Eskalade was getting very impatient and asked me what was I doing that was not working on CPL9, so I thought I would give you an update on everything new that has happened to the web-app. To procrastinate announcing CPL9 a bit more!

Various minor tweaks have made their way into the codebase. For each one I thought it did not deserve a dedicated post, but looking back at them I see that it has been a lot of these so perhaps a post is overdue needed. Lots of changes including: profile pages, match scheduling, changes to the index page, timezone management QoL improvements, and others. Details below:

Profile Pages

You can now access personalized profile pages for each player in the league. Example here. The page would show your Name, Race, Affiliations, CPL Team, Timezone, and other information that can be useful for other players. Going forward, this page would also keep an individual's match history.

Scheduling Matches

Another useful functionality of the profile pages would be scheduling matches. You can now use the web-app to negotiate time that works for both you and your opponent and keep a permanent record that you have both agreed to play at said time.
Why use this feature? Well, for once it makes it easier for us, the admins, to keep track of the conversations that have happened and gives us a reassurance that both of you have agreed to a particular time, rather than having to chase discord PMs etc. But additionally, let me answer this with a story.

Player 1: Let's play at X I am UTC-a.
Player 2: Sounds good.
**Player 1 shows-up at the agreed time, while Player 2 is not there**
**15 minutes later Player 1 messages Player 2**
Player 1: Where are you mate? We agreed to play right now!
Player 2: Oh sorry, you meant now, I thought UTC-a time was not until another hour! I cannot play now, sorry.


And so, both Player 1 and Player 2 have wasted their times, and would potentially not find another time that fits both so the match will end up being a walk-over...

Now... All of this could be avoided if you used the schedule match feature! It allows you to set the time that you want to play, then send a request to your opponent, who will see the time converted to their preferred time! This means that when both parties agree you can have another level of security that the agreed time was as intended by both parties.
Here is how it works. Go to your opponent's profile page, locate the "Schedule Match" button and follow the instructions. Once you are done the proposed time would be sent to your opponent. After you send a time proposal, if your opponent does not find the time to be useful/possible for them they can suggest another time and you can keep circulating the process for as long as you like until you find some time that works for both.

All that is required for both players is that they have set-up their timezone correctly, which leads me to the next update.

This is a new feature that we hope you will find useful but it is still to see experimentation and hopefully adoption by the userbase. If you do not like the feature, think it could be improved, find any bugs, or otherwise have suggestions or input, then please contact me directly.

Sidebar changes

Currently the sidebar on your left hand side shows you upcoming events and the three times from timezones that work for the Americas, Europe, and Asia respectively. We have tweaked how the upcoming events are rendered, but have also added a new time called "My Time". This is the time according to your selected timezone preference. Make sure that this time matches what you expect so that you know your timezone is configured correctly.

Other changes

There have been a number of other smaller changes, that include improvements to the rendering or QoL features for during the season. For example, once the new league starts you will see information of whether you participate in any matches this current week on your homepage page. The calendar view has been changed as well and it now shows your selected timezone.