Re: It’s here, and it’s better than ever. Team 56 2008 best website since 1997 – Chec
 

Its a peice of art, yet, but im not so sure about the website part.
I like the shape of the site, but i think you sacrificed graphics for a presentable appearance. For example, in your content area, your main body paragraph are itty bitty in width, and stretch the page downwards a LOT. in fact, almost all content areas on your site are way too thin... they need to be taken off their diet.


Next thing i dont like is how i have to scroll down to actually see any content. I do get a nice pirate ship though... it must have taken a LONG time to design that header.

Next is the color scheme... its consistent, i will give you that. The problem is it is very saturated; you never actually deviate from that powerful shade of red. It gives me a headache if i try to read the text on the page for too long.

Check the usage policy for that first logo... i beleive they specify that it HAS to have the FIRST text underneath it.

As far as content itself goes, i think you are all set. Looking at the grading sheet i beleive you will at the very least get an excellence award.

Re: It’s here, and it’s better than ever. Team 56 2008 best website since 1997 – Chec
 

Thank you, we will definitely take that into consideration for next year of course.

We saturated the red because it will be too bright. =)

About the FIRST logo, we have it in every page in the FIRST section at the bottom of the page with the FIRST word on it. I believe that should do it.

Re: It’s here, and it’s better than ever. Team 56 2008 best website since 1997 – Chec
 

Not that I want to do do direct comparisons here or simply say that one site is better than the other, but since you did it, allow me to.

The website http://www.harrisonboilerrobotics.org/ is professionally done. The introductory information (team name, what FIRST is, etc) is presented very clearly. As the user to the site, I immediately know what this site is about. I like that.

The links to other sections of information are very easy to find. They are in different colors, they are large, they stand out on the page.

This site has a very clean design. Its a site that I wouldnt mind browsing through because its well designed, easy to read, and informative. It is very clearly a better site.

I have two issues with your response to his original comment.

1. The way you addressed his comments....

You're right, your team probably did put in 3 times the effort, but in the real world, that doesnt mean anything. Throwing an implied insult at his site doesnt do anything constructive.
If you were building a site for a business, you wouldnt get a chance to address the customers that their opinions about your website are wrong because you can provide them with links that they didn't explore. The end of that story is the customer didn't like your website, so they moved on and your company is not going to get their business.
The truth is that FIRST isnt a business and the site probably wont make much of an effect on how your robot performs, the funding you receive, etc but if we are going to treat this like a real world competition, then we need to a have a more realistic paradigm.


2. His comments are spot on and you seem to dismiss them.

Ignoring comments because they are not what you want to hear isnt anyway to improve upon a product. I happen to agree with everything he said about your site. The introduction wasn't very informative and a little bit too long. Its very hard to navigate on your main page. The links at the top were very hard to see because they have very little contrast with the background, in fact it isnt very clear if they are links or just more text on the page. Overall, the page feels very cluttered and it becomes a chore for me to read rather than a pleasure. And this may be more of a personal preference, but I would rather see very clear pictures of your team in action than the blurry, unclear images on your main page.

Perhaps your site has more information, but its hard to find and thus the user wont get to it.




Simplicity of design is a concept that applies to all aspects of life. Whether it is your robot, your plans for the future, or a website, there is a beauty in simplicity. When there is too much going on, it leads to stress and disharmony. Please take this into consideration for your future sites.


I would also like to agree with the fact that there is not enough constructive criticism on the site. Getting one million "great jobs" or "nice effort" doesn't help as much as one person providing some thought and real incite in their feedback.

Re: It’s here, and it’s better than ever. Team 56 2008 best website since 1997 – Chec
 

I agree completely circular.

First. Don't use flash introductions on websites. Flash is neat, and can do some pretty eye-catching things. However, used as you used it here is an incorrect application.

Second. A majority of the world uses 1024x768 resolution. At that resolution, your website is very difficult to view. The graphics, while extremely well done, are over-the-top and tend to make it difficult to sort out the information from the pictures.

Third. Less that half the world runs broadband.

I don't want to make you think you wasted your time. It's very impressive, and with some more work I think you could easily win a major award. But you need to size it correctly, make it easier to navigate with more visible buttons, and compress the content.

Re: It’s here, and it’s better than ever. Team 56 2008 best website since 1997 – Chec
 

If you guys feel about the site that way, I have no problems :D

Also, sorry about the negative comments I said. I didn't mean to put it that way:ahh:

Cheers

Re: It’s here, and it’s better than ever. Team 56 2008 best website since 1997 – Chec
 

Echoing much of what has been said. It seems very over-the-top. The homepage is the worst, as there are flashing/fading/moving .gifs seemingly everywhere, and it really distracts from the information. Even running 1440x900 on my laptop, it seems very cluttered. The header links don't stand out and it took me a few seconds to realize that they were there.
Even though you do have the FIRST logo with the appropriate text underneath sometimes, you are supposed to have it underneath all the time.
http://www.usfirst.org/community/res...er.aspx?id=650
Notice the section in the logo rules about the protected area, and the section about placing them on visually active background patterns (ie the pirate ship). There are at least thirteen different places you violate the FIRST Logo Usage policy.
Towards the same end of things, are you sure it qualifies as Fair Use to use "Sandstorm" (or the songs in the photo albums), or the adapted WoW map?
There are a few spelling/grammatical errors found around the site (Featured on Discovery Channel, “FIRST ROBOTIS”/alumnus is singular, alumni is plural, even if they are all male), but those aren't a huge issue, but it would seem much more professional if they were touched up.
For the sections of the website where the menus don't have any drop-down features, I think the arrows should be removed. Additionally, at least I'm used to menus being on the left side of the screen, so it may be beneficial to switch the locations of the menus and the calendar.

That being said, the graphic work is outstanding, some of the best I've seen. The website does contain a large amount of information, and you should at least win an excellence award. While I don't need it, I do like the text resize option as well.

Re: It’s here, and it’s better than ever. Team 56 2008 best website since 1997 – Chec
 

I really love the lay out of the site. Pretty easy to navigate. Cool intro. A+ imo. And i really loved the WoW map in there ;)

Re: It’s here, and it’s better than ever. Team 56 2008 best website since 1997 – Chec
 

hehe. Thanks -- one of our web design members loves WOW, so he wanted us to use it :D and it also does the job

Re: It’s here, and it’s better than ever. Team 56 2008 best website since 1997 – Chec
 

Unfortunately, it is against copyright and fair use to take the map and the songs and reuse them. You should remove those from the site. It is not just against the FIRST policies - it's illegal.

Re: It’s here, and it’s better than ever. Team 56 2008 best website since 1997 – Chec
 

I added the credits for them - Song Sandstorm by Finnish DJ Darude(http://www.thedjlist.com/djs/DARUDE/) -- World of Warcraft Map by Blizzard(http://wow.gamepressure.com/map.asp?ID=83)

Re: It’s here, and it’s better than ever. Team 56 2008 best website since 1997 – Chec
 

I am afraid that simply adding the credits for them is not sufficient. You must obtain explicit permission from the owner of the work to use them. Usually that involves some sort of licensing fee.

Re: It’s here, and it’s better than ever. Team 56 2008 best website since 1997 – Chec
 

LOL.. So you telling me all these youtube videos and even the FIRST animations (the ones who had songs and the credits in the end of the artists) are illegal and we all will go to jail for it :ahh:




This question is side tracked: Are you trying to say that you NEVER ever downloaded any songs, pictures, or videos from the internet?

Re: It’s here, and it’s better than ever. Team 56 2008 best website since 1997 – Chec
 

I'm sorry that you're going to dismiss the "suggestions or opinions" you asked for like that.

By the way, they won't let you submit an animation unless you have written consent from the copyright holder.

Your question is a logical fallacy.

Re: It’s here, and it’s better than ever. Team 56 2008 best website since 1997 – Chec
 

hmm.. do you have the FIRST link so i can look this up?

Thanks =)

Re: It’s here, and it’s better than ever. Team 56 2008 best website since 1997 – Chec
 

Here ya go. (And yes we got permission to use our music on our animation.)

http://firstbasefrc.autodesk.com/?nd..._visualization