EPT![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/sitechanges6.jpg)
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
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.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Hot_Bid/CustomRightSide.png)
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.
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
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
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 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.
