As we promised on March 5th, a lot of things were going to start happening on the website… We’re still working on things, but a lot has happened since then. The first major change, many of you will have noticed. We have redesigned parts of the website to use a blue, and white color scheme, as opposed to our black and blue scheme.

Some of our minor changes include:

• Administration Upgrades: We have redesigned our control panel so that we can work on the site much faster. We have recoded our page titling system, and added some new code to make our site more search engine friendly. These changes aren’t immediately visible, but they will enhance your browsing experience.
• All pages have been brought up to date to reflect 2009-2010 season information. Some of the pages that have notably changed are the staff listing page, which now has this years staff and mentors; and the competition information pages. The members page also has our current team organizational chart.
• The social media page is now a custom coded timeline. It pulls from all of our various networks, and integrates into one timeline. We have removed the javascript and flash widgets from twitter and the like.
• The video page now loads much faster. Instead of preloading several youtube videos, the page will now dynamically load only the video(s) you wish to play.
• Mailing List. As we mentioned earlier, we now have a mailing list. We’re preparing to send out our first newsletter, and would be excited if you were a part of it. Sign up here.
• Slideshows in the photo galleries. We have fixed the flash player that is used to display animated slideshows. Everything should be working now.
• Share / Bookmark system. Every page, and every post now has the option to share the page with your favorite social networking site, bookmarking site, or by email / bookmark.

A lot has been happening on the build side as well. The main part of our rov frame is completed, and work on our manipulators, and electronics can is being started.  Our new members are building a small rov so that they may learn the basics of ROV mechanics, balancing, and engineering.

Our mission / props department is working on building the props. They recently completed the vent chimney for the MATE competition, and completed a breakdown list of all the possible points for the competition.

Stay Tuned. More will coming from us soon. Greg Marchese, over and out.

A couple things.

First off, We apologize for the lack of recent site updates. We are really busy and haven’t had time to get recent build logs online. A lot of things are being actively worked on, including the site.

Secondly, expect new things soon. We created a system for getting information from our various departments onto the site.  This system allows our department leads to get info online a lot sooner; and lessens the workload on our Public Relations team. We have a number of things to upload, andare wroking on getting them uploaded.

Third, and most importantly. We have a mailing list now. We request that you register for this low-volume list.  This year, one of our goals is to strengthen our connections with our followers, and more specifically, the alumni of Jesuit Robotics.

http://jesuitrobotics.org/photos/

Changes include:

• New Icon (see your url box!)
• New Theme (it’s our teams colors now!)
• New gallery (pictures of the 2009 season!)
• The people page has this years staff.
• We have our logo uploaded and embedded in our site header!
• Our blog is fully iPhone capable (the pages render in iPhone mobile format)

Anyways, Happy New Years from the Jesuit Robotics Team!