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Those following other SB Nation sites will be familiar with what is coming soon. The much advertised SB Nation United platform is arriving shortly, and we here at The Brotherly Game wanted to give you a sneak preview as to what is coming.
Do not worry. Everything you love about SB Nation is remaining the same. Nesting comments, the "Z" key, game threads, FanPosts, and FanShots are not going anywhere. But now, with a modern design and flexible layout, we can better highlight stories and pin them to the front while other less significant stories get bumped down quicker. Under the current reverse chronology layout, a well-written tactical analysis gets bumped down the front page as soon as another story is posted. And if that story is a rather mundane item such as Sheanon Williams's constant farting being a locker room disruption, then it appears the emphasis is unfairly placed on the 200-word farting post, when really, the better, more worth the time post is the tactical analysis.
Now, with SB Nation United, we can place greater emphasis on the tactical analysis while putting less focus on the every day stuff that people may care less about. In addition to adding emphasis on stories, SB Nation United will allow for less clutter, a quicker load time, and an improved mobile app.
Follow the jump below to see what everything is going to look like.
Editors will get to choose to display these possible covers and more. The layout of these covers can be changed at a moment's notice and will allow for great flexibility. (click to enlarge the images)
One of the new tools we'll have are called StoryStreams. If you're a reader over at SB Nation Philly or SBNation.com or even The Verge, you're likely familiar with the technology. It gives us the opportunity to display a story -- in the example below, a running stream on the day in college football -- in an easy to read chronological time line.
This is especially valuable with stories that span over long periods of time, i.e. Bakary Soumare's injury woes.
FanPosts and FanShots will remain the ideal way for you to share something with the tBG community.
Onto mobile: The mobile view is intended to bring the same experience you'd see on a desktop or laptop computer to your mobile device. Here's a smartphone view:
And a tablet view:
And lastly, here's a long view of the front page of a site - underneath the main layout, you have recent stories, and sidebars for FanShots, FanPosts, most commented stories, and more. (click on the link below to enlarge)
All of us at The Brotherly Game are beyond thrilled about the new look, but at the same time, we are also aware that change on the internet can be a dangerous thing. People do not always like change. When SB Nation went from this layout to its current layout four and a half years ago, people freaked out initially. Please feel free to voice any and all questions, comments, and concerns in the comments section and we will be happy to answer them.