A smooth ride through Churchill's life
Best remembered as prime minister of Britain during World War II, Winston Churchill was also a soldier, a journalist, and a Nobel Prize-winning author. He is the only foreign national to have his name on an active duty US Navy ship, and is one of only six honorary citizens of the United States. The ex-P.M. also holds a somewhat more obscure, Web-specific distinction - in that the success of a Library of Congress exhibition about the man was so great that an enhanced companion website was commissioned and then launched almost a year after the physical exhibit closed (in July 2004). Fortunately for those who didn't see Churchill and the Great Republic in person, the throngs of those who did contributed to the demand for this online version of the exercise.
Created in cooperation with the Churchill Archives Centre in Cambridge, England, Churchill and the Great Republic looks at both the man's life and his relationship with his maternal homeland - primarily through physical relics from his life. (The collection ranges from childhood report cards to the Order of Service for his funeral in 1965.) While there was a basic Web presence in place during last year's exhibition, the more recent version is much more interactive, media-rich, and engaging. And while the new and improved website shares some basic design ingredients with any number of online histories and biographies, "Great Republic" puts the pieces together better than most. (So well in fact that you may not even notice how smoothly things are going.)
Upon launch, "Great Republic" moves the proceedings into a new browser window, and opens with a sample of Churchill's unmistakable voice, a few famous photographs, and an interactive introduction to the three paths that visitors can follow through the exhibition. This first page also employs an unusual 'self-play' feature that reappears throughout the presentation (alerting visitors to watch for more examples during their travels), and introduces curator Daun van Ee, the website's audio escort.
The first of the navigational options is the Timeline, which begins with the 1873 meeting of Churchill's parents at a sailing regatta on the Isle of Wight, and continues decade by decade until his death, seventy years to the day after the death of his father. While the Timeline has become almost a cliché - albeit a perfectly logical one - for online biographies, this one will still hold the visitor's attention with strong visuals and a clean layout. The top half of each section's page is dedicated to a high quality portrait, with the lower sections tracking both Winston's life and concurrent world events.
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