TeamLiquid: Site Changes Text by Liquid`Nazgul Graphics by alteredclone



You've probably noticed that TeamLiquid.net looks a bit different. The widened site layout and new ads pop out immediately, but we have also made other significant changes to the site. Here are the changes that were made in the last major update.



1. Right Sidebar Customization

2. Site Width and Advertisements

3. Featured Stream Changes





You've probably noticed that TeamLiquid.net looks a bit different. The widened site layout and new ads pop out immediately, but we have also made other significant changes to the site. Here are the changes that were made in the last major update.1. Right Sidebar Customization2. Site Width and Advertisements3. Featured Stream Changes Customization



For a long time, we have had internal discussions on how to best accommodate TeamLiquid.net's rapidly growing user base, who vary greatly in their tastes and how they use the website. We decided to begin by adding customization to TL, and today we're introducing the first part of this project: Right sidebar customization.



For a long time, we have had internal discussions on how to best accommodate TeamLiquid.net's rapidly growing user base, who vary greatly in their tastes and how they use the website. We decided to begin by adding customization to TL, and today we're introducing the first part of this project: Right sidebar customization. You can access the customization menu from the bottom of the right sidebar (beneath TLPD), or from your profile.



All the options are fairly straight forward. Here's a brief introduction, in order of top to bottom on the sidebar.







Calendar

The event calendar can be filtered by game category. For example, you can set your calendar to show only SC2 or BW events.



Live Streams

Filtering has also been added to the stream list. You can choose which streams will appear on your list, depending on the game the streamer plays, whether the streamer is a professional player or a non-pro personality (more on this below in the Featured Stream section), and by the Starcraft race the streamer plays.



Additionally, you can now group streams by game, and turn on race icons for Starcraft streams.



Finally, the streams can be ordered depending on multiple criteria including stream name, game type, and viewer count.



TLPD

The default database for searches can be selected (SC2 Korea, SC2 International, BW Korea, BW International). ELO ranking display can be turned on or off for both Starcraft II and Brood War.



Liquipedia

The default database for searches can be selected (SC2, BW).





Site Width and Advertisements



Alongside adding customization options to the sidebars, we have also been working hard on finding new ways to create revenue. One of the main revenue sources for TL is the 468x60 top banner. However, this old size banner is 10 years old and is not relevant for most modern ad agencies. We have replaced it with a standard leaderboard sized banner, the same size that accounts for the majority of ad income for sites everywhere. This should allow us to generate considerably more ad revenue.



To accommodate this change, we have decided to move to a wider TL body that will allow us to have the leaderboard size ad on top. You may have seen leaderboard size ads already in our stream section and on the Liquipedia pages; now they will now appear throughout the site.



Additionally, we have also introduced new advertisements. At the top-right there will be a square ad only visible to visitors that arrive at TeamLiquid directly from a Google search. The top-right ad is partially a test to see how much search engine traffic might contribute to our income, and we'll decide on further options once we have more information. At the bottom right there is a skyscraper ad visible to everyone.



We recognize that these changes mean more ads. However, we believe it is necessary to optimize our revenue from ads while still maintaining a respectable and non-intrusive design. With the leaderboard on top and the skyscraper to the bottom-right for our regular visitors we believe that we can increase our income while maintaining a respectable site layout.



We believe these changes allow TL to pursue its goals and grow as an organization, and we hope you understand why they are necessary.





All the options are fairly straight forward. Here's a brief introduction, in order of top to bottom on the sidebar.The event calendar can be filtered by game category. For example, you can set your calendar to show only SC2 or BW events.Filtering has also been added to the stream list. You can choose which streams will appear on your list, depending on the game the streamer plays, whether the streamer is a professional player or a non-pro personality (more on this below in the Featured Stream section), and by the Starcraft race the streamer plays.Additionally, you can now group streams by game, and turn on race icons for Starcraft streams.Finally, the streams can be ordered depending on multiple criteria including stream name, game type, and viewer count.The default database for searches can be selected (SC2 Korea, SC2 International, BW Korea, BW International). ELO ranking display can be turned on or off for both Starcraft II and Brood War.The default database for searches can be selected (SC2, BW).Alongside adding customization options to the sidebars, we have also been working hard on finding new ways to create revenue. One of the main revenue sources for TL is the 468x60 top banner. However, this old size banner is 10 years old and is not relevant for most modern ad agencies. We have replaced it with a standard leaderboard sized banner, the same size that accounts for the majority of ad income for sites everywhere. This should allow us to generate considerably more ad revenue.To accommodate this change, we have decided to move to a wider TL body that will allow us to have the leaderboard size ad on top. You may have seen leaderboard size ads already in our stream section and on the Liquipedia pages; now they will now appear throughout the site.Additionally, we have also introduced new advertisements. At the top-right there will be a square ad only visible to visitors that arrive at TeamLiquid directly from a Google search. The top-right ad is partially a test to see how much search engine traffic might contribute to our income, and we'll decide on further options once we have more information. At the bottom right there is a skyscraper ad visible to everyone.We recognize that these changes mean more ads. However, we believe it is necessary to optimize our revenue from ads while still maintaining a respectable and non-intrusive design. With the leaderboard on top and the skyscraper to the bottom-right for our regular visitors we believe that we can increase our income while maintaining a respectable site layout.We believe these changes allow TL to pursue its goals and grow as an organization, and we hope you understand why they are necessary. Featured Stream Changes



If you wish to discuss newly featured or de-featured streamers, please do so in this thread in the website feedback forum.



Standards



We have also revamped the featured streams section of the website. There will be two categories of featured streams, "Players" and "Other". "Players" will be professional players, while the "Other" category will have casters, personalities, etc.



We've re-evaluated our standards for featuring and decided on a number of factors that will determine a stream's featured status:



"Players" Category

1. High skill level / tournament results

2. High average viewer count

3. Notability / contribution

4. Activity



A stream does not necessarily have to possess all of the listed attributes. For example, Destiny might not have the best tournament results, but his average viewer count is high enough to justify staying featured. In another example, a player like dignitas.Killer may not average many viewers but his skill level and notability (good tournament performances in recent months, Dignitas member) justifies a position as well.



Also, we feel that long time veterans and contributors to the TL community should get more leniency on these standards, as we obviously wish to encourage player-fan interaction through the TL forums.



"Other" Category

1. Notability

2. Content (ie not just rebroadcasts, or pre-event viewer building)





De-featuring Player Streams



Accordingly, we have reviewed the previously featured streams and de-featured all those that did not meet these standards. Everyone in this list has been de-featured for a combination of reasons, including: not enough average viewers, not enough activity, or not enough achievements / notability.



List of de-featured player streams:

+ Show Spoiler [List] +

AhhBoxxah

albert402

athalus

Attero

cArn-

Corinthos

Cruncher (retiring)

Cytoplasm

DeathAngel[ro]

decemberTV

Delphi

dignitas.ToH1o

Draco

Fargo

FuRy`

Fuzer

gisado

goatrope

GoSuNamhciR

HasHe201

iamxeph

Ipp

iSTime

jimpo

Jonanin

Kolll

link0

Louder

Lycaeus

Maker

MeyerA

mouz.MaX

mouzSyck

Naugrim

Ng5

nongminzerg

optikzero

PredY

ProTech

rANDY

RaNgeD

RenieHour

Response

Roffles

RyanRushia

Skew

Skruf

sksyen

Snute

Spades

stalife

StarEagle

Sterling

sYz

TheGunrun

ThisIsJimmy

Titan107

ToT)MidiaN(

TypePhoeNix

ViBE







Team and Organization Streams



We have also de-featured team streams as they were all receiving very few viewers. This was because almost all players who would draw lots of viewers on a team stream already have their own personal featured stream. We see the featured stream section as a list of notable, quality streamers – not as a vehicle to make players more popular.



Similarly, we will be de-featuring organizations that do not produce large amounts of non-calendared content. This is because they almost always attach themselves to events on the calendar. For example, we have de-featured dreamhackTV, as they do not produce content outside of the actual DreamHack events, which are always on the calendar.



List of defeatured teams and orgs:

+ Show Spoiler [List] +

CheckSix Gaming

compLexityGaming

dreamhackTV

GG.net_Stream

GGTV

GosuCoachingTV

ItsGosu eSports

Millenium

mouzTV

mTwLive

MVPteam

NASL.tv

OneMoreGame

Team Reign

ToT Livestream

vVv Gaming







How to become featured?



We will be reviewing featured streams every few months, and will be adding and removing featured streams accordingly. Just because a player was removed at this time does not mean he will never be added again.



The best way to become featured is to gain viewers, win tournaments, or a combination of both. Again, we understand it is difficult to "gain viewers" without being featured, but we feel that featured status is something that recognizes popular and skilled players, not a vehicle to make players popular or skilled.



For example, we are featuring It's Gosu's Gatored for the next month or so due to his results at IEM New York (beat coLMVP_DRG 2-1 in groups, 3-0 vs oGsTOP in the RO8). If he can maintain a high number of viewers and continue having good results, he will remain featured.



Similarly, we would automatically feature any players that qualified for the current Code A season if they requested it.





Current Featured Stream List



Players

+ Show Spoiler [List] + StarCraft 2:

aTnClouD

Axslav

Cancella (SlayerS_Cella)

CheckPrime

coL.CatZ

coL.drewbie

coL.Minigun

coL.TriMaster

DarKFoRcE

DdoRo

DeMusliM

Desrow

Destiny

dignitasBlinG

dignitasTan

DignitasKiLLeR

EGPuma

Empire.Beastyqt

Empire.kas

ESV TV

Fenix

FXO.sC

FXOChoya

FXOGumiho

FXOLeenock

FXONuclear

FXOTheBest

Gatored

GoOdy

GosI[Terran]

Grubby

HappyZergling

HongUnPrime

HuK

Hwangsin

Idra

iNcontroL

iNkA

KawaiiRice

KIMSUNGJE (StarTale_Rainbow)

LaLuSh

Liquid`HayprO

Liquid`HerO

Liquid`Jinro

Liquid`Ret

Liquid`Sheth

Liquid`TLO

Liquid`Tyler

Lz

Machine[USA]

MaNa

meRz

MoMaN-

Mondragon

mOOnGLaDe

MorroW

mTw|NarutO

mTwDIMAGA

MVPGuineapig

naama-

Naniwa

NightEnD

NsHS.San

oGsSK

oGsTheWind

Pokebunny

qxc

razy (BRAT_OK)

Reign.SLush

SarenS

SaSe

Satiiinifi

SeleCT

Sen

SjoW

SlayerS_Dragon

SlayerSCoCa

SlayerSGolden

SlayerSTaeJa

SlayerSYugiOh

Spanishiwa

Stephano

Strelok

Tarson

Thorzain

ToD

TSLaLive

TSLHeart

TSLKiller

TSL_Polt

TT1

White-Ra

ZeNEXByuN

ZeNEXHack

ZeNEXZero



Brood War:

[sc1f]eonzerg

aegyo

Agavond

Assault_1

Deus

dRaW

Endinglife

hirosue2

ilovev

iNfeRnaL

Jungtao1998

Kiante

konadora

Michael(OD)

nb.gOgO

nkgold

npnl.fedOr

NrG.GoD-

Oystein

Pogi

remag

Sayle

Shauni

SkepTicAL

SL.CLoseR

TopStar

vTv.Marine

XsebT

yosul

ZaRaki_

Zergneedsfood

Other

+ Show Spoiler [List] + Artosis

Chill

Day[9]

d.Apollo

djWHEAT

FXOpen

GordonHayward

HDStarCraft

Gretorp

Hot_Bid

Husky

IGNProleague

itmeJP

Khaldor

Liquidpedia

MLG_Live

MrBitter

-orb-

PainUser

Plexa

PsyStarcraft

RuN

TaKeTV

TotalBiscuit

Trump

Wolf



If you'd like to discuss this, check out the





We have also revamped the featured streams section of the website. There will be two categories of featured streams, "Players" and "Other". "Players" will be professional players, while the "Other" category will have casters, personalities, etc.We've re-evaluated our standards for featuring and decided on a number of factors that will determine a stream's featured status:1. High skill level / tournament results2. High average viewer count3. Notability / contribution4. ActivityA stream does not necessarily have to possess all of the listed attributes. For example, Destiny might not have the best tournament results, but his average viewer count is high enough to justify staying featured. In another example, a player like dignitas.Killer may not average many viewers but his skill level and notability (good tournament performances in recent months, Dignitas member) justifies a position as well.Also, we feel that long time veterans and contributors to the TL community should get more leniency on these standards, as we obviously wish to encourage player-fan interaction through the TL forums.1. Notability2. Content (ie not just rebroadcasts, or pre-event viewer building)Accordingly, we have reviewed the previously featured streams and de-featured all those that did not meet these standards. Everyone in this list has been de-featured for a combination of reasons, including: not enough average viewers, not enough activity, or not enough achievements / notability.List of de-featured player streams:We have also de-featured team streams as they were all receiving very few viewers. This was because almost all players who would draw lots of viewers on a team stream already have their own personal featured stream. We see the featured stream section as a list of notable, quality streamers – not as a vehicle to make players more popular.Similarly, we will be de-featuring organizations that do not produce large amounts of non-calendared content. This is because they almost always attach themselves to events on the calendar. For example, we have de-featured dreamhackTV, as they do not produce content outside of the actual DreamHack events, which are always on the calendar.List of defeatured teams and orgs:We will be reviewing featured streams every few months, and will be adding and removing featured streams accordingly. Just because a player was removed at this time does not mean he will never be added again.The best way to become featured is to gain viewers, win tournaments, or a combination of both. Again, we understand it is difficult to "gain viewers" without being featured, but we feel that featured status is something that recognizes popular and skilled players, not a vehicle to make players popular or skilled.For example, we are featuring It's Gosu's Gatored for the next month or so due to his results at IEM New York (beat coLMVP_DRG 2-1 in groups, 3-0 vs oGsTOP in the RO8). If he can maintain a high number of viewers and continue having good results, he will remain featured.Similarly, we would automatically feature any players that qualified for the current Code A season if they requested it.If you'd like to discuss this, check out the Featured Stream Thread in Website Feedback. What's Next?



We will be working on further customization in the future. One of our main goals is to make it possible to remove entire sections of the left sidebar.



We consider the forums a vital part of our site – and we're open to adding more sub-categories in the future – they have grown so large that the left sidebar has turned into an enormous list. With this in mind, we feel that it is important to give people the option to remove some of the forums or other content from the left sidebar. In addition to the current drop-down menus for the individual forums, and we plan to introduce the ability to remove entire section completely.

We will be working on further customization in the future. One of our main goals is to make it possible to remove entire sections of the left sidebar.We consider the forums a vital part of our site – and we're open to adding more sub-categories in the future – they have grown so large that the left sidebar has turned into an enormous list. With this in mind, we feel that it is important to give people the option to remove some of the forums or other content from the left sidebar. In addition to the current drop-down menus for the individual forums, and we plan to introduce the ability to remove entire section completely. Administrator