We use a custom built theme which incorporates new web standards like HTML5 semantics and CSS3 styling, while maintaining compatibility with older web browsers and becoming more accessible to everyone. The industry-standard content management system Drupal gives us the frameworks to create this rich web experience.
Design
Because of our attention to detail, the streamlined layout is significantly more aesthetically pleasing. Using a theme built from the ground up allows us to feature team branding while creating a consistent user experience throughout the entire website.
Structure
Website organization has been completely revamped to allow for a more intuitive navigation experience, including a more natural, hierarchical menu and URL structure. Last year we introduced cross-referencing for related information to make finding revenant content easier. We improved upon this by creating a brand new interface for the FIRST and VEX sections which features all content related to any season.
Content
Our website is full of content aimed at both documenting our own teams past, as well as helping other teams' futures. We have focused on making our resources available for other teams, including an entire Kitbot on Steroids guide, our entire Textbook for Success, and our scouting database.
Content creation
Webmasters and team members alike have ability to participate and collaborate by posting to our members-only forum, submitting photo galleries and other content. This enables members without any previous coding knowledge to actively participate on the website content, while members with a more technical background can focus their efforts on the behavioral aspects of the website.
Maintainability
As opposed to reinventing the wheel and indulging in a new content management system, we opted to use the open source Drupal architecture to develop a new Simbotics website. There is a steep learning curve when beginning Drupal because of its robust nature, but we were able to learn it thoroughly. We have implemented features in an effort to future-proof our website and ensure all content can now easily be migrated to a new design, when necessary.
Browser compatibility
Simbotics.org is compatible with all major web browsers, including support for Internet Explorer 6+. Although we are using the latest technology while applying fundamental standards of web design, our website is able to function effectively with older browsers or with functionalities disabled (e.g. JavaScript).
We have a mobile version of the website that will work with all smart phones (iPhone, Android, Blackberry, etc.).
In addition, there is also a print-specific version of the site to ensure optimal ink and paper usage.
Accessibility
Reaching the largest audience possible is important to us, which includes adding support for people with disabilities. Browsing the website using a screen reader is easy because we have implemented quick screen-reader links to skip directly into the main content. Other features like text versions for non-textual object and new HTML5 semantic elements (time, nav, header, ect.) also ensure every person or machine is able to access the site.
Performance and scalability
Having a quick website is essential and we achieved this using multiple different layers of caching. When a user visits the website they will simply hit a gzipped plain html file instead of a heavy database driven page. Externally, we also make use of the Cloudflare service to dramatically help website speed and reduce bandwidth.