The National Basketball Association (NBA) has just launched a new online video rule book on its website that illustrates more than 100 regulations - including everything from traveling and dribbling violations to technical fouls - through video clips from recent and high-profile league games.

The site is the league’s latest effort to regain the confidence of fans, many of whom are frustrated with the sport’s officiating practices.

The league hopes to use the site to educate fans about the rules of the game, some of which officials believe are misunderstood by both fans and media commentators alike. The video examples, the site says, serve to "help explain the Rules of the NBA game to all interested parties - our teams, the media, and our fans."

Each rule on the site is accompanied by several videos demonstrating the related violation, with some of the most misunderstood and complicated calls being featured. For example, several videos show the difference between a simple hard foul, and a first-degree flagrant foul and a second-degree flagrant foul. The videos have also been stripped of audio to avoid confusion.

NBA officials have faced tough criticism over the past few years, with fans using added camera angles, instant replay options, and digital tools such as YouTube to scrutinize their calls. Additionally, the 2007 conviction of veteran official Tim Donaghy on charges of conspiring with gamblers raised doubts about the integrity of the league’s officials. Now, the league faces new problems, as substitutes replace regular referees locked out over a contract dispute.

"It’s very difficult, unless you've played the game at a very high level, or better yet, officiated the game at a very high level, to understand the complexity of our rules simply by reading them," Stu Jackson, EVP for basketball operations for the NBA, said in an interview with the New York Times. “We have to remind ourselves over and over that referees have to make these decisions in split seconds, tenths of a second.”