The New Face of WSR
Last Updated on Monday, 29 November 1999 17:00 Written by Gary Randazzo Sunday, 07 June 2009 16:43
Front Page Articles - General
It’s hard not to notice that WildcatsSportsReport.com received a handsome facelift over the weekend.
Before the guided tour begins, on behalf of our entire staff here at Wildcat Sports Report, let me send a big thank you to our friends at Paraguin Consulting who provided the vision and technical expertise for our new website. Without them, the WSR community would have remained trapped in the land of static websites for a lot longer than our staff would have preferred.
It’s been an enjoyable and exciting first 18 months here at Wildcat Sports Report. However, due to original website design deficiencies, our staff wasn’t able to achieve its objective of delivering quality content and service each and every day. Still, we persisted, and you, the WSR community supported our staff.
To thank you, our team has worked diligently these past six months to deliver the ultra-interactive platform you see today.
The Most Important Thing
In addition to the cosmetic changes, the most important thing to remember regarding this new website is our story content and news updates won’t always exclusively appear on the Home Page as they did in the past. If you recall on the old site, if you visited the football page what you found were the same football stories that you already read on the home page in weeks prior. That won’t happen anymore.
Today, Big Picture stories, WSR Exclusives, and articles written by our featured contributors will generally appear on the Home Page; basketball-related stories such as recruiting, pre- and postgame stories and so forth will first appear on the Basketball Page; football-related content will first appear on the Football Page; and softball, baseball, women’s basketball and news regarding the other UA Athletics programs will first appear on the More Sports page.
Naturally, there will always be exceptions to the rule. However, when you visit our website each day, be sure to visit ALL the pages so you don’t miss a beat.
As of now, we designed the new Wildcats Sports Report website to feature 33 prime story placements. The great news is the website can expand to include any more at the click of a mouse. Keep reading to see what we mean…
Second Most Important Thing
Unlike our previous website design, what you see IS NOT what you get. What I mean is this new website is a module-based site with interchangeable parts. Currently, several of the modules offering unique features are turned off. We’ll be turning these modules on at key points during the summer and throughout the sports seasons to introduce new content delivery methods to the WSR community, hence continually giving our website a hip and fresh feel.
Additionally, on big news days such as National Letter of Intent Day, we can accommodate an endless number of stories presented in the same sharp design you see now. The only difference is there will be more stories readily available, featuring the same quality content, video and imaging you’ll soon grow to expect from WSR!
ESPN Navigation Bar
The navigation bar is located at the very top of each page throughout the website. By accessing the drop down menus, you can link directly to any one of the ESPN Team Network sites or the ESPN basketball or football Clubhouse pages for all school sites in our ESPN TEAM network.
*Premium Subscribers: Please note that a method of delivery will be shared with each of you to gain access to premium content at each of our partnering websites.
ESPN Video Player
The ESPN Video Player allows all end users to gain direct access to the recruiting videos of your choice. Our staff has access to the ESPN Scouts Inc. video library and will be routinely changing the videos with the prospects making the most headlines with the Arizona Wildcats. As an end user, you can control the specific video you wish to watch simply by clicking on the video of your choice.
*The WSR Staff will soon begin to load the videos into the Video Player (next day or so).
Embedded Video Player with Secured Hosting
Unlike WSR videos of the past that were hosted on YouTube, WSR’s new video content will be exclusive to our website and more importantly, exclusive to our Premium Subscribers!
Story Circulators
There is a separate story circulator for the Home Page, Football Page, Basketball Page, and More Sports page. The sleek and clean appearance of the circulators is something we hope you enjoy. The featured stories within each circulator on each page will automatically rotate, providing you with a picture and story deck for each of the stories contained therein. To select a story to read, simply place your cursor over the desired story headline and click the mouse. You’ll then gain access to the full story.
Interactive Polls
We have created interactive polls on each of the sites main pages, applicable to the content of that page. There’s a general poll on the Home Page, a football-specific poll on the Football Page, and, well you get the point. The polls will be updated regularly so check often to vote your opinion.
ESPN Real Time Scoreboards
The Football and Basketball Pages each feature a real time scoreboard, offering the day’s headlines at ESPN.com, as well as real time scores from the day’s sporting events.
Home Page Features
We created our new website to serve as your one-stop-shop when it comes to news in college sports. To this end, two features of note include the WSR Links along the far left column, midway down the page and the WSR news feeds along the right side of the Home Page. The WSR Links are links to some of our staff’s favorite websites. The WSR News will be a popular place to routinely check. Our staff will use those links to post breaking news on Arizona recruiting, game score updates, and other notes.
*Each of these modules can and will be expanded as we near the fall semester and sporting activity on campus picks up full steam.
In addition to the story circulator, we’ve placed story slots down the middle of the page and even more stories near the bottom of the page to deliver you more content then ever before.
Football Page Features
Like the other pages, the first thing you’ll notice is the story circulator. The second two things you’ll notice are the football-specific poll along the left and the ESPN college football scoreboard along the right. Beneath the scoreboard is our “Up Next” module. As the season nears, this module will provide accurate kick off times and television coverage, links to each team’s Clubhouse Page, as well as a Game Preview.
Beneath the football poll you’ll find more WSR Links to college football-related websites. Again, we’ve chosen a few of our favorites and welcome any suggestions you may have for others you’d like to visit. Like most modules on our new website, this module can be expanded to accommodate more content!
Across the page and near the bottom is our recruit list. Currently, space has been created for Arizona’s 2010 and 2011 verbal commitments. To read the ESPN profile for each recruit listed, simply click on the athlete’s name and away you go.
The WSR Staff can expand modules to add as many stories as we need each day. One thing unique to the page is the “Quick Hitter” type story down the middle that will remain click free for easy reading.
Football Drop Down Menus
Hover your mouse over the Football icon at the top of any page to reveal a drop down menu featuring team statistics, schedule, complete roster, depth chart, WSR recruiting database, and the ESPN 150 prospects.
*WSR Football Database – this is another feature of the new website that will have its own separate launch. Our staff was not satisfied with the previous database. Hence, we are working with our designers to deliver a more user-friendly, yet interactive tool for the WSR community.
Basketball Drop Down Menus
Same concept as football drop-down menu. Additionally, the WSR basketball database will launch along with our football database.
Basketball Page Features
The basketball page offers the same features as the football page. However, content is naturally geared toward basketball, with linkage to other basketball-related websites, a commitment list for the 2009, 2010 and 2011 recruiting classes, a scoreboard, and “Next Game” preview module.
More Sports Page Features
The WSR staff will be running a separate launch for the new More Sports Page soon. This page will have its own unique look and feel, and will include its own story circulator so we can fulfill our original promise to deliver news and notes on Arizona softball, baseball and women’s basketball. So, stay tuned for the launch of this special page.
Extras Drop Down Menu
Can you recall in what round Tedy Bruschi got drafted? Do you remember the final score of the 1997 Final Four game between Arizona and North Carolina? Ever wonder what was the highest game attendance at Arizona Stadium? Well, our Extras drop down menu has the answer. Currently, we provided content on Arizona’s Bowl History, Arizona Stadium, Arizona’s NCAA Tournament History, McKale Center, the story behind many of Arizona’s biggest traditions (Bear Down, Arizona!) and details about all of Arizona’s NFL draft picks.
The information won’t stop there, though. Our staff will be updating these sections with even more history, as well as creating new drop down menus to include historical data on all kinds of topics throughout the calendar years. So, when visiting our site, be sure to check inside each section for new facts to learn from, or reflect back on.
WSR Forums
The WSR Forums remain unchanged. What will be changing is the introduction of a new staff of “Moderators” in the months ahead.
The WSR staff certainly hopes you all have a great experience on our new website. And remember, what you see today is NOT ALL you will get. So, visit WildcatSportsReport.com daily to not only get your Wildcat sports fix, but to see what’s new in the WSR community.
Bear Down, Everyone! And Bear Down, Arizona!
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