League Manager version 1.4 has been released. Here’s a summary of the major enhancements in version 1.4:

• Multi-Standings Shortcode. This shortcode supports the display of multiple league standings tables via a dropdown list of selected leagues at the top of the standings table.



• Last & Next Game Columns. The next game and/or the last game for each team can now be displayed in league schedule tables.
• Schedule Ticker Shortcode. Tickers are intended for the top of home pages as quick views of recent games. The range of dates can be controlled by the date arguments described below.



• Schedule Slider Shortcode. Sliders are larger views of league schedules with more information than tickers. The range of dates can be controlled by the date arguments described below.



• New Date & Time Controls. Schedule shortcode displays can be controlled by several arguments for game date ranges including: start date (“now” continually changes the date & time), a fixed end date, a number of days into the future, or an interval (days) around the start date.

A number of smaller upgrades and bug fixes are also in this build.

Several tutorials on the new features will be available soon for Gold Support Members.

You can now purchase logo sets for your favorite leagues at the the MSTW Store. Countless hours have been invested in building logo sets for testing the MSTW plugins. Why re-invent the wheel? Whether you don’t have the graphics skills, don’t have the interest, or just don’t have the time, you can jump start your website’s database of teams with pre-sized logos for MSTW schedule tables, standings tables, and scoreboards (41×28 px) or player profiles, team galleries, single game pages, and schedule sliders (125x125px).

All NFL, Pac-12, and Big-10 teams are available now. More NCAA Leagues, MLB, NBA, NHL, the Premier League, Euro-16 team flags, Olympic team flags, and more will be available in the near future. If there are team logos you need soon, feel free to contact me.

More examples are available on the MSTW Development Site.

NOTE:
You are purchasing only the labor expended to convert the images to the optimal sizes for the MSTW plugins. At least one 41x28px and one 125x125px image. NO RIGHTS TO USE THESE IMAGES ON YOUR SITE ARE GRANTED OR IMPLIED. You must obtain the rights necessary to use each image on your site, which depends on your site (personal, commercial), and the organization owning the rights to the image.

MSTW Bracket Builder version 1.0 is now available on wordpress.org. Check it out in action on the MSTW Dev site. The MSTW Bracket Builder plugin is intended as a complement to the MSTW League Manager plugin. While League Manager supports the creation and display of “group play” for tournaments or round robin tournaments, Bracket Builder supports the creation and display of “knockout rounds” or tournament brackets.

Define and configure tournaments, add the games, and use the shortcodes to display either “brackets” (aka “knockout rounds”) or “game tables” (aka “fixture tables”). Both front-end displays and their contents can be customized with CSS, and a (growing) set of shortcode arguments to reflect your site’s “brand”.

The plugin is now available, as is a library of man pages on this site. Video tutorials will be available for Gold Support members … hopefully soon. (Send in specific topics you’d like to see!)

So what’s next? Several extensions to the base League Manager and Bracket Builder plugins are planned:

• League Scheduler that will automatically create single and double round robin schedules, and assign venues to the games based on venue availability. View this as a running start; a schedule editor will be available to tweek schedules as necessary.
• Bracket Builder will support more tournament formats – double elimination, consolation games – and automatically update bracket displays based on reported final scores of games.
• Bracket Builder will be integrated with League Manager, so for example, tournament brackets can be automatically built for a league based on the league standings (seeding), and the front end displays can offer more information without duplicative data entry.
• League Live Scoring will allow fans at games to update game status in real-time. League scoreboards will display status updates without the need to be refreshed.

When? I don’t know, but as you can see, progress is being made. If you have a favorite on this list, let me know!

MSTW League Manager version 1.0 is now available on wordpress.org. Check it out in action on the MSTW Dev site.

For years league admins have been trying to fit MSTW Schedules & Scoreboards (the square peg designed for single teams, organizations, schools) into their league sites (the round hole), and not surprisingly things don’t quite fit. The MSTW League Manager plugin was created to address the needs of LEAGUE websites and admins. Create multiple leagues, and multiple seasons for each league. Create game venues, teams (with home venues and logos). From there, create league standings tables and/or create league games, and then scheduled and results tables. The tables and their contents can be formatted via a rich set of Display Settings, and front-end displays can be customized with CSS.

The plugin is now available, as is a library of man pages on this site. Some video tutorials will be available for Gold Support members … hopefully soon.

So what’s next? Several extensions to the base League Manager are planned:

• A League Scheduler that will automatically create single and double round robin schedules, and assign venues to the games based on venue availability. View this as a running start; a schedule editor will be available to tweek schedules when necessary.
• A Bracket Builder that will automatically create single and double elimination tournament brackets.
• League Live Scoring will allow fans at games to update game status in real-time. League scoreboards will display status updates without the need to be refreshed.

When? I don’t know, but if you have a favorite on this list, let me know!

I have been contacted many times by admins attempting to use the MSTW plugins, especially MSTW Schedules & Scoreboards, for LEAGUES. The plugins were designed for a single team or a single school, not for leagues; so they are far from a perfect fit for leagues. So about a month ago, I finally decided to build a new MSTW League Manager plugin. Here are the basic features with some screenshots of the development version. If you have comments or suggestions, feel free e-mail them to me (but no promises!).

Basic Front End Features (not pretty yet, but you’ll get the idea):

• League Standings
• League Schedules in table view and gallery view
• Team Schedules

Back End (Admin) Features:

• Add multiple games on one admin screen
• Update multiple games on one admin screen
• Import teams from MSTW Schedules & Scoreboards (or your own spreadsheet)
• Import games from MSTW Schedules & Scoreboards (or your own spreadsheet)
• Individual Settings for each league – points calculations, order & display of columns, and much more
• Hierarchical Leagues, for example NFL <-- AFC <-- East, West, North, South

Last but not least, and this will NOT be in version 1, I’m looking at a league scoreboard with LIVE UPDATES when games are in progress.

The plugin will NOT be feature complete in time for high school basketball season, but if you are interested in working with a BETA version for this basketball season, please let me know.