How-To Use SickLines.com

SickLines.com

With it being the beginning of a new year we thought it’d be nice to refresh everyone on some of the features of the Sick Lines site. We have many visitors that have been long time readers of the site but we also see a great influx of new readers each month. We hope that this post can help veterans and rookies alike in using our site more effectively.

Header

The header of Sick Lines is the same across almost all of the pages on the site excluding the Gallery. The Gallery has a similar layout but excludes the top right feature banner. The header includes the main sections of the site in an easy to navigate manor.

Moving top left to right these sections are explained below.

• Sick Lines Logo – This logo can be clicked on any of our pages to quickly return to the Home page.

• Top Right Feature Banner – We use this banner to highlight various important content. Clicking it will take you to the feature page area for that banner.

Navigation bar

• Home – Takes you back to the home page.

• Courses – The Courses section includes information on many locations throughout the US and abroad. We have a complete run down of each location with feature details, pictures, and video of the course. If you have pictures and video any courses you’d like for us to add, let us know so we can help make this section more diverse.  This section of the site we plan on developing a good bit more this year.

• Gallery – This area contains all of the pictures we’ve taken from various events, reviews, and other coverage. It is updated regularly with new pictures. Once you register you can upload your own pics and be notified when a gallery section is updated by clicking Subscribe to Gallery at the bottom of the gallery page. You can also search the gallery for specific photos you’re looking for using the Search bar. Emailing your friends a gallery or link you like is easy as well with the simple form at the bottom of the gallery page.

• Tech – The Tech section of the site houses our various How-To articles, Guides, and Bike Builds. Look to this section if you need some inspiration for your next build or need to find out how to perform technical procedures like overhauls and shock measurements.

• Weights – Our Weights section contains an accurate weight listing of many gravity parts. All of our parts are listed with the measured weight and picture to help verify its authenticity, the quality of the measuring device, and the details that often get left out of the part being weighed. If you have weights that you’d like to add to this section please send us an email with the picture attached and all relevant information (year, size, details) for us to accurately list it.

• Reviews – Our Review area has a listing of all of our published reviews. We have reviewed complete bikes to sunglasses and just about everything in between on our site, so check to see if we’ve reviewed anything you may be looking at buying before your purchase.

• Events – The Event portion of our site showcases many of the big events that occur throughout the year. Our event coverage often contains detailed daily updates including photos and video as well as results.

• Projects – The Projects section of the site is our newest area. We will be featuring several of our custom bike builds and other special items in this area. We’ll be giving our readers a more inside look at how we put together our bikes and what we think about them as we add new parts and test them at different locations. Look to see some bonus projects (Yeti 303 R DH, Evil Revot, and more) from outside acquaintances from time to time.

• Calendar – The Calendar page contains all of the pertinent race and event dates that we know of. If you’d like to see your event added or if we have missed a special event, let us know.

• Store – The Store changes from time to time depending on what we have for sale. T-shirts, bike parts, and stickers have all been sold through our store in the past. Check back often to see if we have new items up for sale for a good price.

• About – The About page contains a little FAQ about the site to give readers a better idea about what Sick Lines is about. It also contains a donation area for those that feel like contributing monetary funds to help keep the site alive and quality content flowing.

Left Sidebar

The left side bar is used mostly for navigation and ad space.

On the Home page

• Categories – The Categories section contains clickable links to stories related to that category. If you’d like to see all of the articles we’ve done regarding Events, Freeride Friday, etc simply click the link and all of the stories will be displayed in the center column of the page

• Poll – The poll is changed from time to time to give our readers a way of easily expressing their opinion on a given subject we pick. An archive of all of the past poll results can be seen once you’ve voted. If you have suggested topics you’d like to see polled, let us know.

• News Submission – Quick email link to tell us of any news you’ve found that we haven’t posted on yet.  Nothing you send is guarenteed to be posted and content is posted depending on a lot of variables including quality of the submitted piece.  We, just like our readers, like reading well clean, coherent, and media rich content.

• Support – Donation area to support Sick Lines

On other pages

On most other content pages the left sidebar contains simple navigation to visit other sections of the site and related articles.

Center Column

The center column of the site is where the main content of an article or post is featured. Most articles and posts have the ability to comment and we encourage you to do so. Comments are a great way of getting the community involved in a discussion about the article as well as lets us know about any feedback you have.

The center column also houses our rotating feature content banner. Click the picture of the article you wish to view and it will take you there. You can simply watch the articles automatically change or use the forward or backward arrows or plus and minus to change on your own. The arrows with lines will allow you to skip to a new page of numbers for quicker navigation.

Right Sidebar

The right sidebar is used for search, language translation, featured content, connection methods, archives, and ad space.

On most pages

• Search bar – Use this text box to search the site for any keyword. It will search the entire site to see if it can find what you’re looking for. The results will be displayed in the center column.

• Language bar – In order to make our site more accessible to those who speak languages besides English we added this feature to automatically translate our site. Click the drop down menu to select the language that you want the site translated into.

On the Home page

• Sick Spot – This is our featured content area. We swap out the featured banners from time to time to highlight important content.

• Get Connected – The area is for those who’d like to get connected with Sick Lines via other popular web portals. We update our Facebook profile from time to time with spy shots of upcoming article pictures as well as tag event pictures. You can also sign up for our Newsletter and RSS feeds or follow us via Twitter.

• Archives – Our past archives can be found containing a monthly breakdown of our posts.

Got a suggestion or comment? Feel free to leave one below or email us!