Verification on Competition Rules
 

Im just double checking (nothing wrong w/ double checking), does the team website have to be 100% original script and content or can it have outside coding (example a team forum).

Thanks.

Re: Verification on Competition Rules
 

if your doing if for the web site award i would think having a forum on it would be a positive thing b/c that means your team is aiming to help struggling teams by answering questions posted by the teams. basically what CD does.

For website award scoring view rule 8.8 - 8.8.3.4

if your just doing it to have a website for the team you may put whatever you wish on your site pertaining to FIRST and your robotics team :cool:

Re: Verification on Competition Rules
 

Here's my take:

If it's a feature ONLY your team will use (ex: forum for intra-team communication, e-mail frontend for web e-mail, etc.) I don't think it's a big deal to have outside scripting, BUT if it's a feature that is usually accessed by the public (ex: content management system, news display system, picture gallery, etc.) I believe that is unacceptable.

That's just the way I feel it should be judged. If your team only uses that feature for your team, then I'm not sure why anyone else would care (judges included).

Re: Verification on Competition Rules
 

on the other hand, if you took an open-source system, such as PHPBB, and integrated it into the rest of your site, instead of just linking to it, that might be seen as an effort to add additional functionality that you would otherwise not have time to implement, and thus effective use of resources and time, as well as good intent.

Re: Verification on Competition Rules
 

On the other hand, the truth is you only say that because that is what you did. I personally don't see a fluid transition going on there anyways.

Re: Verification on Competition Rules
 

I'm not saying anything about our site... i don't expect it to be in the competitive range and it's more functional than competitive. Being from a school of 300 total, our team is usually hard-pressed to build the robot, let alone a website. please do not insinuate that I interpret the rules simply to give my team an advantage - I was simply giving my insight on a particular person's question. If I planned to make the team website for a competition, I would already be working on a new design and backend for it. The "truth" is, however, I'm not. We have a robot to build.

Have a good day.

Re: Verification on Competition Rules
 

i read over the rules again, and as far as i can tell it doesn't really mention anything in this regard. (of course its 1:38 in the morning so I might be overlooking something)

I'm going to say in my opinion, design features should be original but say scripting code like certain php or javascript can be implemented into your site, again thats just my take.

Re: Verification on Competition Rules
 

I believe that the intent is that the the "STUDENTS" was whatever tools are available to them. The student designers need to be able to explain how their code works and how to make adjustments.
The majority of web sites are coded with WYSIWYG programs. They generate code. Will the judges expect an expliniation beyond that? Idon't believe so. If that were the case we all would be using notepad, which isn't going to happen.
I believe however that a simple HTML verification test will be performed and that will be important.

Re: Verification on Competition Rules
 

First of all, I was merely joking in my post. Maybe I should have put a :) at the end to convey this, but now that you've got it started...

How does that give your team an advantage in any way shape or form? Your interpretation has null impact on the judges interpretation. And I find it silly to go through the whole process of creating a website to not (and you've already done) stick a FIRST logo on it and send it in. It's worth a shot and even 80 points will get you a nice award to stuff on your site next year. Even if you dont So before this turns into a flame war can we just have this conversation.

nafetS: Sorry I sounded like a jerk, I meant to make a joking comment and it came out wrong.
Deltacoder: NP man, it just offended me at first.
nafetS: Oh, I understand. We cool?
Deltacode: Ya we cool.
<High 5>

Man does robotics rule.

Re: Verification on Competition Rules
 

sure thing. you have to remember that forums are really bad on the "devoid of emotion" thing, so one has to infer intent from what is said, which is this case seemed like an offense.

ya, we're cool ;)

Re: Verification on Competition Rules
 

Can i get a someone to just put it simply that yes i can use third party programming or no?

Seriously thanks for all the info but what your telling me is something i know myself but it wasnt answering the question i had earlier.

I read the rules and it did not state in my opinion whether or not the site had to be originally coded. I already check it, (therefore i was doublechecking)

Its just hard when your presssed for time to have to sort out through info that doesnt pertain to the question.

So if someone out there can answer if i can use third party coding (such as PHPBB, etc.) or if it has to be original, then can you answer my question first at the top, then if you wish to continue onwards then that is fine with me.

Re: Verification on Competition Rules
 

if you want a definitive answer you're going to have to check with FIRST. we're only stating what we think the rule is, and we're hesitant to provide a straight "yes" or "no" because we are not the authority on the subject.

Re: Verification on Competition Rules
 

I have checked with first, i am double checking w/ you guys. I am looking for a definiative answer, not suggestions on this thread. This I would beleive that the FIRST community can deliver.

If i am mistakened then my appologies.

Re: Verification on Competition Rules
 

If you've checked with FIRST, then what more is there to ask. That is THE definitive answer, and our "suggestions" are nothing more than that. If you want your site to be legitimate (rule-wise) then you have to follow FIRST's rules. If you don't care/don't want it to be legitimate, then there's nothing stopping you from putting just about anything (yes, there ARE certain boundaries) on your website. Am I insane?

Re: Verification on Competition Rules
 

From my understanding FIRST did not clearly specify, but other threads state that it called for original coding, which is the reasoning behind me asking to begin with, with the assumption that because it was not stated that it was neither right or wrong.