remain
uncoded. The two operable examples are the top button
on the side menu (Apply for unemployment benefits)
and the Environment button on the top menu.
The
prototype was created in 2002 before the North Star
portal was activated. Recently, I modified the design
to be more current with North Star offerings. Graphics
were created in Photoshop. The HTML and Javascript
coding were done in Dreamweaver. All work was performed
by me and required approximately 30 hours, plus
the time spent creating the critique and explanation
pages. All work was done on private time, with personally
owned equipment and software.
