TechSideline.com Launches New Format

TSL Users: Are you having trouble logging in to the new site? Click here for one tip that’s the most important thing to know.

Another big issue: The site has some serious struggles with speed and display format in Internet Explorer 8. We’re working on resolving all the issues. Switch to a different browser if you can, otherwise, please keep trying, and we’ll keep working.

Lastly, if you’re able to log in but are being blocked from subscription boards, are receiving blank pages, etc., that’s another issue that will resolve in time, as the changes we made at the server and network level propagate throughout DNS servers at the ISP level.


TechSideline.com is pleased to roll out our first extensive redesign of the web site in almost seven years. Our new platform looks better than the old TSL and has some new features that will make the web site more fun, more interactive, and a better reference for articles and information. It will also allow us to add new features in the coming months and years, something we couldn’t do with our old web site.

The new TSL uses WordPress as its content management system (CMS), and vBulletin as the message board system. It’s all linked together using aMember user management and subscription software. We’ve also programmed a completely new football and basketball recruiting database that will serve as a better resource linking you not to just our articles about recruits, but videos, rankings, articles and player profiles from other sites around the Internet.

We programmed a new site because, well, we had to. The programming on our existing site was over ten years old, unstable, and needed to be retired. But in redoing the web site, we have also kept in the forefront one of our main missions at TSL: to serve as a one-stop shop for Hokie sports information from all over the Internet.

We’ve brought our “Hokie News” daily article links out of hiding and given them a prominent place on our home page and at the bottom of our message boards (click the “Hokie News” tab), so you’ll have better access to the great work being done by other reporters and bloggers. Our new recrutiing database will provide embedded recruiting videos from other sites, as well as one-click links to players’ Rivals, Scout, and ESPN recruiting profiles, and articles from other newspapers and web sites.

The vBulletin message boards have many more features than our old message boards, enabling you to create groups, friend lists, and your own photo galleries. We’ve overlaid a threaded format on top of vBulletin’s classic topic-driven architecture to avoid culture shock, but if you want to view vBulletin in its native format, you can do that, too.

To increase interaction beyond the message boards, we have added a comments section to the end of each article we post, so you can give your thoughts in-line on the article, without having to go over to the message boards. Yes … seven or eight years after everybody else started doing it, now we are, too.

Enough jabber. The best thing to do right now is to just poke around the new site, investigate its features and capabilities, and give us your thoughts, suggestions, bug reports, etc. For answers to some of the questions you may have about the new site, see our Help/FAQ page, and for a quick rundown of the message boards, see our New Board Primer tutorial at the top of each board.

We’ve tested the new site and message boards as much as possible pre-launch, but there are probably still some bugs and issues lurking. Please be patient with us as we sort them out, and let us know about any issues you find. We have a New Site Feedback message board dedicated to comments, suggestions and bug reports on the new site, so please use that board to provide feedback. You can also comment below, of course.

5 Responses You are logged in as Test

  1. I see you guys got rid of the “TSL Blogs” tab. Will people like david teel still be posting links in the message boards or will these all be moved to the “hokie news” tab??

  2. Thanks, folks — definitely some speed/connectivity issues. We’ve got a lot to work out, which isn’t unexpected. We’re tracking stuff down and fixing it as we speak.

    Sometimes, in fixing something, we break something else …..

  3. Thumbs up…I’m curious what your traffic reports tell you about response times. Seems a tad slower right now, but nothing serious.

  4. The new site looks great and look forward getting my Hokie fix of news, analysis, etc as you all do a great job.

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