The original 270toWin map can be found here.  

Why are we changing? 

The short answer is that the map is coded in Flash and Flash is going away.

The original interactive electoral map was created for the launch of 270toWin, just prior to the 2004 election, and has been the most popular feature of the site. Unfortunately, Flash doesn't render on most mobile devices*.  Every person visiting the home page of 270toWin from a smartphone or tablet, a number that has grown to over 40% of visits, was seeing a blank screen instead of the map.

Not a great user experience.  

The new map is usable on desktops, laptops and mobile devices, and the code is much more flexible. For example we recently introduced historical interactive maps, something that was often requested but was cost-prohibitive to create in Flash. It will also let us do some other cool stuff as we head into 2016. 

 

*Steve Jobs refused to allow Flash on Apple's iOS devices. Here are some comments he wrote back in April 2010 explaining the rationale for that decision.