FIRST Website

FIRST General Forum
#80

Probably! I tend to miss a lot of boats. This tends to be a problem because I am usually the boat operator! :wink: Anyway, it still just seems to me that FIRST is alienating their existing customers trying to attract new customers. I don’t see why at the very least they couldn’t leave their old site up for the added content and put a link to it on the new site somewhere until they get the new site completed. My worry is that this IS the completed new site and they are not actively updating it with new “old” content which is of great value to both new and veteran teams. I have been waiting but haven’t seen any significant changes since the new site went live. FIRST’s “we will consider it” response just isn’t leaving me with a warm and fuzzy feeling. Hopefully I’m worried for no reason.

#81

FIRST I hope will get away from that mentality of giving everyone the warm and fuzzies. I do in fact loathe that phrase as its used way too often in regards to FRC.

Also, leaving a link for the old site would kind of defeat the purpose of revamping the site towards the new wouldn’t it? I’m sure they will in time bring back SOME of the old content, but thinking you’ll see all that was before is a pipe dream at best it looks like.

#82

I don’t think so. It’s like when WUSC-FM went from the Cartworks system to AudioVault. For about a semester or so, we had both systems functioning and on the board in the control room, so that we could continue to work under the system we knew while transitioning to the new one. Eventually Cartworks was removed from the board, after everyone had a chance to get used to the new system and get their data onto it. (Cartworks was also handy for those rare occasions early on when AudioVault was down or being fiddled with.)

#83

There is a web feedback page. I think that if FIRST starts hearing from people about what they really miss, it might help get this information back on the site. Keep your request short and polite. Include an example of what you would like to see. Let’s help FIRST to realize this is a priority.

#84

I like it, to me it is intuitive, and things are relatively easy to find.

Kudos to FIRST!

#85

I can not give feed back because I can not access the site. Is anyone else having trouble getting the website to work? I have two different computers at home so I do not think it is the computers.

#86

As of right now I can get to usfirst.org

#87

I also cant access the FIRST web site since late last night I just get a message that there is an error loading the page, maybe they are updating info , or even taking the ideas from this thread to change things.

#88

Works just fine for me.

#89

If you cant get the home page to load maybe they had to update the DNS and its still getting circulated.

#90

I was just thinking… A lot of people are complaining about how they don’t like the new layout of the FIRST website, so here is my question, based on last year’s scoring criteria for the web award. How would you grade USFIRST.org?

The grading criteria is here page 30-32.

#91

I don’t like the new website. I thought I would get used to it: no dice.

I say it gets a 70-75, based on that scale.

#92

using the criteria from last years manual, I could see the site getting an 85/100.
I looked at that information and that is what I felt. Anyone want to agree?

#93

I’d give it a 50.

#94

At first I thought it was great but it is very laggy and has been very slow recently atleast for me and I have a Cable Modem.

Pavan.

#95

I agree. This site is for those with check books, free time to mentor or help with regionals, or the press.

I want a unified site for FRC, FVC, and FLL that cuts through all the PR BS and stuff (seriously, a video for us on Gracious Professionalism?) that’s not aimed at us and a more direct, stripped down site for accessing information, stats, and other things.

#96

The new site is meant for new people.
That being said I’m not a big fan of the new layout. It seems like there are too many menus to go through to get to what you want. I do like how it is easy to access the mass email archives. I also have a hard time finding some more technical things while it is easier to find documents that might be nice to if you are interested in forming a team.

#97

~
Just some quick links to past regional events, since people seem to regret the sudden demise of many of the history pages. Hopefully, this will help teams scouting other teams through their past records. Although you shouldn’t click any of the links in the history pages, as most are broken.

The rankings of the Qualifying Matches for Silicon Valley Regional in the FRC in 2006.
http://www2.usfirst.org/2006comp/Events/SJ/rankings.html

If you want to view the ranking from previous years or other regionals then change the bolded:
http://www2.usfirst.org/[b]2006comp/Events/SJ/rankings.html
TO
http://www2.usfirst.org/[b]2005comp/Events/SC/rankings.html

You just need to know the code for the different regionals. Some include for the 2006 Regionals:
AZ: Arizona Regional
SAC: Davis Sacramento Regional
CA: Southern California Regional
SC: Palmetto Regional
SJ: Silicon Valley Regional
CO: Colorado Regional
CT: UTC New England Regional
FL: Florida Regional
GA: Peachtree Regional
IL: Midwest Regional
…and so on.

To help find the area code for the regionals I used the very useful regional index,
https://my.usfirst.org/myarea/index.lasso?page=eventsearch&menu=true&rcl=true&area=&event_type=ALL
and moused over the name of my regional revealing the area code.

For example when I clicked the Arizona Regional, it redirected me to,
https://my.usfirst.org/myarea/index.lasso?event_type=FRC#[b]AZ
which reveals the area code. However some regionals did not carry over their previous year’s code and will not work…

Another useful page is the Awards Page.
Below are the teams and/or people who won awards during the Silicon Valley Regional in the FRC in 2006.
http://www2.usfirst.org/2006comp/Events/SJ/awards.html

Just follow the steps stated above to find the different regionals and years by changing the bolded.
http://www2.usfirst.org/[b]2006comp/Events/SJ/awards.html

And similarly, the Elimination Matches Page.
http://www2.usfirst.org/[b]2006comp/Events/SJ/matches.html
Once again, use the steps above to find different regionals and years…

If any of this was stated previously, I apologize for not searching through this thread more thoroughly, if not, enjoy! :slight_smile:
~

#98

You can find almost all of the content (including game manuals, rankings, match results, etc.) from the old FIRST website here in the Internet Archive:

http://web.archive.org/web/sr_1nr_1000/http://www2.usfirst.org/

#99

I believe that the manual PDFs are copyrighted, so we can’t host them on our own servers, but I am seriously considering re-indexing what they have. (also might ask permission to mirror the PDFs, not sure if they will grant it)

I mean, if we don’t like what they are doing with the site (which I don’t–the old design was hard to navigate, the new design is horrible) we can do something about it.

I do wish the menus weren’t javascript. Blech.

JBot