I wouldn't mind putting together a formal message to TASO if we all contributed to the content. I agree the website is complete garbage and I never go there for anything other than taking the test or registering every year. A lot of it has to do with the operation of the website itself. I'm curious what the general consensus is on what should be changed.
Here are some items I have:
1. The three strikes thing is silly. It doesnt actually lock you out of anything. You just reset your browser and you can try again to brute force your way in. If this is meant as a security measure, it's totally useless. Either REALLY lock the account after 3 unsuccessful tries or after 3 tries, set up a mechanism for users to have their PW reset. Or just let people keep trying to get in, whatever. But it's just an inconvenience for three strikes and it doesn't really solve a problem.
2. The front page of the site isnt bad. I mean, some modern design would be nice but it's "ok" as a landing page. Generally speaking, scrolling boxes inside a page that also scrolls is a bit of a hassle to use, especially on a mobile device. I would suggest condensing content and making the landing page formatted to fit a standard screen res and not scroll. The "News and Notes" box could probably be summarized to the most 5 recent and then have a "more..." if you want to look at more entries. Take the scroll box off of there completely.
3. While we're on the landing page, why is logging in kind of hidden at the top? Can we not just be able to enter our UName/PW directly and log in? Why do I need 2 clicks to do that?
4. There's a "home" link on the Home page. Not really necessary as it doesnt do anything
5. Ok, now let's get into some of the meat of the site itself. Registration doesnt make any sense. You cant log in and register. Why??? Why cant I just log in, click "register for the upcoming ____ season" and have all my info populate the form, pay my dues and be done in 2 seconds? Why do I have to go through and fill everything out that TASO already has? I dont understand why "Membership Renewal" is even showing before you log in. You cant renew if you dont have a TASO ID so why would anyone without one see that link?
6.
The whole thing here needs to be redone. Why is the TASO logo so big and pushing the entire page content down? What is with the calendar? I've never once seen anything put in there and I've never used it. The giant block of text, I guess that's good info for one time, but after that, what use is it? Then, the ENTIRE left side of the page is completely unused. It's just a blue and grey blob of nothing. Why cant we put THIS content in there:
Like I said before, personally this is the only reason I ever go to this site, the test and to register. Why is that not right up at the top where I first look when I go to a page? Just so much dead real estate on this one.
7. The "Sports content" link:
Total total awfulness here. Thrown across the page and I cant even read any of it. Why is this info not just defaulted to show up on the main member page when you log in? Take some of that dead space and throw some of this info up there and throw away and burn this layout.
8. "Logs" link is totally useless info for anyone. Why do I need to know what day and time i signed into the website? The payments info might be useful, but again, why is that not just displayed on the main member page?
9."Edit Account" the content is fine, but it's all scrunched up and the font is very outdated.
10. Overall, I think there needs to be a common look and feel from the start page into the main member area. create some wrappers and every page runs under those.
Anyway, these are my initial first thoughts. Feel free to discuss and add your own.