For technological reasons that you can’t really see when you visit the site, I will soon have to make some changes to the functionality here at BN. The short version is, the framework upon which the site is built is about five years old – that’s a century in modern Internet time. The site still works fine, but the landscape upon which it sits is ever shifting, and it won’t work forever. I’m trying to be proactive and take care of things before any serious issues pop up.
And, since I’m going to have to do some serious tinkering anyway, I thought I would take the opportunity to include you all in a dialogue about the functionality of the site.
What I’d like to hear from you all who are willing to drop your thoughts in the comments:
In terms of the site’s function (not content – we’re talking about how the website, itself, works; we’re not talking about my writing, or the types of posts, or whatever), what are the things that you really want to see preserved? The layout? The alignment of posts? The category system? The “featured” post at the top? The sidebar? Please feel free to get as granular as you want.
What are the things you would rather you didn’t see, or you wish operated differently? Are there features on the homepage or individual post pages that you feel like are totally superfluous? Distracting?
(Yes, there will always have to be advertisements, but you can include stuff about the ads in your comments. Just understand that they keep this place in business and free for you to use, and understand that I’m not asking for your thoughts on the content of the ads. This is all about site functionality.)
Anything else you’d like to share about your experience using this site. If there are other news/sports sites out there whose functionality/layout you really like, share it. If there are specific functions/sections/whatever about other sites out there that you really like, share it.
Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here.
Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.
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NEWSLETTER
For technological reasons that you can’t really see when you visit the site, I will soon have to make some changes to the functionality here at BN. The short version is, the framework upon which the site is built is about five years old – that’s a century in modern Internet time. The site still works fine, but the landscape upon which it sits is ever shifting, and it won’t work forever. I’m trying to be proactive and take care of things before any serious issues pop up.
