Confused about the new layout? It's easy. [Updated 9/26]

Fooch's Update: This first update is related to hubs and the value they will bring.

HUBS:

We have something called Sections where you can find all the content about a given site. A basic example is 49ers Injury News. That features all the content connected to that section. In United, we can convert that into a hub that looks somewhat similar to the front page. I created such a hub for the 49ers-Jets Week 4 game, and will create a new hub for each week. There are several cool features:

1. I can pull in content from other sites and feature it in the layout. The Jonathan Grimes post you see is from our Jets blog, Gang Green Nation. The story with no picture is an updated Tre9er wrote at SB Nation Bay Area.

2. I can place the hub on the front page of the site. For much of the week I'll leave that up there for people to check out. All the 49ers-Jets content we write will appear on the front page, but you'll also see it combined together on the Week 4 hub.

____________

So, are you confused about the new layout? Don't be. It looks a bit overwhelming, but it's really easy once you get the hang of it. After reading through this, please feel free to post questions below and I will update this article so it provides as much insight as possible. Additionally, I will leave this pinned into the cover (described below) for the next day or two so people can read it over if they are not around today.

THE COVER:

The big pictures at the top are called the cover and will likely be bigger stories that need to be pinned at the top. We have a three, four and five story format. We'll bounce between the three of them depending on how much of the content we want to show at once.

THE RIVER:

The "river" is just the new flow of stories that populate underneath the cover. It's just like the old method of the website, but it looks better. The stories will be in reverse chronological order like before, with some minor exceptions.

HUBS:

If you scroll down into the river, you'll see a blocked out section called "Injury News" and has the "157 Stories" mark. That's a hub, which is one of the new features under United. Essentially, that is another page unto itself on Niners Nation. We can post the hubs in the river or even in the cover.

The "Injury News" hub in particular will feature all of the injury news that we cover. This previously was a section, but the title change gives it some more functionality. If you click on it, it will take you to the hub containing all of the injury stories in reverse chronological. I will keep that injury hub pinned near the top because of how frequently people ask about injuries.

FANPOSTS & FANSHOTS:

For now you have to go to the front page to create FanPosts and FanShots. On the front page, scroll down and on the left you'll see FanPosts. Scroll a little further down and on the right you'll see FanShots. I would actually recommend bookmarking the FanPosts page and the FanShots page. Ideally we'll get more links within the sidebar of articles, but for now bookmark those pages.

I realize the changes will catch folks off guard and take some time for you to grow comfortable. Once the network has a chance to breath and catchup, the sites around the SB Nation network should load significantly faster than before. We've also heard your comments about the comments and will continue looking to improve those capabilities. This is a living, breathing platform so improvements will come as we move along.