Wanted to give our users a heads-up about some changes scheduled to take place within the Rivals.com Network, which will include Huskerlandpreps, this week. The switch-over is scheduled for later today and as a result the front page of Huskerlandpreps will look very different.
When the change kicks in, the front page of huskerlandpreps.com and all content pages (stories and features) will be completely different.
Here’s a quick FAQ re. the upcoming changes:
Why are the changes being made?
* No. 1 - The Rivals network has essentially been unchanged for 15 years. Because the coding is so antiquated it’s coming apart at the seems and was in desperate need of an update. As many probably remember, national signing day two years ago was an absolute disaster when the network crashed for several hours. That was a result of underlying problems with the network and having few people that could maintain antiquated code and software. The network has been held together by tape and string since then and it’s a daily challenge to keep it up and running.
* 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 Huskerlandpreps users?
* For content pages, there will be a slightly different 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 means we are one step closer to getting a working app that should be dramatically more functional than the old one (even when it was working).
What does this mean going forward?
* When we finally got approval 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 or something needed done. As a result, a lot of cool features and needed changes will come quickly over the coming 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. With a streamlined network away from Yahoo these changes can happen much faster.
* Yes, there will be some bugs. The new network 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 bugs, glitches and unforeseen setbacks are inevitable. We will work as quickly as possible to get through these problems so please be patient.
* This thread will be left open for a while to get feedback on the changes. We’ll do what we can to answer any questions you might have and to consider any suggestions.
I can’t thank all of our loyal subscribers enough for your support over the years, as we have covered Nebraska high school sports for 26 years, both in print and on-line, publishing feature stories on over 2,600 athletes. And in the very near future we’ll have the best of on-line technology as well.
When the change kicks in, the front page of huskerlandpreps.com and all content pages (stories and features) will be completely different.
Here’s a quick FAQ re. the upcoming changes:
Why are the changes being made?
* No. 1 - The Rivals network has essentially been unchanged for 15 years. Because the coding is so antiquated it’s coming apart at the seems and was in desperate need of an update. As many probably remember, national signing day two years ago was an absolute disaster when the network crashed for several hours. That was a result of underlying problems with the network and having few people that could maintain antiquated code and software. The network has been held together by tape and string since then and it’s a daily challenge to keep it up and running.
* 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 Huskerlandpreps users?
* For content pages, there will be a slightly different 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 means we are one step closer to getting a working app that should be dramatically more functional than the old one (even when it was working).
What does this mean going forward?
* When we finally got approval 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 or something needed done. As a result, a lot of cool features and needed changes will come quickly over the coming 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. With a streamlined network away from Yahoo these changes can happen much faster.
* Yes, there will be some bugs. The new network 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 bugs, glitches and unforeseen setbacks are inevitable. We will work as quickly as possible to get through these problems so please be patient.
* This thread will be left open for a while to get feedback on the changes. We’ll do what we can to answer any questions you might have and to consider any suggestions.
I can’t thank all of our loyal subscribers enough for your support over the years, as we have covered Nebraska high school sports for 26 years, both in print and on-line, publishing feature stories on over 2,600 athletes. And in the very near future we’ll have the best of on-line technology as well.
