Feed the latest sports news directly into your website

Did you know your SportingPulse website has the ability to include remote news feeds?

Much like you can include external content into your MySport page, club website administrators can include these news feeds into their club sites, providing the ability for news on club sites to remain fresh and current without needing to lift a finger!

There are many news feeds to choose from, from many different sports - e.g. if your club is a Basketball club you can choose to subscribe to the Basketball Australia news feed - ensuring you are only seeing the news relevant to your club members.

Remote news feeds can be added either as a widget into right-hand column of your website, or as a stand-alone page within your site. To add a feed,

simply follow the following instructions:

1. Adding a Remote News Feed as a right-hand column Widget

• Go to Widget Manager from your Site Admin Control Panel.
• From the 'Add new Widget' selector box at the bottom, select Remote Content and click 'Add New Section'.
• Right-click on the Remote Content section that's been added and click 'Edit'.
• Click the 'Choose/Change Source' button, then either search or browse through all the available news feeds.
• Select your required feed and click the Save button.

2. Adding a Remote News Feed as a normal website page

• Go to Content Manager from your Site Admin Control Panel.
• From the 'Add new Section' selector box at the bottom, select Remote Content and click 'Add New Section'.
• Right-click on the Remote Content section that's been added and click 'Edit'.
• Click the 'Choose/Change Source' button, then either search or browse through all the available news feeds.
• Select your required feed and click the Save button.

Tip: Once you have selected your required feed, go back into the Content or Widget Manager and change the name of the section from 'Remote Content' to something more relevant in order to describe the feed. For example "Basketball Australia News".

It's that simple!

Click here for more more information on how to add Remote Content to your website

Clubs, leagues and associations who are seeking more information about getting their free SportingPulse website off the ground should visit http://corp.sportingpulse.com/index.php?id=113.

I tweet, I like

Hi all,

A quick one - we launched the ability for users to tweet and like photos within galleries this afternoon.

The philosophy behind using these social networking functions is to drive users from sites such as Facebook and Twitter back to your website.  Photos are a great way to engage your members, whilst promoting your website as a place to visit often.

If you have your own Twitter accounts or Facebook pages for your leagues and clubs - its another easy way to drive your friends and followers back to your site.

Website Colours - The contrast is too low?!!

OK - an update on a subject that we're getting a lot of feedback on..

Low colour contrast - otherwise known as Low colour contrast!


I'll be as succinct as I can!

1/ In the transition from 'old' to current site layouts, we reduced the colour placements from 30+ to 7 colours.  In order to get to the new colour options, we had to make some decisions based on the old colour availability and then transition these to the new site structure.  As we have over 30,000 websites in the network, not all sites work under a generic convention such as this.

2/ As such, the FIRST TIME you go into your Site Admin Control Panel and change any of the 7 options, the website will check ALL colour settings for contrast.

3/ SO - the result is that when you go to change your MENU colour, you may get a message that says:

The contrast between the heading colour and the white background is too low. Please choose a different colour OR The contrast between the page title colour and the white background is too low. Please choose a different colour OR The contrast between the menu background colour and the menu text colour is too low. Please choose a different colour OR The contrast between the tagline background colour and the tagline text colour is too low. Please choose a different colour.

SO, the website is giving you information on the site as a whole, not only the immediate change you are making.

Well that's GREAT SportingPulse...what do I do now?!

4/ Its become very easy to represent your club and league colours through the new site structure.  The resultant sites are working well.  We'd encourage you to think about the colours as a whole - if your club is Black, Red and White, we'd suggest you try a Black Website Background with a Red Menu Background Colour - its possible that red text on a black menu bar won't pass the contrast 'test' that we are now running.

If you can't find a combination that suits - email websites@sportingpulse.com and we'll help.

Why are you doing this?!!!

7% of the population have a form of vision impairment.  Now that SportingPulse services up to 2 million people per month, that's up to 140,000 people who have had trouble with 'Blue font on a red background'.  We have also researched top sporting websites from around the world and overwhelmingly, sites are no longer serving 'reversed' websites; website content is king and news is served on a generic background in the most part.

Also, with the amount of club logos and player images, it becomes very hard to get a great result on colourful backgrounds unless images are professionally adapted to 'any' web background colour.  As we deal primarily at the grassroots of sport, we have to keep the sites professional, but 'obtainable'.  Anyone can now have a great site in our Network.

You can have a flick through the webinar slides here, which will give more background on how we've come to this point in time.

Cheers, Andrew

2 things to check on your website

Hi there,

We've launched the changes to the SportingPulse Network Websites this morning.  We've had a lot of great feedback, mixed with 2 main concerns in regard to menu items and colour contrasts.

Here's what to do.

1/ Menu items

You haven't lost any of your menu items or content.  What we've done is contain your menu items to a top menu navigation in order to better display results, ladders and stats and to prepare the sites for further upgrades in the near future (which I'll blog about soon).

So, in order for you not to have multiple rows of menu items in the short term as you re-arrange the elements of your site, we've added a 'more menus' item at the end of the top nav so your site looks great and you can take your time to plan your menu structure.

SportingPulse Websites - before

SportingPulse Websites - More Menus

2/ Colour contrast

We've had some feedback in regard to being able to choose any colour combination for your website - especially in regard to menus and heading titles.

In essence, we've made the colours on your website more prominent and easier to use, by getting rid of multiple colour options in up to 6 separate tabs in your Website Editor Control Panel.

To access site colours, simply click 'Customise you website > Advanced Configuration > Colours and Fonts and you'll see the following screen

Colours and Fonts - the new colour editor and preview function

Simply, there are now 7 colour placement options - and as you change your colour scheme, you can see the results within the preview pane before committing the changes live.

We have applied some website standards to colour contrasts, which has resulted in some users not being able to show a red on blue background (for instance).  However, if your clubs colours ARE red and blue, you can easily show a blue site background with a red menu backgrounds and heading titles.  Some adjustments may have to be made, but the ease of use now allows you to do this very quickly.

Finally - whilst we have relaxed the 'global' standard in order to try to bring flexibility of colour - if you truly feel you can't get the colour you need, please email a link to your website to websites@sportingpulse.com and we'll help you out.

Missed out on a SWW Refresh Webinar?

For anyone who might have missed out on attending one of the four Sportzware Website Refresh webinars that have taken place over the past fortnight, you can view a recording online by clicking here:

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/221928960

This recording is from the Webinar that took place on Tuesday 9th November.

Alternatively, check out the presentation slides by clicking here.

Get your colours right

Hi again...

We're in full swing with our test sites and receiving a lot of good feedback.  One question that has been ongoing is how the colours will manifest on the new sites - especially heading colours.

At present, your live site has up to 30 colour combinations in up to 6 tabs (dependant on your current layout)

Current Site Colour Option Tabs

However, the new sites will give you 5 colour options in total.  Whilst it seems like a big difference, the fact is that we currently have 3 separate menu bars, each with 2 different colours and a menu divider colour - that equates to 9 colour options on the menu alone.

We have now simplified this to 2 colours - a menu text colour and a menu background colour.

So, the colours that matter will be in the places that count - and you site will look and feel far more integrated and professional as a result.

Test Site (and site upgrade) Colour Options - now 5 colour options for ease of use

We've also built a preview panel, so you can see where the colours will manifest on your new site before you send them live.

OK - so the question is - on Monday 22nd, how will my present site colours look on the new site?

By looking at your test site, you'll see exactly how your colours will look on Monday - however, here's the info on where exactly the colours are being drawn from in the lead up to the change.

Colour Option = CO

CO1:  Heading Colour - currently: Headings Tab - Heading 1 Background Colour
CO2:  Page Title Colour - currently: Page Tab - Body Text
CO3:  Background Colour - currently: Page Tab - Background Colour
CO4:  Top Menu Text Colour(*) - currently: Top Menu - Top Nav Text Colour
CO5:  Top Menu Background Colour(*) - currently: Top Menu - Top Menu Background Colour

(*) Note:  If your site has no Top Menu at present, menu text and background colours are drawn from the left menu; if no left menu, the colours are drawn from the right menu!

The colour and font settings can be found in the Site Administrators Control Panel > Configuration > Advanced > Colours and Fonts

Finally - Make a note of the colour combination you like on the test site, because you'll have to do this on Monday when the site upgrade takes place.

SportingPulse Websites refresh webinar

If you can't make our webinar, here's the presentation for reference. Feel free to ask questions here and I'll respond. This should help you see the bigger picture and where we're going with the sites. Our overwhelming goal is to add functionality and flexibility to the sites.

In order to do this, we need to address some of the fragmentation in menu structures and some of the readability issues that occur within sites; you'll also see how the sites compare with world-leading sports websites that we've researched extensively.

SportingPulse website refresh webinar

View more presentations from Andrew Collins.

Your test site is a test site...!

Just a quick one...

Simply, on Monday, 22nd November, you will have to replicate the changes you have made to your test environment to the live site.

The test sites are a snapshot of your live sites that were taken on Friday, 12th November.  As such, your latest news items and results will not show within the test environment.

We suggest 2 things to make your transition easier on the 22nd.

• Plan you menu structure within excel - and try to contain top menus to between 8-10 items.  The menu is based on text characters, not the number of menu items, so shortening names of menu items will mean you can have more items (if that's important)

• Make a note of your preferred colour scheme.  Whilst this will become simpler under the new colour layouts, doing the background work now and making a note of your changes will ensure minimal disruption to your site on Monday, 22nd November.

Show your true colours

One of the big changes happening on Monday, 22nd November is the simplification of colour schemes in the SportingPulse Network Websites.

On your test site, follow the following trail to test your new colour scheme:
Customise > Advanced > Colours & Fonts

From there, you'll be greeted with this screen:

You'll see that we've reduced the amount of available colour choices to 5 - this is down from over 20 in 5 tabs, that used to give combinations such as separate left and right hand menu column colours and backgrounds, menu separators - and many other combinations.

Also, we've built a new 'preview' window, so you can see how the different colour combinations will look before committing them live.

We've had a little bit of feedback that some sites that were previously 'green' (for instance) are now 'grey'.  This would only occur if administrators have coloured their MENU backgrounds green, but set their SITE backgrounds to grey.  SO, by going into the new editor and changing site background from grey to green, you'll have your colours back as you may have expected.

Finally - make a note of the changes you make on the test site, as you will have to put them into your live site on Monday, 22nd November (the test sites will not become your real sites...)

What’s on the menu??

You would know by now that on Monday 22 November, all SportingPulse websites will be receiving a major upgrade, mainly in terms of functionality and an improved look-and-feel.

One of the changes involves moving to horizontal top-menu navigation only, so that the area for all page layouts - including fixtures, results and stats - can be maximised. This will impact you if you currently use left and/or right menus, because they will soon disappear…

Why are we telling you this?

Even though you won’t lose any of your menu items or pages (or any information!), we don’t want you getting caught out when the changes occur. This email is designed to get you to begin the process of re-structuring your top menu, so that your site will be ready to go when the when the switch gets flicked.

Left and right menu items will migrate

If your site currently has any left-column or right-column menu items, these will be migrated into the top-menu. In your website back-end, you can use the Content Manager to re-structure your top menu into a logical series of top-level headings – AND there’s no reason this can’t be done right now in order to prepare your site for November 22nd.



Can the top menu have sub-pages?

Yes. Your website will allow for three levels of sub-navigation. Simply create these in the Content Manager by clicking the ‘Add new Sub-Menu’ button within the top menu.

How do you structure your new top menu?

Now is an ideal time to plan your site’s menu structure. You are welcome to use as few or as many top-level menu items as you wish, but for optimum usability we recommend between 6 and 10. We also recommend keeping menu item names as short as possible.

For example: Home, News, Results, Sponsors, About Us, Contact, Photos.

Drawing a grid such as the one below is a good way to plan and consider what pages you want on your site, and to see where all your pages and sub-pages should fit.



Test out your site changes NEXT WEEK

Next Monday (15 November), you will have access to a test version of your website with the new changes on it, so you can play around and find out first-hand how the changes will affect your site - both in terms of the menus, as well as colours and display.

To access this test environment, a link will be provided within the right-hand column of your Site Administration Control Panel once you are logged in.

Want more Information?

There are still spaces available in the two remaining webinars we are running next week for those interested in hearing more detail about the upgrades.

Webinar Details:

Date	Time (AEDST)	Registration
Tue 16 Nov	11:00am – 12:00pm	Click here to register
Thu 18 Nov	3:00pm – 4:00pm	Click here to register

Stay tuned to the SportingPulse Product Blog for more info, or Contact Us for any further enquiries.

iPhone App – New Release

It’s official, the new release of the iPhone app has arrived!!

Now you can:

1. Access your ladders as well as full fixtures, stats and results information.

2. Save your Results searches to your mySport > My Results screen for one click access to all the competitions you are following.




Download and rate the iPhone app from here: mySport grassroots scoreboard

And for all of you who access m.sportingpulse.com to get your fixtures and results information. You’ll now be able to click to your full stats and ladders through new links introduced on all competition search results page.



As usual we welcome your comments, so please post a reply below or get in touch with us if you have any further questions.

SportingPulse Websites are Changing!

On 22 November 2010, all SportingPulse websites will receive a major upgrade in order to give them refreshed functionality and an improved look-and-feel… we hope you’re excited about the upgrades as listed below.

WHY are we making changes?

• BEST PRACTICE: On behalf of our partners and clients, SportingPulse has a responsibility to ensure websites are of the highest standard in terms of layout, usability and readability, as well as being accessible to all users – including the visually impaired.
• BETTER LAYOUTS: Over 60% of site traffic is generated through results and stats information. Whilst every page is getting an overhaul, we want to ensure there is space to display all statistical information and that we follow best practice in the layout of all information.
• CONTENT IS KING: As above, we have concentrated our efforts on best practice in terms of layout and content. We will ensure on your behalf that site content is readable and work towards a better flow of information, including removal of background colours on text rich content areas.

WHICH SporingPulse Sites are being upgraded?

The changes will be made on ALL Sportzware websites provided by SportingPulse, across each of our sports. The changes will not affect Smarterweb sites.

WHEN will the changes take effect?

The changes will take effect on Monday 22 November 2010.

WHAT is changing?

• MENUS: moving to top-menu navigation only (left and right-hand menus will migrate) – largely so that the area for all page layouts, including fixtures, results and stats can be maximised.
• COLOURS: Currently users can configure 20 colour settings. We’ve simplified this back to 4 main colours, and ensured that content is readable on a white background.
• IMPROVED LAYOUT ACROSS ALL PAGES: E.g. News, Fixtures/Results/Ladders.
• IMPROVED WYSIWYG EDITOR: Upgrade to TinyMCE, the text editor used by Facebook, Wordpress, Joomla CMS, Microsoft etc.
• SOCIAL MEDIA INTERACTION: Ability for users to share pages, news articles and page content via social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, in order to drive traffic and user engagement back to your site.

CAN I test out any changes first?

A test version of your site (with the new changes) will be made available on Monday 15 November for you to play around with. Website (Note: Any changes you make in this test site will need to be re-produced on your actual live site after 22 November).

WILL I lose any information?

Of course not! All left and right-hand menu items will be put into the top menu, and you can then structure your new menu structure accordingly - but there’s nothing stopping you doing this right now on your live site! And rest assured, no current pages, or any of your information, will be lost through this upgrade…

WHERE can I get more more information?

We invite any Sportzware website administrators to attend one of our upcoming Webinars to find out more details about these changes and how they will affect your site.

Webinar Details:

Date	Time (AEDST)	Registration
Tue 9 Nov	11:00am – 12:00pm	Click here to register
Thu 11 Nov	3:00pm – 4:00pm	Click here to register
Tue 16 Nov	11:00am – 12:00pm	Click here to register
Thu 18 Nov	3:00pm – 4:00pm	Click here to register

Stay tuned to the SportingPulse Product Blog for more info, or Contact Us for any further enquiries.