We’ve already teased you once when we revealed the new Bloody Elbow logo, but here I am to do it again by giving you an advance look at how Bloody Elbow is going to look in the near future with the release of SB Nation United.
But, before we get to the screen shots and all the pretty pictures, let’s talk about some of the great things that are going to come along with the release.
- The release will result in better site load times and the sites will run more smoothly. But all of the best parts of the site will remain. Our comment system is only going to run better, the fanshots and fanposts aren’t going anywhere..etc.
- The modern design will feature less clutter and allow us the flexibility to keep our top stories, previews, technique breakdowns, analysis in featured spots without disrupting the standard flow of all the biggest and best news that Bloody Elbow has become known for.
- The redesign will allow for a seamless experience regardless of what platform you’re on. Mobile, tablet, PC it’s all going to have the same experience and flavor.
I’ve been playing in our test environment for days and I can promise you that this is going to be an amazing leap forward for the site and will be a great thing for you as a reader. Is it going to take a little getting used to after years and years of reading Bloody Elbow the same way? Probably, but it’s going to make the site so much better and offer us the flexibility to do things we never could in the past.
When this releases (soon, don’t ask for a specific date as I’m not giving you one), it’s going to be a great thing.
Now, to the pretty pictures…
First up, some shots of our ability to feature our top stories in different ways:
One of the interesting new features is that FanPosts will have their own dedicated section. The newest bunch will still show up on the front page in an easy to see way, but they will have a complete section where you can go check out things that other Bloody Elbow readers have produced:
Another huge thing for the site will be StoryStream technology. StoryStreams have been around the main SBNation.com site for some time, so you may be a little familiar with them already. But generally, they’re a place where we can contain all the updates to one story. For example, when the Dan Henderson/Jon Jones/UFC 151 fiasco went down, rather than flooding the front page with 12 different stories in a row all about that one topic, in the future, they’ll be placed into a StoryStream.
This will allow you to go into the StoryStream and see all the updates on the story, from Henderson pulling out of the fight, to possible replacements, to the event cancellation, to all the fallout…all in ONE place.
A look:
Like I said, less clutter on the main page with one story only needing one home even as it develops.
Here’s how United will look on a tablet:
And here’s how it’ll look on a mobile phone:
So there you go!
It’s coming soon, get excited!