Free Range Robotics' Website is built using Joomla - a dynamic content management system (CMS). This means we can easily add articles and photos etc; and use extensions such as event management, forums and guestbooks. Also, we can control access to certain team documents and forum categories etc. The goal of this site is a central place where vex teams can find all the latest news - photos and videos included, see how our sub teams are going, chat on the forum and find helpful tips on how to build and program robots.
The site is made using Joomla version 2.5.14, and a lot of 3rd party extensions, some of which are:
- jFlickr
- AllVideos Reloaded
- Kunena Forum
- JCE Editor
- Syntax Highlighter
Although the site has not been coded from scratch, most of the extensions have had their CSS modified to fit in with the site template. Some changes have also been made to the HTML and PHP. One of our members has also completely developed the template you are viewing.
A lot of articles are made using plain HTML and inline and external CSS rather than the built-in WYSIWYG editor for greater control over the display. Not including writing the content, hundreds of hours have been put into customizing the site and adding new features.
The ranking of this site is very high (often appearing higher than the official New Zealand VEX Robotics site in search engines!). The site was created by Michael Lawton (aged 16 at the time of starting it), and the current template was made by George Gillard (aged 16 at the time). Any suggestions are welcome.