New layout of the European Commission website

Today, the European Commission has launched its new website layout as we just learned on Twitter.

At first sight, the front page looks well-arranged compared to how it was before, so it'll ease the access of newcomers which is an asset. I never found the previous layout inviting or structured, so now you get a much quicker overview over what you can expect from the Commission website.

As far as I can see, it is not a major re-design ("re-launch") but knowing that there is actually no single Commission website but, if I am well informed, a bundle of thousands of individual pages, I am glad that the Commission is trying start a redesign in order to make its information more accessible, especially for those not used working with EU documentation.

In the end, the process of re-layouting should at some point lead into an integrated website of the one European Commission instead of trying to connect the creative chaos of years of unstructured growth with layout redesigns. Clicking through into the policy fields and the topics linked therein, one is still re-directed to the old-style individual websites of the different portfolios, which shows that the re-design process will need more work if meant comprehensively.

However, I suppose this sounds much easier than it is in the practice of a large and fractured institution.