David Dodds
Administrator
We have considerable known issues and we are still plugging gaps in coverage. So please be patient as we completely convert this to the new look.
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New Site Launched (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter David Dodds
- Start date
David Dodds
Administrator
We will soon also have full site search of articles. This redesign has to be done in stages and this is just stage 1. We still have to convert a lot more pages. But we have a base where we can keep chipping away at things until everything has this new feel with the pull down menus.
David Dodds
Administrator
This has been LONG OVERDUE. Our old site really was a throw back to our considerably lacking web design skills. We know football. Web design and colors....not so much. We brought in a friend of Joe's who is very very good at doing this stuff. Sean will be with us going forward. Expect the look to keep getting better and better going forward.Love the new look...
Dr. Doofenshmirtz
Footballguy
I like it as well and psyched for the iphone app
David Dodds
Administrator
Doug and Bruce have been on a tear the last week on this. When I get a chance I will add more screen shots to what they have created. It is way better than we are showing now. We have 5 years worth of a players game recaps (stats and text) in this now. We have schedules. We have links where you can see how well the Jets shut down WRs or RBs the last three years on a game-by-game basis. Our once mini player pages have blossomed into really great player pages. Need demographics, unhide. Need career stats, unhide them. Need game logs...you see the pattern. We have made the small screen come to life. Oh and did I mention you can see all of the staff's rankings per player....LOL. This app will be a MUST-HAVE for fantasy players. I am certain of that. And we are really just getting going here.
Sup_Yo
Footballguy
Tanner9919
Footballguy
David
is there a network issue at FBG's? reason I ask, I see severe latency when posting at times, pages load slowly,etc..
I'm behind a t-3 line
at other times things seem lightning fast..
is there a network issue at FBG's? reason I ask, I see severe latency when posting at times, pages load slowly,etc..
I'm behind a t-3 line
at other times things seem lightning fast..
David Dodds
Administrator
Keith just updated the forums to a lightning fast server. Usually when pages hang it's because of the ads we run on them (or some router on the world wide web that is down). That's the dilemma we face using an outside service for ads. And although the easy answer I suppose would be to not run ads, the forums are extremely costly to run and maintain. And the ad money pays for them and a lot of our free content (podcasts, news, etc). So it's a trade off we generally have had to deal with. I generally send Keith a note (overton@footballguys.com) if you think pages are slow loading. He can run a lot of diagnostics to see if anything is happening on the server end.
Donsmith753
Footballguy
I have the exact same problem.
Wyld Stallyns
Footballguy
healthpellets
Footballguy
david.are you guys just limiting yourself to iPhone? or can we expect something similar for Android phones as well?
Dr. Doofenshmirtz
Footballguy
That is great, BUT, I would think you would want to leave the rankings out since it is a free app. Doesnt matter to me either way since I have a 3 year subscription which I just reupped. But if I am a new person to the site and I can get the info for free, I may not pay for it.
Hi Health,Yes, Android is definitely in the plans. No time frame yet as Bruce and Doug have poured everything into the iPhone app. But I'm a huge believer in not betting against Google. I'm convinced Android will be a power and we absolutely will be on board with that in the future.J
David Dodds
Administrator
Rankings are free until July 15th now. That's how this will work too. People will be able to get free info during the free period
David Dodds
Administrator
We have a mobile version that exists concurrently here. We just have to provide people with the link. We are waiting to have the iPhone app approved and then we will roll out both together.
Thanks supyo. This thing has been a lot of fun to see come together. From a bigger picture angle, it's been fun to watch this flow through our company. We were sitting at my kitchen table in March when this idea came up. We literally went from zero ability to do an app to having this in that short time period. Hats off to our Bruce Henderson for diving in and learning the Apple App programming from a base of nothing to having this ready now. Doug Drinen was a huge help too as he's the database guru and the app needs all that content. It was just enjoyable to see it go from nothing to reality in a really fast time. And this is just the start.JThis is going to be amazing!!!
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Thanks Cassius. We've almost done this each of the past several years but never bit the bullet. We couldn't wait any longer and adding my friend Sean to the mix and bringing him on staff was the game changer for us. He was excellent to work with for me as he walked that sometimes tough balance of making it look like he thought was great and also doing what I wanted as the "client". I'm pleased with it.
As David said, lots and lots of polishing still to do. But the ropes are cut loose and we're pushing off from the dock.
J
Thanks Crazy8. You hit a great point there. I know it sounds corny but this really is a thing where we are moving forward. You guys are and always have been the key part of all of this.
J
Black
Footballguy
I really like the new look. Very easy on the eyes and quick scan of the home page, I can already find most of the stuff I look for right away.Well done!
Lord Fantasy
Footballguy
Well done. Love that I can use drop-down tabs to get to any part of the site from the front page. You've just cut my fantasy bookmarks in half.
Papa Schnay
Footballguy
Thanks CA. I doubt anyone is interested but for you design guys, a little backstory. The huge problem we've always faced is how to balanceClean look vs Showing the tons of content we haveMy pet peeve is hearing people say, "it needs to be clean and simple like google". That's awesome if your entire business is a search box. That doesn't translate to us at all. As I dug into this, it quickly became evident that sites like Foodnetwork.com or Bestbuy.com were a lot more comparable to what we're trying to do. And that is essentially take a huge amount of information but organize it cleanly. The "breakthrough" moment for me was when I came upon one of the design guys blog post about the mega drop down menus. You see them in lots of places now but it was the thing that's allowed us to have lots of tabs without really having lots of tabs. I'm still not in love with how we had to choose categories for some but I'm ok. Condensing down really is the hardest part. Thanks for the good words - it's been a fun process.J
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David Dodds
Administrator
Yes we were waiting for Invision to support it. They now do, but it will take updating our forums. I believe Keith has that scheduled a few weeks from now.
David Dodds
Administrator
The rankings are pretty much live now (We plan on calling out tonight in the email update as I have not submitted yet). I will add those links back in on both the Fly-aways and the rankings pages.
Papa Schnay
Footballguy
Dr. Doofenshmirtz
Footballguy
THIS is better news for me then the iphone app
I'm pretty excited about this feature. I'm glad to see message boards get some love on new technology stuff like this. With all the foursquare / twitter / buzz / facebook social media cool things, it seems like the good old tried and true boards get overlooked sometimes. For lots of things, they're a great social media outlet.
J
Nick Vermeil
Footballguy
I agree with this. IMHO I would say the middle window with the NFL Draft, Bloom's 100, etc. and the preview of each section should be the same size top to bottom as the "latest news" pane. Move the award ad, testimonials, audible button and all that stuff down below that or stack them under the "daily email Signup" pane. Also, a lot of navy blue here. I would drop it as the background color of the audible, testimonials and daily email signup.
David Dodds
Administrator
http://footballguys.com/10iphonepeek.php
I just added 6 new screen shots (the last ones on the page). I told you this was getting good.
I just added 6 new screen shots (the last ones on the page). I told you this was getting good.
Buddy Ball 2K3
Footballguy
Awesome. Can not wait for this. Love the new look as well.
stugnut
Footballguy
BroncoFreak_2K3
sucker for Orange
fugly
Jason Wood
Zoo York
Thanks for the value add. Care to elaborate constructively?
BroncoFreak_2K3
sucker for Orange
I did.
Jason Wood
Zoo York
I love your community building spirit.
Mister CIA
Footballguy
guderian
Footballguy
Nice job, it's a big improvement. 
A few minor suggestions:
1. It does look a little crowded. The buttons in the middle titled "FSTA, Audible, Our Staff, Testimonials, Other stuff from FBGS" all have different colors and graphics combinations. I think it would look less cluttered if they were all part of a single box and formatted similarly. For example, the "3 easy steps for dominating your league" looks great and is very easy to understand. Maybe you could run those middle buttons down the side under "sign up now" and format them similarly like you did in the "3 easy steps".
2. I like the pull-down menus. Is there anyway to get all of the sub-menus into a single column and condense them a little? Maybe when I scroll over "Forecast" if it would have "My FBGs" and eliminate "create a profile" and "sync with MFL". I'll rarely every use those options and when I do I can just click on "My FBGs", for instance.
A few minor suggestions:
1. It does look a little crowded. The buttons in the middle titled "FSTA, Audible, Our Staff, Testimonials, Other stuff from FBGS" all have different colors and graphics combinations. I think it would look less cluttered if they were all part of a single box and formatted similarly. For example, the "3 easy steps for dominating your league" looks great and is very easy to understand. Maybe you could run those middle buttons down the side under "sign up now" and format them similarly like you did in the "3 easy steps".
2. I like the pull-down menus. Is there anyway to get all of the sub-menus into a single column and condense them a little? Maybe when I scroll over "Forecast" if it would have "My FBGs" and eliminate "create a profile" and "sync with MFL". I'll rarely every use those options and when I do I can just click on "My FBGs", for instance.
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No worries. I knew going in we'd never have everyone like it. That's to be expected and it's all good.J
phthalatemagic
Footballguy
Pull down menus -
It's very cluttery. It's almost as bad as thehuddle.
It's very cluttery. It's almost as bad as thehuddle.
GregR_2
Footballguy
Agreed. I'd go beyond saying it looks cramped and say it's kind of painful to look at. That's your prime real estate, the place that people's eyes go and give the first impression of the site. With 7 different boxes crammed in there the first impression is more of a roadside bulletin board that no one has bothered to clean out in awhile.Compare it to ESPN's NFL page. The same amount of space you're using for 7 images gets a single image on ESPN which is their headline story. Somewhere you start out focusing on and it looks good, before starting to look over the rest of the page for other content. Moving those other 6 links elsewhere and using that whole space for the scrolling image would, I imagine, make it look much better.
