Yes, I am talking about that MSN.com. The web site that has the blue background. The one with the text that’s way too small. The one that the only reason anybody ever has it as their home page is because they don’t know how to change it to something else.

That being the case, MSN’s upcoming changes are sure to get noticed. The logo changes both with the butterfly and font, the blue background is (finally) gone and said honestly the overall experience of using it is a whole lot better. Heck, you might even find it useful because we all know the current MSN just plain sucks.

Why does the current MSN.com suck? Because the design coddles to a bygone era where web designers were deathly afraid of making anybody scroll for anything, hence the stupid tiny text on the current MSN. There’s this ridiculous belief that if anybody has to scroll down for any content on your web site, you lose. This is only true if your content sucks. Scrolling down is not evil, never has been and never will be. If you’ve got something worth reading, the reader will happily scroll; there is nothing wrong with that.

What makes the new MSN.com a notable improvement?

Color coded organization:

This is a big deal and it’s not easy to pull off design-wise, but the new MSN makes it work. And when hovering over menus, a nice dotted border appears with menu choices below.

Tabs:

The blue "Games" in the screen shot above is an example of a tab in the new MSN interface. These are located in several areas and yes, they work well. Like with the top menu, some (but not all) tabs will have different colors compared to others.

Social connectivity:

Oh yes, it has it. The old-school Web 1.0 portal finally jumps into the modern age with Facebook and Twitter connectivity right from the same page. This is a really big deal because it gives people a reason to use MSN as their home page other than for just looks and information.

The beauty of the way it works is that the new MSN doesn’t shove you elsewhere, such as a "my.[web-service-here].com" just to get this feature. It’s on the home page right where it should be. That counts and counts huge. And YES, you can post status updates right from there as well for Facebook or Twitter. I tested it myself.

Microsoft said a few years back that they were going to put a huge effort into making their offerings modern. This started with Windows Live, then Bing and now MSN. I never thought I’d ever see MSN get out of Internet Stone Age, but it looks like it finally will – and do so in a way that truly will wow you and prove to be useful at the same time.

Fortunately in modern times most states and towns in the United States have wised up and have informative web sites. But unfortunately these web sites can still be difficult to locate – even with a Google search.

Not to worry, there’s a really good web site to help you out with this:

StateLocalGov.net

I really like this site because it’s more than just a one trick pony, so to speak. When you look up information on your state, you are not only given the state’s web site, but town sites, governor sites, attorney general sites, city guides and more. This is definitely one to put in your bookmarks.

Some reasons why it’s important to know your state and/or town’s web site

• Forms – As most people are aware, local government is run by paper, paper and more paper. If you need a permit for anything, you need to fill out a form. If you need a license for anything, you need to fill out a form. That’s just the way it works. You can save yourself a lot of time if you seek out the forms you need yourself and printing them out.
• Construction time tables – Got construction on your local highways and interstates? Who doesn’t? Most state web sites will list all projects, when they will start and more importantly when they will end (as in get finished). Florida, for example, has MyTBI. All road projects are listed, including current and future. This directly impacts many people’s commute to work each day. Those in the know are better off than those who don’t. Your state’s web site most likely has a similar site of its own.
• Vehicle registration renewals – Re-registering a motor vehicle in modern times usually can be done 100% over the internet these days without any need to go to the DMV.
• State job boards – Where do you find state jobs? On the state’s web site, of course. Most state jobs are not listed on any major job web sites so you have to go direct-to-site to find them. HOT TIP: You can try CareerOneStop if you can’t find state job listings on a state-specific web site. All states are there.

How is your town doing?

Does your town have its own web site? If so, is it informative and easy, or difficult to find what you were looking for? What would you change about it, if anything?