Project NEO Team 1164 website

[mramirez15220]

This is our first time using google sites. Our challenge is getting validated with our limited knowledge in html, any suggestions?
http://www.projectneo.net

[JohnBoucher]

Using Google sites is a great way to get started, but it will not validate. It is their framework that the issues are with. It's a great site with lots of info. I would look to secure web hosting for next year and move from Google sites.

[zim2411]

Honestly, validation isn't really important. Some of the best sites out there don't validate -- most Google products fail validation completely, but they still work just fine cross browser wise. Focus on content.

[johnmaguire2013]

Originally Posted by zim2411

Honestly, validation isn't really important. Some of the best sites out there don't validate -- most Google products fail validation completely, but they still work just fine cross browser wise. Focus on content.

While you are correct that many of the big name sites don't validate, I disagree that it isn't important. I have a few reasons to back this up:

1. You lose points for the Website Award by not being valid.
2. The more correct tags you use, and working (X)HTML, the better bots will crawl your page for content, and understand what the content is.
3. Deviating from standards is what invented the <blink> and <marquee> tags during the browser war.
4. Standards make sure that anyone can pick up the language with an understanding of what is, and what isn't correct, and therefore makes it more maintainable.
5. Just because it works now, without standards, in "most browsers," doesn't mean it will in the future. Following standards ensures that your site should always be cross-browser compatible (except in rare cases where browsers haven't adopted the standards correctly, in which case it is no longer your fault.)

[robonis]

Great site! It's quite informative though I would suggest including more information about FIRST such as brief descriptions of FRC, FTC, and FLL and also including information about the 2012 game.
Graphics could use some work it would be nice if the drop down menu were a darker orange so that it would be more distinct. The text on the summary of the front page could be a slightly bigger font so that it is more readable.
The "Rebound Rumble" logos around the news seems unnecessary on the first page and a good idea would be to just add a solid border for the news and have a decently sized rebound rumble logo image on top linking to a page giving a brief game description.
Not much can be done in terms of HTML or CSS validation because of Google, but you can colorblind validate your site at: http://colorfilter.wickline.org/
The Website Award criteria includes bonus points for handicap enabled so having it colorblind validated seems like a good idea.
Overall it's a great site and I like the fact that it loads fast and all of the content right away, a lot of sites which I have seen have heavy scripts, flash, and images that make the website look great but really take away from the content which is the thing that really matters. The websites that win the regionals might not look amazing but have a lot of content that is useful to other teams and team members.

[robonis]

Great site! It's quite informative though I would suggest including more information about FIRST such as brief descriptions of FRC, FTC, and FLL and also including information about the 2012 game.
Graphics could use some work it would be nice if the drop down menu were a darker orange so that it would be more distinct. The text on the summary of the front page could be a slightly bigger font so that it is more readable.
The "Rebound Rumble" logos around the news seems unnecessary on the first page and a good idea would be to just add a solid border for the news and have a decently sized rebound rumble logo image on top linking to a page giving a brief game description.
Not much can be done in terms of HTML or CSS validation because of Google, but you can colorblind validate your site at: http://colorfilter.wickline.org/
The Website Award criteria includes bonus points for handicap enabled so having it colorblind validated seems like a good idea.
Overall it's a great site and I like the fact that it loads fast and all of the content right away, a lot of sites which I have seen have heavy scripts, flash, and images that make the website look great but really take away from the content which is the thing that really matters. The websites that win the regionals might not look amazing but have a lot of content that is useful to other teams and team members.