The Site
At the beginning of this school year, our team looked at our old website and decided it was time for a change. We reinvented the way our team site works, changing it from the standard HTML and CSS files to a dynamic PHP and SQL database set-up. This new site is a dynamic site, which takes in account for different browsers, mobile viewing SQL command filtering, and much more. Come and explore our new site.
Data Structure:
Our site uses a content managing service called Joomla which allows us to easily regulate and update our site. The main backbone of this site is PHP, a major website design language. PHP is the same code that powers Facebook and many other high end sites. We use a single PHP template file for the entire website, relying on the SQL database to add the content needed for each page. So what exactly does this mean; it means that we create new pages, in minutes without needing to write another HTML file and since most of the content is in the SQL database, it saves storage space and memory.
Multimedia:
Our team is dedicated to getting the word about FIRST Robotics out, so to do that we have created a site to help that. Our site not only includes up to date albums showing off our students progress, but also videos through YouTube to spread the message. We host resources that anyone person, our team or another, can download and use to better help the entire competition.
Information Sharing:
Every student, mentor, and parent has an account to this website, which allows for quick information sharing. This site has an "Internal" section where members can share information and post resources. The server uses PHP mail so that members can quickly send messages to everyone on the team. Also our outreach and promotion team regularly post on our blog so that not only do our students know what is going on, but so do the parents and sponsors of our team.
Efficiency:
In today's society, a 4 second website load time can seem like forever. To fix this, we have configured our site to use GZip. GZip compresses the files that are sent to the client to decrease bandwidth usage and to speed up the connection with the user. Our current site has a 73.1% compression rate to speed up the connection to viewers.
Cross Compatibility:
This site uses different CSS files to accommodate for all the different types of web browsers out there. Be it Firefox, Chrome, or Internet Explorer, the website will display correctly!
Valid Markup:
while designing this site, we took care to make sure that it followed the strict standardized markup rules provided by the World Wide Web Consortium. We were able to create an efficient, good-looking, easy to use website.
