We are excited to give our SpartanMag members a heads-up about some changes scheduled to take place within the Rivals.com Network, which will include SpartanMag.com, this week. For now, the switch-over is scheduled for later today (Tuesday).
When the change kicks in, the front page of SpartanMag.com and all content pages (stories and features) will be completely different. We've been using some of the new content pages already and you can see an example here: https://michiganstate.n.rivals.com/news/worth-the-wait-corley-to-state
Here's a quick FAQ regarding the upcoming changes:
Why are the changes being made?
* No. 1 - The Rivals network has essentially been unchanged for 15 years. Rivals.com was first to this market, and has become the leader in this industry, but it came at a cost. We were first, but our stuff is old. When programming engineers were enlisted to find solutions, they said fixing the old Rivals.com was like trying to repair a 747 aircraft while it was in flight. The process has taken awhile, but we’re not ready for a relaunch of sorts.
* No. 2 - Mobile! When Rivals was launched around 15 years ago there was no such thing as reading online content on a smart phone or tablet. Now, over 50% of
people that are online are doing so from a mobile device! The old configuration
(content and front page) was never designed for mobile and doesn't play nicely
with it. We tried a workaround by developing an app, which was OK for a while
but essentially hasn't worked since last summer. The new network is 100%
mobile responsive and optimized for all devices.
What will the changes mean for SpartanMag members?
* For content pages, there will be a slightlydifferent look but more importantly they will be optimized for mobile. Everything should be much easier to read on smart
phones and tablets, and they should load faster. There will be no need to scroll
from side to side or to increase the size of the page in order to read it. And
because it's compatible with all devices and operating systems, every page should
look fine whether you are using an iDevice, Android or Windows.
* With the network now stabilized and with everything compatible with mobile, it meanswe are one step closer to getting a working app that should be dramatically more
functional than the old one (even when it was working).
* Please be patient but I plan to make getting a new app out a priority going forward.
* The front page of SpartanMag.com will look very different. Here's an example of Auburn's front page: https://auburn.n.rivals.com/
* Because there was a priority to make everything mobile friendly, we had to sacrifice some features that have been mainstays on the front page - Twitter feed,
a video module, links to quick updates, and the look will be more streamlined
(you will need to scroll down more to find recent features and stories).
* When the changeover takes place, some old, old stories might appear on our site at first. But after a day or so, as news and coverage takes place, the most recent content will rise back up to the top.
What does this mean going forward?
* When we at Rivals.com finally gained approval from Yahoo’s upper management for funding to design and launch a new network, one of the best things that happened was getting Rivals away from the constraints of being on Yahoo's servers. For all intents and purposes, Rivals is now independent (from a technical standpoint) from Yahoo and will no longer be constrained by having to go through 20 layers of bureaucracy to get an upgrade. As a result, a lot of cool features and changes will come quickly in the next few months.
* The new leadership at Rivals is putting more of an emphasis on listening to the publishers, which means we have more of say in the direction of the network. It
also means we have a lot of input on needed changes.
* Yes, there will be some bugs. The new network has been essentially running in the background for over a month to weed out as many bugs as possible. But with any major technological change/upgrade, glitches and unforeseen setbacks are inevitable. We will work as quickly as possible to get through these problems so
please be patient.
From all of us at SpartanMag.com, and our families, we thank you for subscribing and being a part of the SpartanMag web community. We hope you will remain subscribers for many years to come as our SpartanMag news organizations grows and evolves.
Sincerely,
Jim Comparoni
Publisher
SPARTAN Magazine & SpartanMag.com
When the change kicks in, the front page of SpartanMag.com and all content pages (stories and features) will be completely different. We've been using some of the new content pages already and you can see an example here: https://michiganstate.n.rivals.com/news/worth-the-wait-corley-to-state
Here's a quick FAQ regarding the upcoming changes:
Why are the changes being made?
* No. 1 - The Rivals network has essentially been unchanged for 15 years. Rivals.com was first to this market, and has become the leader in this industry, but it came at a cost. We were first, but our stuff is old. When programming engineers were enlisted to find solutions, they said fixing the old Rivals.com was like trying to repair a 747 aircraft while it was in flight. The process has taken awhile, but we’re not ready for a relaunch of sorts.
* No. 2 - Mobile! When Rivals was launched around 15 years ago there was no such thing as reading online content on a smart phone or tablet. Now, over 50% of
people that are online are doing so from a mobile device! The old configuration
(content and front page) was never designed for mobile and doesn't play nicely
with it. We tried a workaround by developing an app, which was OK for a while
but essentially hasn't worked since last summer. The new network is 100%
mobile responsive and optimized for all devices.
What will the changes mean for SpartanMag members?
* For content pages, there will be a slightlydifferent look but more importantly they will be optimized for mobile. Everything should be much easier to read on smart
phones and tablets, and they should load faster. There will be no need to scroll
from side to side or to increase the size of the page in order to read it. And
because it's compatible with all devices and operating systems, every page should
look fine whether you are using an iDevice, Android or Windows.
* With the network now stabilized and with everything compatible with mobile, it meanswe are one step closer to getting a working app that should be dramatically more
functional than the old one (even when it was working).
* Please be patient but I plan to make getting a new app out a priority going forward.
* The front page of SpartanMag.com will look very different. Here's an example of Auburn's front page: https://auburn.n.rivals.com/
* Because there was a priority to make everything mobile friendly, we had to sacrifice some features that have been mainstays on the front page - Twitter feed,
a video module, links to quick updates, and the look will be more streamlined
(you will need to scroll down more to find recent features and stories).
* When the changeover takes place, some old, old stories might appear on our site at first. But after a day or so, as news and coverage takes place, the most recent content will rise back up to the top.
What does this mean going forward?
* When we at Rivals.com finally gained approval from Yahoo’s upper management for funding to design and launch a new network, one of the best things that happened was getting Rivals away from the constraints of being on Yahoo's servers. For all intents and purposes, Rivals is now independent (from a technical standpoint) from Yahoo and will no longer be constrained by having to go through 20 layers of bureaucracy to get an upgrade. As a result, a lot of cool features and changes will come quickly in the next few months.
* The new leadership at Rivals is putting more of an emphasis on listening to the publishers, which means we have more of say in the direction of the network. It
also means we have a lot of input on needed changes.
* Yes, there will be some bugs. The new network has been essentially running in the background for over a month to weed out as many bugs as possible. But with any major technological change/upgrade, glitches and unforeseen setbacks are inevitable. We will work as quickly as possible to get through these problems so
please be patient.
From all of us at SpartanMag.com, and our families, we thank you for subscribing and being a part of the SpartanMag web community. We hope you will remain subscribers for many years to come as our SpartanMag news organizations grows and evolves.
Sincerely,
Jim Comparoni
Publisher
SPARTAN Magazine & SpartanMag.com
