Team 1346 - Trobotics

[billyea]

http://trobotics.ca

This website looks very similar to last year's website without the top and bottom bars, but that's where the similarities end.

The site has been rewritten from the ground up. Behind the scenes lies a layout engine that reads XML and spits out pages. This means content is no longer locked in SWF files, but can be parsed elsewhere and edited without Flash. Enhancements have been made across the board to improve speed, accessibility, and flexibility.

There are still some additions I'd like to make, but the site is more or less done at this point!

Check it out and please report any bugs!

[Akash Rastogi]

That site is just pure sick. I have to admit though, it took me a while to find the navigation menu on the left.

[billyea]

Yep, I was afraid that might be a problem. If a sign popped up on the first run of the site, telling you how to open up the navigation, would that be an appropriate solution?

[Eugene Fang]

Originally Posted by billyea

Yep, I was afraid that might be a problem. If a sign popped up on the first run of the site, telling you how to open up the navigation, would that be an appropriate solution?

you could just make the word "navigate" a bit bigger

[billyea]

Done, the word "navigate" is now painfully obvious.
Also, the new gallery allows for slideshows!

[JesseK]

The navigation bar pops up when you first open the site, and I think it serves its purpose well.

The site looks great and is fairly well organised! For a student built site, it even rivals my favorite flash site:

www.2advanced.com

[billyea]

I've gone and made a few adjustments to the site:
The gallery now has a better transition.
You can navigate to a submenu by hovering your mouse over a navigation button for about 2 seconds, which looks neater in practice than I thought it would.
Also some changes to the intro, preloader, and a large amount of changes to the backend to include rectangle rendering.

[billyea]

We won the Website Award at the Microsoft Seattle Regional!
Any advice on how to improve the site for the championsips?

[teampronto]

Yeah nice work winning at Seattle! I would recommend adding a background to the site instead of just white. Good luck guys!

[keehun]

I would make sure to hide events that have passed already.

Otherwise, as a flash dev myself, the site looks very usable and good.

[Malice]

Wow, amazing site! I can't believe you guys even have compatibility for mobile. A good idea, I think.

What I think you guys are missing is more reminder of your team number. I see your team name, Trobotics, everywhere, but I hardly remember your team number.

On a widescreen (say 1280px in width), your site is a little awkward to look at. There is a lot of empty space and it does over power the content section of your site. It looks alright on a 1024x768 though.

And opening new links is pain because they open up as pop-up windows.

Just a coupla cents. (:

[RyanCesiel]

I really like this site and it's one of the best team sites out there. However, like others said, the white background makes the site feel kind of empty. It might be nice to have a full-screen version for next year.

By the way, I'm also very impressed with loading times (for a flash site).

[billyea]

Originally Posted by teampronto

I would recommend adding a background to the site instead of just white. Good luck guys!

Originally Posted by Malice

On a widescreen (say 1280px in width), your site is a little awkward to look at. There is a lot of empty space and it does over power the content section of your site. It looks alright on a 1024x768 though.

Originally Posted by RyanCesiel

However, like others said, the white background makes the site feel kind of empty. It might be nice to have a full-screen version for next year.

You've asked: you get! Visit the site with your browser window set to 1200px in width or higher and tell me if that fixed the problem.

[billyea]

Originally Posted by keehun

I would make sure to hide events that have passed already.

Removed 1 event.
Also, added photos from the Microsoft Seattle Regional!