Out with the old, in the with new ... team website!
Friday, May 18, 2007
So I'm going to be moving the daily Dis or Dats to the bottom of every new post from now on. Sounds good, right? After all, this is a hockey blog first and foremost, and so the start of each post should involve the Blue Jackets, the NHL, or just hockey in general.
Or in this case ... the website of a hockey team!
Just yesterday, the new Columbus Blue Jackets website went live. Personal opinion on it? It works just fine. Obviously the template is of the same mold as the other new team sites that the NHL is putting out, but I'm pleasantly surprised that "local" banners and links were permitted on the new site.
For a little while, I was concerned that links to things such as the Dispatch Ice Haus and The Chillers, as well as links to the Ohio Junior Blue Jackets and The Blueline would be removed, because they were local aspects. But I get the feeling that if the NHL had done that a lot of teams, including the Jackets, would have balked at the uniform method of making team pages. After all, how can you promote your partners or other endeavors if you can't have a website that'd allow you to?
The larger headline picture/box on the left is appreciated, compared to the original version which had a smaller image and less space for text. I also like how they've now implemented the new team name font, as you can see with the top banner. The new font type might be standard fanfare, but when you compare it to the old font type with the wavy name? Well, it definitely looks a lot better.
One thing that is a boatload of failure, and this is the NHL's doing and not the Blue Jackets, is the Mobile Jackets page under Multimedia (you can see it's the NHL's doing by the fact that the link takes you to a site with the NHL.com scheme). Only one wallpaper (which will soon be obsolete, anyway), and some of the cheesiest mobile ringtones I've ever heard. I mean ... wow. Just, wow. Listening to those things is like digging a rusty spoon into my ear to scoop out my brains with. If they're going to make these ringtones, the NHL may as well put a little effort in to it.
But then again, maybe enough people out there like some random yutz yelling "BLUE JACKETS RUULLLLE!" as a ringtone, for the low, low price of $1.99!
Or in this case ... the website of a hockey team!
Just yesterday, the new Columbus Blue Jackets website went live. Personal opinion on it? It works just fine. Obviously the template is of the same mold as the other new team sites that the NHL is putting out, but I'm pleasantly surprised that "local" banners and links were permitted on the new site.
For a little while, I was concerned that links to things such as the Dispatch Ice Haus and The Chillers, as well as links to the Ohio Junior Blue Jackets and The Blueline would be removed, because they were local aspects. But I get the feeling that if the NHL had done that a lot of teams, including the Jackets, would have balked at the uniform method of making team pages. After all, how can you promote your partners or other endeavors if you can't have a website that'd allow you to?
The larger headline picture/box on the left is appreciated, compared to the original version which had a smaller image and less space for text. I also like how they've now implemented the new team name font, as you can see with the top banner. The new font type might be standard fanfare, but when you compare it to the old font type with the wavy name? Well, it definitely looks a lot better.
One thing that is a boatload of failure, and this is the NHL's doing and not the Blue Jackets, is the Mobile Jackets page under Multimedia (you can see it's the NHL's doing by the fact that the link takes you to a site with the NHL.com scheme). Only one wallpaper (which will soon be obsolete, anyway), and some of the cheesiest mobile ringtones I've ever heard. I mean ... wow. Just, wow. Listening to those things is like digging a rusty spoon into my ear to scoop out my brains with. If they're going to make these ringtones, the NHL may as well put a little effort in to it.
But then again, maybe enough people out there like some random yutz yelling "BLUE JACKETS RUULLLLE!" as a ringtone, for the low, low price of $1.99!
Before I wrap up, I just wanted to throw out that I'm hammering out some final details with a friend or two about how to go about setting up things for a blogger gathering at the NHL draft. Hard to believe it's just a little over a month away! I'm hoping that by sometime in the middle of next week I'll have something new to let everyone know about concerning it. Hopefully everyone's gotten their tickets! And don't worry, I have four spare ones for anyone who didn't want to deal with the registration process at Ticketmaster/the Blue Jackets website:
In any event, that's it from me. Here's the daily Dis or Dat, for everyone who stuck around through this post:
In any event, that's it from me. Here's the daily Dis or Dat, for everyone who stuck around through this post:
I have a full plate of things to do this weekend. Be back on Monday!
Labels: Dis or Dat, nhl draft
If you need extra tickets, we're probably going to have a few that we'd be happy to give out at the meetup.