what browser do the judges use.

[Nathan Pell]

Originally Posted by amirjpl

hey
do you guys know what browser the judges use to view the sites.
our website works on every browser except internet explorer. some the best features dont work on ie. i hate microsoft. for once cant they make some thing good. just for once. do you guys know a way that i can make my site cross browser. i use css. so i don't know what more i can do to make my site cross browser. an idea for everyone, stop using ie and move on to something better. like firefox, mozilla, opera, whatever, anything but ie.
please help.
thank you

I was a website judges and used Firefox; I can tell you though after looking at your site, you would loose some points as the FIRST logo is not to specs. It has obviously been resized and has "jagged" edges on it.

[JohnBoucher]

Build your site for your users and not for the award. The criteria for the award is spelled on on page 32 of the awards documentation. It's more about content then technique.

You need to understand your users. Your website goes beyond your team, it reaches your families, your sponsors, your potential sponsors, random surfers, search engines and more. You have no control over how your website is being viewed.

• How many of your users don't have or want to have flash installed?
• How many don't have speakers or have their sound turned off?
• How many surf at 800 x 600?
• How many for security reasons, have java and ActiveX turned off?
• How many have pop-up blockers?
• How many are on corporate systems that will not install the latest and greatest versions of browsers?

That's a short list of what you need to consider when you code for the general public. There is a lot you cannot control. If you code websites for profit, then you must render is all browsers.

FIRST is about teaching you how to succeed beyond FIRST. It is not meant to be easy. If it were, it would not be so much fun.

[felipe.tonello]

About the IE thing.. they really sux because if u will build a website who follow the web standards u should do some hacks to be ok in firefox(and another good browsers) and IE.. and at IE it will be some bugs.. like my team site..

At new jersey regional.. I don't understand till now why team 1089 won.. if someone know a reason please tell me!!

[jonathan lall]

Originally Posted by felipe.tonello

At new jersey regional.. I don't understand till now why team 1089 won.. if someone know a reason please tell me!!

Perhaps because they have a good website?

My guess is that the answer lies on the rubric found in the rulebook; presumably, their site scored a bit higher than your site. A good thing to do would be to go over your site and theirs side by side and compare their features against your site and the rubric. This is always a good thing to do when you're in the running for an award, preferrably before the regional (as long as you don't copy every site feature blatantly like what happened at the GTR, you all know who you are ).

... Incidentally, this has very little to do with the thread.

[artdutra04]

Originally Posted by felipe.tonello

About the IE thing.. they really sux because if u will build a website who follow the web standards u should do some hacks to be ok in firefox(and another good browsers) and IE.. and at IE it will be some bugs.. like my team site..

One answer: browser specific dynamic CSS.

There are many solutions to create "any browser" websites that don't involve hacks; search around on the Internet and you will find more than you can shake a stick at. These solutions will almost always be more efficient than hacks. And besides, Firefox and web-standards browsers should not need hacks - only IE-based browsers need them.

Further more, creating websites that will work in any browser takes time, effort, knowledge, and patience. If you want to win the award, you need to be willing to shell out a lot of these.

[felipe.tonello]

Originally Posted by artdutra04

One answer: browser specific dynamic CSS.

I know that.. when I said hacks I mean that u have to do a specific css for IE and another to the good browsers.. u can see at my team site that we did

<!--[if IE]>
	<link href="imagens/cssIE.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
<![endif]-->

this do the same thing... but it's easier to manipulate..

[lukevanoort]

I'd say make one code as cross platform as possible. The website I made for our team has no content, so we didn't enter it, and I haven't had a chance to add any. (Or even update the version that FIRST links to, its like version 0.7, I'm at 0.9) Anyway, it doesn't have DHTML, CSS, JavaScript, just straight HTML with frames. (Sorry Lynx users...) If the stupid Tripod ads didn't load (Yes, we're trying to find better hosting) it'd have a load speed that is short on a 26k connection. It also should be viewable in any non text-based browser form something like IE 2-4ish (I can't remember exactly) onward. I've tested it in Mozilla Suite, Firefox, Safari, IE, and Opera. Under Windows, OS X and Linux. (Fedora core 3) Never a problem. So, if I ever get enough content in it and update it I'll never have to worry about browser compatibility. (Unless someone is running IE 1 or Lynx, if they're using IE 1 they should be shot)