Hi all,
Team 3238 has done a lot of work on our team website recently (essentially redesigning the whole thing) and we’re looking for any advice people might have about how to make it better.
The site is at http://team3238.com.
Thanks!
I definitely like the tag line
There is no −1^0.5 in ‘team.’
Didn’t know how to make the square root symbol in the post, so I had to resort to programming speak.
Sweet. Lots of great things going on here.
Looked great on my iPhone. Easy to read on a mobile device, buy I could not play the videos on it.
Your mailto links all end with with a /
[email protected]/
My gmail rejects them for not being properly formed.
Great job.
Go to section 5.7 of the FRC manual and it will link you to http://www.usfirst.org/uploadedFiles/Community/FRC/FRC_Documents_and_Updates/2010%20website%20criteria%20section%20of%20team%20manual.pdf the requirements for winning the web site award. If you do what it has listed for requirements and make sure you have a fair amount of content you will do well.
Think about drop down menus
Hello Team RED,
First-off, I love how your content is written! It shows a ton of personality while getting your message across. I also love the fact that you took the time to learn HTML5 and included good resources.
Here are some of my suggestions:
- Change the background to maybe a lighter shade of red. For those with a higher monitor resolution, the picture (although cool) is a bit distracting.
- Add more pages or add in-page links so that people with a smaller screen don’t have to scroll to the top all the time.
- Your website is W3C valid! Show that fact off by adding a badge.
- Finally try to make sure all of your external links open a new page.
Great job so far! 
I think your website is just fine and very well done. Simple and not obnoxious. Just use FIRST’s guide to add all the other content you need.
In most CAS systems, “-1^0.5” means -(1^0.5) which is -1, not i
**
I like the site. It’s simple to navigate; and I like some of the outside hyperlinks (Namely USFirst.org and Imaginary Numbers :D) It took me a monent to notice the picture in the Welcome box changes with every refresh. That’s a unique feature.
Nice! I love the fact you used html5. Like someone said, your website validates put the badges on! If you put the required content, I’m sure you will be a top competing site.
First off, things I am in love with:
-HTML5 -> great way to show you guys know your stuff!
-jquery = <33333
-i use lynx on a daily basis. glad you support it
next, fix/think about these things:
-your home page title => this is what gets bookmarked, and what people see. It is somewhat redundant.
-css link color - change it so you dont have purple links for the :visited. It just kinda bothers me…
-the font family you are using (firebug was giving me some weird readings) renders your team number kinda weirdly… I would suggest another type
-this is a note, im not testing this but: make sure all the HTML5 things work with older browsers (or do the cop out i did and give an IE6 warning)
-the bottom part of each page should be cleaned up a tad… I would rather see it all fancy center like (and i would switch out summer 2010 to a copyright personally. Thats an opinion though)
-what others said: EXTERNAL LINKS IN NEW PAGE. you could use “$(“a@href^=‘http’]”).attr(‘target’,’_blank’);” but i noticed your top menu uses http links rather than relative links.
-disability validation - whats missing => title and alt on every image.
-when you have links on the menu that lead to blank pages, I would get rid of them until content is there. Never know when a sponsor will look at your site 
-make the css class “dateline” something that doesnt look like links… kinda misleading
-change the validation link on the website page to an actual validation of your website, so they can view in awe your awesomeness.
i must say something here now. I evaluated about 25 websites last year, and a lot had a problem you don’t. You wrote original information on FIRST AND CITED IT CORRECTLY <- LOVE THIS!
… but then i see your FRC logo on the FIRST page, and I think it might violate FIRST image rules D:
-lastly, i feel like if you put the logos of your sponsors on the sponsors page they would be happier. Another pure opinion.
But otherwise, add more content, and you shall be all ready to go!!
Ryan
Thanks for all the tips! It’s really helpful to have extra eyes on the website and some of those suggestions we had not even thought of! Busy with school right now but will work on making the suggested improvements in the coming weeks.
One question regarding alt text: I was under the impression that if there was a caption under the image that explained the image to both image-viewing and non-image-viewing readers, the alt text was unnecessary. Is that the case?
Alt text only needs to convey what would otherwise be missing from the document. You would want to use alt text if there’s a gap between what the image conveys and what the caption says.
However, if you don’t need/want alt text for an image, don’t leave it out. Use an empty alt attribute: alt=""
Also, I have to disagree about external links opening in a new window. From a developer’s point of view, it makes sense as a rule of them. However, don’t assume that every user understands what happens when a new window is opened–they might not even notice it–so they have trouble getting back to the original site. (Why doesn’t the “back” button work?)
Agreed about the blue dates–they look like links, which is a little confusing.
I like the site overall. The structure is simple and clear; when I look at the menu, I immediately know where to find what kind of information. The writing is clear and very well-oriented towards your audience(s).
I’d suggest working with the design of the navigation menu because it is not obvious that the second row of links is subordinate to the first, as opposed to a continuation of the first. In other words, if a user isn’t very perceptive, they might not realize that the second nav bar shows different links on different pages.
Wow. I’m seriously impressed with some of the content on your site. Who ever wrote it knows what they’re talking about.
Where I think the site could use a little more work is in the area of content organization and branding. Both of these areas are major weak points for my team and pretty much every other FRC team out there.
Can’t offer you many suggestions right now as I’m busy writing college application essays, but looks like good work to me.