Explaining The New Blueshirt Banter

Hey guys,

So, as you've probably noticed, the site looks a whole heck of a lot different today than it did yesterday. I am going to go over all the changes right here, but if you need any more information, the boys from SB Nation put together a post detaining some of the more common questions and answers.

Anyway, onto the new Blueshirt Banter.

The Cover - The cover is the big thing you saw when you first came to the site. Currently, we're in "four up" which allows us to feature four different stories at the same time. The sites can feature as many as five stories on the cover, which is a great way for us to help promote all the fantastic content that runs through this site on a day by day basis. It's a simple enough look to the site, and something you'll get used to seeing as you come back and see all the different types of things we can do.

Stories on the cover don't have to be in chronological order, so if we write a story that requires more attention it can stay up for as long as we need it to. While it's simple, it's also the most radical change on the site. So I figured we would start here.

Streams - OK, this is the second biggest change that comes with the new look. Streams are a way for us to keep tabs on developing stories, and keep all the updates in the same "container." The container is the stream, the actual updates in the stream are called, well, updates. So, for example. Here's how streams might have looked during the Rick Nash trade saga.

Rangers Trade Artem Anisimov, Brandon Dubinsky, Tim Erixon And 1st Round Pick For Nash - Stream Title

New York Rangers Trade For Rick Nash - Third Update

New York Rangers Look To Re-Enter Trade Talks With Columbus This Offseason - Second Update

New York Rangers Don't Get Nash Before Trade Deadline Expires - First Update

New York Rangers Reportedly Interested In Rick Nash - Original Story

Stream titles change with each update, but all the updates will be held within the same same stream (which roots from the original article). It's simple. And if it sounds confusing, I promise it's not. The only thing that changes is there will be a new comments section for each update (remember, each update is a separate story), which will also help with comment load times.

The River - The river is where stories are placed when they are no longer featured on the cover. River stories are placed in chronological order from the date they are written. They fall into the river once they're removed from the cover. This section looks very much like the sites used to before the change. Not much to see here.

The Comments - Won't change at all. We're not stupid. Comments make the community, and the community is what separates Blueshirt Banter from other Rangers sites. Well, that, and the content and general awesomeness.

Questions? Go ahead and ask in the comments. I would be happy to answer any questions you guys might have. Again, this is a revolutionary change, but it's also a change that will help streamline the site.

So go ahead, let me know what you guys think and let me know what questions and comments you might have!