New Holy Cows Website
 

Hey everyone,

First thread here on CD, always fun ;)

So, I've come to put it out there we have redesigned our team's website. The site was redesigned the last year, and received an excellence award, but we realized that it was really just a fancy Photoshop job. We're pretty stoked about the new site, so much so that I wanted to share it with all of you!

http://www.team1538.com

Feedback is absolutely appreciated, and please keep in mind the transition is not COMPLETE! We have a few pages that we're trying to get content into, but those should be up in the coming weeks.

Thanks,
~Cameron

Re: New Holy Cows Website
 

When you navigate to the sub pages like Media or Sponsors for example, it is odd to then have to click on the left hand menu to see stuff. It took me a moment to realize I needed to do some more clicking to get to the real content.

You should have the top item of the left hand nav menu appear when you click on one of the sub pages from the horizontal menu. OR, move the left hand nav into the body of the sub page

Also, some left nav menu items launch a new browser instance others don't and I don't see any logical reason why. Try to keep this consistent if you can.

Why Sponsor Us? page is blank, bad, bad, bad. Get rid of it or put something on it.

I can see where you are going with the web site and I think you are on the right track. It could use more of the Holy Cows branding, you guys have a very recognizable brand and you should take full advantage of it.

Re: New Holy Cows Website
 

I agree. You might consider putting cow spots in the background.

Re: New Holy Cows Website
 

Third the idea for cow spots.

Also, the homepage is a little blank (I understand that the site is a few days old) but something like a team picture or some other type of statement/history about your team can be a good idea.

One thought, look around on other teams websites, especially the ones that have won awards just to get some inspiration for more ideas, just don't copy everything. Our team did it and came up with a couple new ideas for our site which was the best website at GSR. http://www.mechanicalmayhem.org/

Looks good so far!

Re: New Holy Cows Website
 

The home page needs your Holy Cow logo.

I find it odd that 365 MOE (in Delaware) hosts IndianaFIRST :yikes: , but I understand that populating your content is still in progress.

Re: New Holy Cows Website
 

I got a fever...and the only prescription...is MORE cow bell!

I could not resist. But I echo what others said. Your old website was very unique in design. I remember there were words about the characteristics of your team and its members in the background, there was grass at the bottom, and it definitely gave the feel of your team image. I also agree with rsisk that the navigation on the far left is rather odd coupled with its small size.

Re: New Holy Cows Website
 

What's this? No angelic chorus, in perfect tune, singing..."MOO!"

j/k...

Looks a bit like a cross between the FIRST homepage and NASA's site.
If I may offer my suggestion? I still have dial-up at home (living in the middle of nowhere truly sucks for geeks), so if you could find a way to have low- and high-bandwidth versions of the site, that would rock. For an example, check out www.winmatrix.com for an idea of what i mean.

I wouldn't mind a chance to peek/tweak at you source code at some point, too.

Yours truly,

The Ever-Present Tinkerer.

Re: New Holy Cows Website
 

One thing you could do to reduce the size of the page is combine the events/achievements images into a single sprite. They shouldn't be changing too often, and it would reduce the number of HTTP requests your page makes by three, as well as reducing the header data from the multiple images.

Your newsletter icons could also be combined into a single sprite, cutting two further HTTP requests.

Edit: looking through your CSS there is a lot of excess you can cut out of there. For one you specify the same font-family multiple times across multiple elements. You should consider setting it once for the body and then perhaps a class for where you want the font to be different. You can also use shorthand styles. Instead of
you can write
Also I noticed that you used 'pt' for setting font-size in the footer, which is generally a bad idea as it is an absolute measurement.

For header you have both min-width and width specified in pixels.

In your actual source, you have the doctype specified as XHTML strict, but it currently does not validate. http://validator.w3.org/check?verbos...%3Fmain%3Dhome

Style-wise it looks good. It's clean, and the navigation is clearly visible. It looks virtually the same in IE 6 too, which is a nice touch.

Re: New Holy Cows Website
 

The longer I use the Web, the less I like overblown Web design. With the average Website visitor spending just a few minutes looking for key information, any weird stuff you do, even if it makes your site "cool," is just annoying. Your new site is clean and easy to use. It inflicts little pain on the casual user, and the important stuff is easy to find. I like it.

The only content-based comment I have is that it looks a lot more like a FIRST advertisement than a site dedicated to your team. I'd like to see more emphasis on the Holy Cows on your home page and less on FIRST. If we want FIRST information there are lots of sources, but this is about the only Web presence for your team. Good luck as you flesh out the content.

Re: New Holy Cows Website
 

The first thing i see when i open your page is "about us". And then i'm like wait, what is this and glance around the screen (now this isn't very slow, its about 1-2 seconds at most). I feel like your site is pulling left a little too much. Also, very nice minimalist theme. And i agree with the weirdness about the menu.
Lastly, my biggest pet peeve of websites: no contact. If i wanted to email you about a $1,000 money donation, i wouldn't know what to do ;)