As I’m sure most readers have noticed, www.illegalcurve.com has recently undergone some changes that we hope will improve the efficiency of the reading experience for you, so that you can continue to make IC your daily stop for hockey information, from across the internet.
While many of the changes that were done were of a technical nature, we attempted to make some aesthetic changes as well, to make IC as user friendly as possible.
We started by condensing the posts, so instead of huge, behemoth articles that could take up an entire web page, the reader now has the option of reading a short excerpt, written by the author, which details the posts content.
Previously the reader was limited to about a day’s worth of news stories, whereas now you are able to quickly scan on average, about three days worth of hockey talk. We have also fixed a flaw which prevented readers from looking at previous day’s postings, so you can now easily access any earlier stories covered by the illegalcurve team.
In addition to condensing the topic threads, we have included a thumbnail photo of each author, so you can begin to associate a name and face with the people who write the articles you like (or even those you don’t). Sticking with the visual imagery, we have even added a little IC Favicon of the IC logo for your favorites folder.
For those readers who like commenting on our articles, we have now made the process much easier. You used to be required to register with WordPress to comment but now you are simply asked to provide a name and valid email and you are welcome to add your voice to the discussion. We have also added some social bookmarking feeds to the bottom of each post to allow readers to spread the word via Facebook, Twitter, Yigg and many, many more.
One of the most important improvements, at least for smart phone users, is that we developed a slick and efficient mobile site. Previously you were required to slog through a number of topics before you could get to the day’s news, but now you have everything right in front of you as soon as you go to illegalcurve.com on your smart phone. Here is a screen shot from an Iphone:
And from a Blackberry:
As a frequent Blackberry user myself, I cannot begin to tell you home much easier it is to read the latest posts on illegalcurve when I don’t have access to my laptop via my BB.
However, none of this work could have been accomplished without the hard work and dedication of our computer programmers, Cameron & Beau Pratt (no relation to Spencer Pratt) of TwinGamerz Productions. They worked tirelessly on our site and I would HIGHLY recommend them for any IC readers who are looking for hard working and honest web programmers. You just can’t beat what these guys can do. They specialize in graphic design, web design and website coding. If you require their services, please contact them at twingamerz@gmail.com.
I hope that you like the changes that we have done to make your reading experience more efficient and if you have any comments or concerns, feel free to email me (dave@illegalcurve.com) and let me know what’s on your mind.
