wikiloops update 6.2 release note
[b]wikiloops update 6.2 release note[/b]
*should read this post before the update happened,
you may have a preview at the BETA version here:*
**** [URL=http://www.dev.wikiloops.com.com]THE BETA[/URL] ****
pretty close to the third birthday of wikiloops on April 1st 2014, beyond 11.111 members and around 14.500 tracks shared on wikiloops.com, I'm proud to introduce version 6.2.
Before going to the details, let me say that, knowing the whole coding project of wikiloops, I knew it was time to take a decision to either improve things around here or accept that things would not be maintainable another 5000 tracks down the road.
If you have ever tried to open up a folder on a webserver that is containing 14k mp3 files because the hobby developer didn't foresee that amount to be likely, you will know there is a limit to what can be done. Dropdown lists also only make sense if they don't contain 10.000 usernames, just to give another example that might sound familiar to some of you.
So, what this is about is basically ensuring the future of this project, plus a little candy on the interface.
It did take around seven weeks of full time coding to take the whole coding concept apart and put it back together.
At the end of this, after testing and testing, coding and coding, learning and struggling, let me present this as my birthday gift to wikiloops, and as my respectful thanks to all the great musicians and the supporters of wikiloops.
[b]obvious Changes - User Interface[/b]
1. Changed profile header, allowing big banner picture
2. Slight changes in color theme to allow better structure on low contrast monitors
3. Bigger fonts & line heights
4. Added external chatwindow (see little icon top-right shoutbox corner) - thx to @Freshfunk for the lead
5. Added extra chord dialog to display riff info in big size while practicing - thx to OliVBee for the lead
6. Added free-text-search on titles, tags and usernames*
7. Optimized news feed logic to prevent multiple news posts on one event
8. Optimized comment reply function
9. Added keyboard controls:
9.1 shoutbox and comment fields may be submitted by pressing CTRL + Enter
9.2 "0" on your numeric pad starts and pauses audio player,
"1" does a stop&return to beginning,
"+" & "-" to change volume
10. Smoothened log in via FB, allowing better picture quality
11. Added site-news option on newsfeed
12. Raised limit of allowed PMs
13. Limited shoutbox backtracing - thx to Neronick for the lead
14. The wikiloops radio playlists now start at a random track
15. Improved playlist editing (bugs fixed)
16. Restructured the complete mobile appearance of wikiloops
17. Fixed issues with android, IE and jPlayer
[b]not as obvious changes[/b]
18. Changed the URI-structure of wikiloops to pages without added parameters - e.g. the old wikiloops.com/profile.php?lookup=1 (my profile) is now found at wikiloops.com/artist/Dick.php, same happened with the tracks and radio channels.
19. Configured caching settings allow pages to be stored in your browser (if it supports that). This is basically avoiding traffic and database requests by not scanning the whole database everytime a user bounces to and fro a search results page, while still making sure pages will be refreshed as soon as something happened. You may notice the listener count will not always go +1 when you refresh a page now, but you will get a fresh page served as soon as there's a new thumb or comment.
20. Reordered mp3 file handling, copying 14.000 files into easy to handlesubfolders of 100 each
21. Applied mp3 file protection to prevent hotlinking from other websites.
22. Added option to display important user notifications in the head area
23. Let iPad users choose to go to mobile or desktop site (still in the works)
24. Login status now valid on all subdomains / languages
[b]Members: Dos and Don'ts[/b]
there aren't any dont's, but "member dos" looked too weird :)
DOs
a. Tagging: please use the tagging option when sharing tracks, new members and first time visitors will appreciate to find some tracks tagged with similar sounding artists.
See the help-section-article on choosing tags if you are unsure - basically, don't use tags like "blues guitar", for both words are also categorized. You can add tags to tracks you already shared on the jam pages.
b. Profiles: I took the freedom to place your second profile pic (given you had one) also as banner image, just to show there is now the option to display something there. Most pics were to narrow, so it might look a little strange at first. Feel free to either dump or replace the picture on your "edit profile" page
c. Lend a hand: If you run across any issues on the new version, please report it to me! If you don't run into any issues, but a lot of great music presented in a unique way, please report it to the world out there!
Since all the links on wikiloops have changed, it would be very very cool if you could pass some to your social feeds or forums - just invite people over to help celebrate three years of online jamming. Every mention of wikiloops out there is an act of support as i see things.
Have a great time on wikiloops,
lets get that jam on :)
yours
Dick
[small]Dick a.k.a. Richard Kaiser is the coder, developer, admin & general fool on the hill of wikiloops.com[/small]
*should read this post before the update happened,
you may have a preview at the BETA version here:*
**** [URL=http://www.dev.wikiloops.com.com]THE BETA[/URL] ****
pretty close to the third birthday of wikiloops on April 1st 2014, beyond 11.111 members and around 14.500 tracks shared on wikiloops.com, I'm proud to introduce version 6.2.
Before going to the details, let me say that, knowing the whole coding project of wikiloops, I knew it was time to take a decision to either improve things around here or accept that things would not be maintainable another 5000 tracks down the road.
If you have ever tried to open up a folder on a webserver that is containing 14k mp3 files because the hobby developer didn't foresee that amount to be likely, you will know there is a limit to what can be done. Dropdown lists also only make sense if they don't contain 10.000 usernames, just to give another example that might sound familiar to some of you.
So, what this is about is basically ensuring the future of this project, plus a little candy on the interface.
It did take around seven weeks of full time coding to take the whole coding concept apart and put it back together.
At the end of this, after testing and testing, coding and coding, learning and struggling, let me present this as my birthday gift to wikiloops, and as my respectful thanks to all the great musicians and the supporters of wikiloops.
[b]obvious Changes - User Interface[/b]
1. Changed profile header, allowing big banner picture
2. Slight changes in color theme to allow better structure on low contrast monitors
3. Bigger fonts & line heights
4. Added external chatwindow (see little icon top-right shoutbox corner) - thx to @Freshfunk for the lead
5. Added extra chord dialog to display riff info in big size while practicing - thx to OliVBee for the lead
6. Added free-text-search on titles, tags and usernames*
7. Optimized news feed logic to prevent multiple news posts on one event
8. Optimized comment reply function
9. Added keyboard controls:
9.1 shoutbox and comment fields may be submitted by pressing CTRL + Enter
9.2 "0" on your numeric pad starts and pauses audio player,
"1" does a stop&return to beginning,
"+" & "-" to change volume
10. Smoothened log in via FB, allowing better picture quality
11. Added site-news option on newsfeed
12. Raised limit of allowed PMs
13. Limited shoutbox backtracing - thx to Neronick for the lead
14. The wikiloops radio playlists now start at a random track
15. Improved playlist editing (bugs fixed)
16. Restructured the complete mobile appearance of wikiloops
17. Fixed issues with android, IE and jPlayer
[b]not as obvious changes[/b]
18. Changed the URI-structure of wikiloops to pages without added parameters - e.g. the old wikiloops.com/profile.php?lookup=1 (my profile) is now found at wikiloops.com/artist/Dick.php, same happened with the tracks and radio channels.
19. Configured caching settings allow pages to be stored in your browser (if it supports that). This is basically avoiding traffic and database requests by not scanning the whole database everytime a user bounces to and fro a search results page, while still making sure pages will be refreshed as soon as something happened. You may notice the listener count will not always go +1 when you refresh a page now, but you will get a fresh page served as soon as there's a new thumb or comment.
20. Reordered mp3 file handling, copying 14.000 files into easy to handlesubfolders of 100 each
21. Applied mp3 file protection to prevent hotlinking from other websites.
22. Added option to display important user notifications in the head area
23. Let iPad users choose to go to mobile or desktop site (still in the works)
24. Login status now valid on all subdomains / languages
[b]Members: Dos and Don'ts[/b]
there aren't any dont's, but "member dos" looked too weird :)
DOs
a. Tagging: please use the tagging option when sharing tracks, new members and first time visitors will appreciate to find some tracks tagged with similar sounding artists.
See the help-section-article on choosing tags if you are unsure - basically, don't use tags like "blues guitar", for both words are also categorized. You can add tags to tracks you already shared on the jam pages.
b. Profiles: I took the freedom to place your second profile pic (given you had one) also as banner image, just to show there is now the option to display something there. Most pics were to narrow, so it might look a little strange at first. Feel free to either dump or replace the picture on your "edit profile" page
c. Lend a hand: If you run across any issues on the new version, please report it to me! If you don't run into any issues, but a lot of great music presented in a unique way, please report it to the world out there!
Since all the links on wikiloops have changed, it would be very very cool if you could pass some to your social feeds or forums - just invite people over to help celebrate three years of online jamming. Every mention of wikiloops out there is an act of support as i see things.
Have a great time on wikiloops,
lets get that jam on :)
yours
Dick
[small]Dick a.k.a. Richard Kaiser is the coder, developer, admin & general fool on the hill of wikiloops.com[/small]
Calle
I have been a little lazy using WL last weeks, nice with upgrade, shall try to be here more! Really apprieciate this site! :D
+0
Sophie
Very very very good job !! Many thanks !! (and I know how complicated and how long it could be !!) ;)
+0
frizz-guitar
hi Richard,
for sure a complicated job, you've done! GREAT!!! I like the new header concept too... +0
for sure a complicated job, you've done! GREAT!!! I like the new header concept too... +0
Neronick
Hi Dick,
ich erlaube mir, mein Feedback zu deinen Systemweiterentwicklungen auf deutsch zu verfassen :-). Da dir mein Lob gewiss ist, strebe ich einen kleinen philosophischen Gedankengang an, um dir Motivation und Anregung zu geben.
Wikiloops ist weit gekommen - obwohl du laufend starke Coding-Verbesserungen eingeführt hast. Offensichtlich hat also ein "verbesserungsfähiges Coding" kein Erfolgshindernis dargestellt. Das gilt vermutlich noch immer!? Moral: Inhalt war/ist wichtiger Coding oder Oberfläche.
Dir muss niemand sagen, wie unterschiedlich die Musiker auf Wikiloops sind, die zusammengeführt werden. Die Menschen scheinen alle eine völlig andere Motivation zu besitzen; die man aber mit Maßzahlen beschreiben könnte. Der eine arbeitet schnell, der andere macht keine Upload unter 1000 Zwischenuploads von anderen. Der Eine explodiert vor Mitteilungsdrang und verschwindet bald unsichtbar von der Bildfläche. Einer lädt nur Songs hoch, verzichtet aber auf "Daumendrücken" für alles jenseits seiner Welt...
Die inhaltliche Dimension der Weiterentwicklung halte ich für wichtig.
Beispiel: In Wikiloop darf jeder alles. Wir haben tausenden Files (=Quantität) und natürlich ist die musikalische Qualität normalverteilt (m.E. mit hohem Mittelwert und recht geringer Streuung). Es fehlt jedoch für die weitere Programmentwicklung ein Ratingmaß für diese Qualität. Zur Zeit dient das eindimensionale Merkmal "n Thumbs" -unabhängig von der Zeit - als Ersatzgröße. (Siehe Playlist "Top Vocal Tracks"). Das Ergebnis dieser konzeptionellen Baustelle ist eine falsche Außendarstellung. Auf Wikiloops gibt es zahlreiche hochwertige Vocaltracks - ganz anders als in der Playlist dargeboten...! Die Aufnahme eines Tracks in eine private Playlist könnte aber wie virtuelle 100 Thumbs gewertet werden... usw. Ein neues Ratingmaß ist nur eine von vielen inhaltlichen Herausforderungen.
Nochmal Lob und Danke für die bisherige Arbeit und weiter so in den nächsten Jahren! +0
ich erlaube mir, mein Feedback zu deinen Systemweiterentwicklungen auf deutsch zu verfassen :-). Da dir mein Lob gewiss ist, strebe ich einen kleinen philosophischen Gedankengang an, um dir Motivation und Anregung zu geben.
Wikiloops ist weit gekommen - obwohl du laufend starke Coding-Verbesserungen eingeführt hast. Offensichtlich hat also ein "verbesserungsfähiges Coding" kein Erfolgshindernis dargestellt. Das gilt vermutlich noch immer!? Moral: Inhalt war/ist wichtiger Coding oder Oberfläche.
Dir muss niemand sagen, wie unterschiedlich die Musiker auf Wikiloops sind, die zusammengeführt werden. Die Menschen scheinen alle eine völlig andere Motivation zu besitzen; die man aber mit Maßzahlen beschreiben könnte. Der eine arbeitet schnell, der andere macht keine Upload unter 1000 Zwischenuploads von anderen. Der Eine explodiert vor Mitteilungsdrang und verschwindet bald unsichtbar von der Bildfläche. Einer lädt nur Songs hoch, verzichtet aber auf "Daumendrücken" für alles jenseits seiner Welt...
Die inhaltliche Dimension der Weiterentwicklung halte ich für wichtig.
Beispiel: In Wikiloop darf jeder alles. Wir haben tausenden Files (=Quantität) und natürlich ist die musikalische Qualität normalverteilt (m.E. mit hohem Mittelwert und recht geringer Streuung). Es fehlt jedoch für die weitere Programmentwicklung ein Ratingmaß für diese Qualität. Zur Zeit dient das eindimensionale Merkmal "n Thumbs" -unabhängig von der Zeit - als Ersatzgröße. (Siehe Playlist "Top Vocal Tracks"). Das Ergebnis dieser konzeptionellen Baustelle ist eine falsche Außendarstellung. Auf Wikiloops gibt es zahlreiche hochwertige Vocaltracks - ganz anders als in der Playlist dargeboten...! Die Aufnahme eines Tracks in eine private Playlist könnte aber wie virtuelle 100 Thumbs gewertet werden... usw. Ein neues Ratingmaß ist nur eine von vielen inhaltlichen Herausforderungen.
Nochmal Lob und Danke für die bisherige Arbeit und weiter so in den nächsten Jahren! +0
Neddings
Looks completely new, the only thing that's a little strange is the "messages" bar appearing when there's no messages unread ..
+0
Wade
As just a player I have no idea what most of the technical stuff is that was mentioned, but certainly get that there is a lot of behind the scenes work required to keep wikiloops viable.
My sincere thanks Dick it's much appreciated. +0
My sincere thanks Dick it's much appreciated. +0
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gracias a todos los músicos que colaboran en wikiloops, es interesante la sensación de saber, que alguien en algún lugar del mundo sabe de ti y de tu música, y lo mas interesante, compartirla, GRACIAS
carlottis