Is using wix.com legal for the website competition?
Thanks!
In the past there have been no restrictions on the software teams are allowed to use to create their sites. The criteria will be in the manual and I sugest you layout the type of site you want but wait for those before you choose to use a template like this.
It really depends on content vs layout, i mean even using a MySpace page as your teams website is technically legal. Will it win you awards? Probably not. I would encourage designing a site from scratch, if you have the resources. Ive been web designing/developing for about 8 years and Ive never used a template for any site i have done [that includes team sites], I’m a fan of graphically stunning non-template sites. I can tell you first hand that most website evaluators will look at the content that you have written for the site, such as how well it reflects your team and community and your relationship with your community/sponsors/school.
Hope that helps a bit.
Here is the obligatory the rules haven’t been released yet post.
Odds are that they website competition rules will be similar to what they were last year, so familiarity with them will help with a quicker uptake of the 2009 rules.
Wetzel
Thanks for the information!
I don’t think using a tool to create a product should be looked down upon automatically. It depends on what you do with the tool.
We don’t expect our teams to build their robots using only their wits and hand tools. But neither would we be pleased if they used some marvelous tool that only required feeding in the design created by some outside vendor and voila, there’s a robot! The same thing applies to website design. If you only use the tools and templates given, plopping in your text and logo where appropriate, you haven’t done much in the way of creating a product. If you use a design tool to help you make a creative website, you have accomplished the task at hand.
We don’t have to reinvent the wheel every year. (We have AndyMark to do that for us.)