Cunning Runt Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Communist Ha! Nah. I just honestly don't get all the people hanging on MFL's sack. Ya - it's got decent customization when compared to the market, but otherwise, the site blows. Not user-friendly. Ugly. Difficult to navigate. But we do use it, because of the customization - not 'cause we necesarily like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithkt Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 I don't like MFL as site except for the customization. I'd be gone in a heartbeat if there were a site that combined that customization with some of the bells/whistles of some other sites. MFL's only redeeming quality is that customization actually, but it's an important one. And I disagree with those who say they'll customize a feature for you at the drop of a dime. That's not been my experience. As you can see, I'd very much be in your target market. Anybody who has said they will make any customization being asked for is flat out wrong. I'll agree with you on this point. Nor would I expect them to. Any change they make has to be balanced against the effect it has on the entire community at large. This is not to suggest you haven't made reasonable requests. However, I also think that they do listen carefully to their customers and have made many changes over the years to accommodate some very complex leagues. I think you'd be hard pressed to find any of the established big sites willing to do so. There is definitely room for continued improvement. I still think their live scoring is weaker than CBS for example. Their Gameday app is very cool, but sometimes you just want to hit the web page. Chat could use an overhaul. Additional customization of the various menus could help some people simplify league navigation for their league members. Better in module presentation of the player news. I can think of many more. I'm sure I could create an equally large list for any of the other services as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satelliteoflovegm Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Ha! Nah. I just honestly don't get all the people hanging on MFL's sack. Ya - it's got decent customization when compared to the market, but otherwise, the site blows. Not user-friendly. Ugly. Difficult to navigate. But we do use it, because of the customization - not 'cause we necesarily like it. plus one We need the look and ease of CBS with several pre-packaged custom options. Check one box and you get all the options automatically. Not having to go line by line and enter info. MFL is fine but I prefer CBS too. I have leagues in both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMD Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Just an educated tip - you could not find an area more glutted with failed attempts than league software. That is the cash cow of FF since it is sort of write it, supply the stats and cash the checks. About four years ago this was noted by all the big players which is why Sportsline, NFL.com, ESPN.com, Foxsports.com, yahoo.com and used to be fanball.com all came out with their software. I know that FoxSports employed a slew of analysts and programmers and gives theirs away for free to try to catch up. It is also a tough thing to write comprehensively and not crash from server loads that must accommodate everyone checking their lineups on Sunday morning if not from other technical issues. MFL is the product of about 15 years of work by a couple of guys who have done nothing else. Most of the softwares out there are 5+ years old by now and have gone through all the problems and crashes and downtimes. It is a very, very daunting thing to do that has been tried by a lot of companies. The need for instant updates on stats also adds greatly to the cost and the complexity. IMO the only thing possibly left is something very niche like. There's no way for everyone already at sportsline, yahoo, espn, etc. to even hear about another software let alone try moving their league to an unproven product. I'm all for people trying to do things but I've been personally approached by maybe six or seven guys thinking this very thing through the years that wanted my input and none of them ever carried it through. Even if something could be written that would not crash and could be funded for all the associated costs, how would it be presented to get people to change? Most people are pretty happy with what they have and hate to learn anything new. That's why ESPN, Yahoo, sportsline, etc. hold on to their audiences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpholmes Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 P.S. Barleyman, DMD founded and runs The Huddle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Country Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 P.S. Barleyman, DMD founded and runs The Huddle. Actually, I'M A TOOL runs TheHuddle.... DMD is merely his spokesperson and lackey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooby's Hubby Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 I'll throw my two cents in on the MFL appearance issue... The level of customization possible using custom CSS and HTML actually does allow for the possibility of some very good looking sites. However, I understand that it is unreasonable to expect every league to have a coding genius available to do so, so the vast majority of the MFL customers are wholly dependent on the skins available through the setup page to find something they like. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the skins are not well thought out and not complete. As new modules are made available, those skins tend to fall out of date. New feature like the horizontal and vertical menus made the situation worse. Some of the more recent MFL default skins have looked much better than their first batch, but most of the older ones just plain suck. Those of you still using older skins might want to check out some of the newer ones to see if that improves your opinion of your league site. It might not, but I wonder how many of you are aware of the options. If anyone who has commented on the outdated look would be willing to post a link to their league page, I'd like to see what skins and module layout you are using. Perhaps a few simple suggestions could make the page more pleasing and perhaps more functional. It's quite clear to me that while the staff at MFL fully understands how to use CSS and HTML, they lack a little design flair and rely on the community to provide skin templates. I myself have submitted a few (the Huddle skins) which are also admittedly lacking. The main problem is the guys who really have this design flair, have all decided to turn it into a profit center. Certainly their right. However this limits the number of quality skins available in the default list. I'd really like to see MFL hire someone to simply improve the selection of skins, leverage some new CSS3 techniques and I think it would eliminate the "made by a HS kid in 1997" type complaints. I find the biggest mistake most of the people who customize their site make is trying to do too much. Overuse of flash, large graphics, overusing the tab feature to add every possible module, adding every third-party widget they can find, all contributing to slow page load times. While the page may look great, it sucks when you are trying to make that last minute change or just looking for a quick update on scoring. They lose sight of the important balance between appearance, responsiveness and functionality. As for the original question, yes, if you think you can build a better mouse trap, I say do it. Competition is a good thing. It's a monumental task rife with a lot of pitfalls, but if you are confident you can make it work, scale appropriately and handle the technical support in a timely manner, then good luck to you. our league sure could use a coding genius ... I have seen some really cool MFL sites and wish I knew how to design my own skins like those guys do. Honestly, it is a little intimidating when you try to get started. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No2011Lockout Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 I am not sure that it would even be worth your time. Have you done any research into the possibility of a NFL Lokcout? It is very likely that we will quite literally be playing "fantasy football" next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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