First I want to congratulate team 145 on creating a website. It can be a valuable resource for recruiting sponsors and new members. So good job!
However, for your website to be an asset to your team it should be very polished and clean.
Before I start the critique I want to tell you that my experience in web design is not extensive. I've made
my own site as well as my team's - that's it.
Secondly, I want to remind you that web design (or just design in general) is about communication. Good design will be obvious. Great design will be transparent (those aren't my own words, but I forgot who said them).
My concerns:
1. When I first visit the site I don't really understand what it's about. There is no unifying message.
2. There isn't a theme - take a look at
Simbotics' website to see what I mean.
3. The "Corny" animation makes it very unprofessional - it reminds me of a little league soccer team
4. The website doesn't meet many of the criteria of the
2010 FIRST web design award a. I can't easily identify your team number, name, or where you are located
b. The FIRST logo is hidden
c. Organization/visually appealing???
d. etc....
5. Many of your links under "Resources" don't relate to your website
6. "Founding Sponsors of FIRST" are unnecessary - once again they don't contribute anything to your website
7. No "Contact Us" Page - like I said, your website can be the most valuable PR tool at your disposal!
8. Put your team's code (C++, Java, LabVIEW) on the "Resources" page
9. Read some books/blogs on web design/user interfaces
10. Go to some of your favorite sites and analyze them. What works? Can you navigate it easy? Why?
11. Have a 3rd party view your website and ask them their opinion. Sometimes we get a preconceived idea of how people will interact with a website and then create something that is a pain to use.
12. Sit down with your marketing team (assuming you have one, if not your main mentor) and brainstorm what you want to communicate to your audience. After that, you need to create a paper-and-pencil layout of how your website should look. What pages do you want on there? An About Us page? A Picture gallery? A Resources page? A Sponsors page? Etc...
13. In summary, you need to build a team "brand".
I don't mean to be harsh, but I hope that my comments help you and your team. I think that you should seriously consider redesigning the site so it is easier to navigate.
Maybe you take a look at a free
css/HTML template. I don't like to see teams use them because students didn't create the entire thing, but that doesn't mean your student web design team can't learn from one. In fact, I learned how to make website from downloading a template and modifying it to my liking.
Once again, I hope that helps you guys out. If you need anything, PM me and I'll get back to you as soon as I (or one of my COMETS team mates) can. Good luck!