New Spiffy Team237.com website. New and improved for the 2005 season.

[Elgin Clock]

So.. after many months of coding and drinking caffeine to the most unsafe limits, our webteam over here at Team 237 have come up with a spiffy new site.

Check it out at www.team237.com


Comments and questions are always accepted...

Feel free to browse and thank you for flying Team237.com

Check out the image gallery.. That's my favorite part of the project, since about half the pics there are mine. (or not...)



(btw, Team237.com is not a real airline, I was kidding about the flying part.. )

[Katie Reynolds]

I always wondered how something could be new and improved. Because, if it's new, then there couldn't have been anything preceding that. And if it's improved, then there must have already been something there!

Anyway, it looks great - I especially like the History and Gallery pages. Good job!

[K.Shaw]

woohoo great site! .....why thank you ahaha lol

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by Katie Reynolds

I always wondered how something could be new and improved. Because, if it's new, then there couldn't have been anything preceding that. And if it's improved, then there must have already been something there!

Umm.. too much logic.. must.. try.. to understand..
Does not compute. DANGER, DANGER!!!!

Originally Posted by K.Shaw

woohoo great site! .....why thank you ahaha lol

You'll have to excuse K's enthusiasm.. He's one of the website designers/coders and has consumed way too much caffeine working on the site.

edit: Maybe I have too.. You never know.

[Joe Matt]

Sorry to ruin your day Elgin, I really love you man, but that website needs some TLC. Here's some problems...

a.) the blue colored background hurts the eyes, try a different shade.
b.) get new buttons. the whole hippie 60s thing won't get you any awards, although it is psychedelic!
c.) In your "The Team" site, try to center the bottom button links.
d.) Do you need the game design permanently on the front page?

Here are some solutions:

a.) Try to place the text in a separate color box type thing to help it stand out.
b.) Create a 'Current Game' page, that'll help with the clutter on the front page.
c.) New buttons!!!!!

There is one nice thing I love and we hopefully will have this year is a history page.

Sorry to be so negative, but I know that a good recommendations and comments make a great website!

[Roland]

Oh god, my eyes! White on blue - at least that shade of blue - doesn't look all that hot. Even switching to something like #000033 would be an improvement.

What's with the groovy buttons? They don't seem to fit with anything else on the page. Same goes for the goofy Flash logo.

You don't seem to have a consistent look across all the pages of the site aside from the white text on the blue background. Also, does your team actually use the forum much?

Just a few small changes could make the site a lot friendlier and more useful: get rid of the broken counter, move the website excellence award to the bottom with all the other awards and stuff, rethink the disco buttons.

[Greg Marra]

I would have to say that those colors are pretty glaring. You might want to consider darking up the blue if you're going to use white, or lightening it up and using black. The site is nice, it's just... BRIGHT!

Or maybe you could change to one of those dark greens in the buttons and use white or black against it. That might look snazzy.

[Elgin Clock]

OK.. As for colors.. Our "official" team colors are Blue and White.

One of our "unofficial" colors are orange. Just because that every robot we have had (orange) flames on have done good in regionals.

As for "hippy" buttons. Those were made in flash and done to match the color scheme of the rest of the site and the team. They are not "hippy-esque" but I guess a lot of people don't like them. I don't know why. I guess people are afraid of change. They're a whole lot better than normal text links.
Same as the header logo (Done in Flash to match the site and colors).

As for Game info on the front page all the time. In a word. Yes.
When people visit the site, we want them to know what our main focus is at a glance. The game is the main focus, along with other things.. but when it all comes down to it, none of the rest of the technical or other aspects of FIRST would exist without the game.

What is not consistent? The only pages that are not truly the same across the board is the gallery, and the forum. The reason for that is because we don't want to implement frames in the design to make the gallery or the forum a separate frame than the nav buttons.
That may change in time though.. I'm not sure.

Also, what broken counter? The one for the Mini-Comp? That's being redone. We just have to actually do it..

[Joe Matt]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

OK.. As for colors.. Our "official" team colors are Blue and White.

One of our "unofficial" colors are orange. Just because that every robot we have had (orange) flames on have done good in regionals.

As for "hippy" buttons. Those were made in flash and done to match the color scheme of the rest of the site and the team. They are not "hippy-esque" but I guess a lot of people don't like them. I don't know why. I guess people are afraid of change. They're a whole lot better than normal text links.
Same as the header logo (Done in Flash to match the site and colors).

As for Game info on the front page all the time. In a word. Yes.
When people visit the site, we want them to know what our main focus is at a glance. The game is the main focus, along with other things.. but when it all comes down to it, none of the rest of the technical or other aspects of FIRST would exist without the game.

What is not consistent? The only pages that are not truly the same across the board is the gallery, and the forum. The reason for that is because we don't want to implement frames in the design to make the gallery or the forum a separate frame than the nav buttons.
That may change in time though.. I'm not sure.

Also, what broken counter? The one for the Mini-Comp? That's being redone. We just have to actually do it..

Elgin, our official colors are orange and blue, but are the everywhere? No. You NEED to create a aesthetically pleasing color scheme. In the end, a website is a book, while you might like the cover art and the words inside, it's those pictures and content that SELLS the book. Your site doesn't sell your great team. I WANT you guys to win the website award, but I think right now you guys won't win it if you face stiff competition.

[K.Shaw]

one of the main things on the criteria to win the website award is if the site carries the teams colors... not to mention its not that bad....hippy buttons are new different and exciting its called art people...and the site needs an update whenever i get a chance to actually work on it....stupid school and work..

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Originally Posted by K.Shaw

one of the main things on the criteria to wint he website award is if the site carries the teams colors... not to mention its not that bad....hippy buttons are new different and exciting its called art people...and the site needs an update whenever i get a chance to actually work on it....stupid school and work..

So you design your website just for the criteria?! And theres a difference between art geared sites and professional geared sites. Just because something is flashy doesnt make it "pretty" If you look at some of the best sites in FIRST (Cybersonics.. Rage.. etc), you will notice a reoccuring theme. They all use a very bold, professional looking color scheme and a theme. For some reason hippie buttons and a metallic looking gallery dont seem to be on the same page in my mind. Dont take anything posted here personally, we are just critiquing your layout.

But then again.. we are going up against you in the website design award at our regionals and we have a few tricks up our sleeves so maybe i shouldnt be telling you how to improve