New Granite Labor Website Under Construction

(18NOV08)

As I posted in the "Hot GL News" viewer, you can take a sneek peek at the new Contact page of the New Site. The Contact page is fully operational... the menu is also but many of the links don't exist. Back out of the Contact page when you are done so you don't get a 404 error.

It's true that for the first time in over three years the GL site is being redesigned from the bottom up. It will consist mostly of PHP, rather than HTML pages. It will have cookies to remember you between visits and Sessions to remember you between pages.

One of the big things I wanted to change was the page styles (look and layout). One of the hardest things for me in web design is making it look nice. Since I need to keep my "Joe's" logo and the graphic header, my options have been limited to what colors I could use. Also since the old site has been built and rebuilt over and over for the past 3+ years, a lot of the various page styles are jumbled, even though it has an external style sheet for the main objects. The new site is better styled and I have been able to fix problems on some previous pages, in the process.

The new site is not as bleak as the current site with its black background and gray pages. It will be a much more pleasant site to the eye to visit.

There have been many changes already. I have mentioned some of them and there will be more to follow, but here are a few things that have changed:

Banner Strip	This is a small gradient gray slim banner that sits directly under each page graphic banner. It hold the login/register buttons on the right and current page name and short description on the left.
Larger Scaling Windows	The size of pages in the new site have increased from about 700px to 950px. The pages scale for higher and smaller resolutions... to a point, some widths are fixed so the page don't go nuts on you. The menu is centered and the header graphic spans the whole page no matter what your screen resolution.
New Menu	Besides always being page centered, the whole menu has been rebuilt. It sits at the top of every page, no just on the home page like the current system. The old menu strips that used to sit on top of the pages (except Home) no longer exist, but their functions do. The Home Back and InfoWindow (now named Page Help) buttons are include in the one menu on every page. These options are not real menus and are in Brackets to distinguish them. Regular menu options drop down to reveal sub-menus.
InfoWindow Replaced With Page Help	Both do the same job. They give you context help depending on the page you are on. The BIG difference is the speed and look of the new Page Help. The new Page Help is powered soley by Javascript, the old InfoWindows were launch by Javascript but only opened a HTML window. That was way slower than this new method. The window that open are much better looking and the can be resized and moved. You can't resize the old InfoWindows.
Buttons Have Changed	Pages with control buttons like Contact and the OTR Browser, look lots different. Mostly because of the new page control buttons. They aren't as gawdy looking. Also, the buttons in the OTR Browser have been moved to the side of the page. This looks better and isn't as confusing to users.
User Accounts	This will not be totally implimented for a while. In fact, the site may go up before this is complete. But users will have the option of registering and logging in to the system to gain added benefits. Old Time Radio programs will eventually be charged a small price for. (sorry folks, but I'm starving here) The PhoneFun program will remain free but users will have to be registered to use it.
No More "GL Hot News" Viewer	The news viewer on the Home page is not going to be there anymore. Also, the fixes and changes section of the Home page will have a dedicated page. The new Home Page is going to be a basic blog. I will probably make it as an RSS feed, not sure yet.

That's all I can think of for the moment. I'm sure I'm forgetting something. More changes are bound to occur as development continues. I'll try to post as I go along. Meanwhile, send feedback on what you think so far.

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New OTRadio Episode Browser

(10Jul08)

I've added a real cool and useful feature for the Old Time Radio programs library: A browser! Now you can browse through all the episodes in a program group. While you are browsing, all information is shown about each episode along with a link to the episode and options for rating it or adding a description if it doesn't have one.

I went to great pains to make the interface of the new Episode Browser pleasing to the eye and efficient. Try it out and you will see what I mean.

To launch the OldTime Radio Episode Browser, start at the Media page and select a Radio Program Group that you would like to browse, from the pop up list. Upon your selection the browser will load. Then you browse until you find what you want.

There is a Media Page button in the browser that will send you back to the Media page if you want to select a different Program group to browse.

For some time, you have been able to list episodes in a given program group by selecting the list button on pages that list program groups. The information about each episode is very limited in these lists. This is where the new Episode Browser comes in handy, because it shows you all the information about the episode and still provides you a download link.

Another special feature I put in is that you can launch the Episode Browser from any page that list Program Groups. All you have to do is click on the number of episodes in the program group listing, and you will be sent to the browser.

I hope you like this new feature. I have spent a couple of weeks writing and debugging it. It was a lot of fun to write knowing how useful it could be for the Old Time Radio section of the Granite Labor website. Enjoy.

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Major Page Style Overall

(23Jun08)

Most pages will look a little different. You may have already noticed the Home page. The style is pretty consistent throughout the site and it looks a little more professional. It is easier to read, looks better, and most of the style descriptions are in a external css file. This makes it possible to have user preferred themes in the future. It also cuts way back on page load time.

You will notice that text sizes are smaller, however, it will be easier and more consistent to zoom in on pages. I also got rid of some redundant tag descriptors; the whole styling scheme is simpler and uniform.

All of the static pages on the site that can be converted, have. I haven't yet got to the scripts for the dynamically created pages. Not to worry though; they will probably be done by the time I upload the revise pages tomorrow. Thus you will not even be aware. I'm always thing of you guys. :)

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PhoneFun Version 2.3

(1Jul08)

PhoneFun, the program that helps you find words to use in place of your phone number, has been upgraded... a little.

The update deals with the HTML output of the program. It really looks nice... much better than the PDF output. There are also new links on the HTML output page; a bottom of page link on top, and a back button on the bottom of the page. Navigation on large output pages will be very easy.

The next upgrade will be a big one. I plan to add a routine that will allow users to input words and the program will show a list of numbers that will fit them. Then, not only will you be able to find acronyms for existing phone numbers, but you will be able to find numbers for words that will help if you have an acronym that you would like to request a phone number for from you phone provider.

Lots of folks have used PhoneFun. It is free and you can run it right from this site. Just Choose PhoneFun from the "Features" menu.

Here's some of the features in version 2.3:

• Output with ones and zeros much shorter - no more duplicate lines
• Ability to output your results to a PDF document, as well as HTML
• Faster engine
• Ability to shut off line numbers in the resulting output
• PDF output document has links to Granite Labor and the PhoneFun page, for your convenience
• Listings are now sorted alphabetically
• Completely new layout for the form
• New filter to stop output of lines with only consonants or vowels. Can cut output down by hundreds of lines!
• New logo (as seen above) on form and output page.
• Output now in four rows with or without line numbers and/or hyphens enabled.
• Dynamic notation, helps you remember what filters were set.
• Complete totals on bottom of output page. (HTML only) Tells you total calculations found and how many filtered lines.
• Flexibility to use various inputs. Blank out digits and more.
• Three types of help files: Pictorial, Video Tutorial or quick-help InfoWindow
• Still free! All that is required is your name.

Why wait? Find a cool acronym for your phone number now. Just go to the PhoneFun page!

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Added New Videos and File Formats

(4APR08)

The Video page has been completely rebuilt and is an option on the "Features" menu of the Home page. Many new file formats have been added and many will be added to the Granite Labor Mobile site as well.

I've added new videos: Killer Dill, Dell XPS Features, the new 4.4.2 version of Exploring The Mt Loop, and Texas Terror, which only has an flv right now. The page format has also been changed to keep video listings to a uniform size, adding a link to view long descriptions.

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The Updated Video Page & Exploring The Mt Loop movie V4.7.2

(4APR08)

That's right! A new version of my movie in less than two weeks. And that's not all.

There are about seven different file formats of it. They include high quality avi and mov, wmv, mp4 and H264 mp4. There is even really small 3gp's and 3g2 files for all of my Granite Labor videos. Of course, you can also watch the flv stream with your Flash player or plug-in.

Although the Exploring version number is a minor upgrade, there have been lots of improvements including a new section of Canyon Creek. Some narration has changed and there is some new music.

I'll be linking the mobile sized files to the Granite Labor mobile site as soon as I get a chance.

I've been working for a couple of days straight to get the ascetics of the new Video page up to speed. Click the icon above if you would like to check it out. Made lots of changes and it looks pretty good, if I do say so myself... and I do. Too many changes to note but it looks nice. One thing I will share with you is that I concenated long description text. Only so many characters are allowed to be displayed. If there are more, a "more" link appears and can be used to read the entire description text, for those who wish. This keeps each video listing at a similar size so you don't have to scroll the page unreasonably. There's more too. Check it out.

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ReStyled Photos/Slideshows Page

(4APR08)

The contents page of Photos/Slideshows, has been remodeled. It fits more with other pages now and is a little easier to read and understand.

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Old-Time Radio Listeners Can Add Episode Descriptions And Ratings

(25MAR08)

My old time radio collection is very popular on this site. If you listen and/or download these episodes, why not help other users by rating them or adding a description if one doesn't exist?

Now you can do both. When you go to the Old-Time Radio page from the All Media page, you are presented a list of Program Groups. Each group contains many episodes from that program. You can launch the player for any group by hitting the Play button. To see or add an episode description, you hit the List button instead. This is also the page you go to to download individual episodes from the selected Program Group.

If an episode does not have a description, a link is provided so you can add one. There are over 1000 episodes on GL and your webmaster is not even willing to try to add descriptions for all of them. You can be very helpful to everyone by adding descriptions to shows you have listened to. Use the episode ID number or its' filename to identify it for adding descriptions or rating, which is also available on the same page.

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Users Can Rate OTR Episodes Now

(19FEB08)

Users can now rate individual episodes of any old-time radio program group. To rate an episode you need to go into the Episode Lister from the Program Groups page. The Episode Lister is the page generated when you click on the List Files button of one of the program groups, on the Program Groups page.

The Listing page shows all of the episode files for that group; usually they episodes of the same program. Anyway, you will see either some diamond graphics that represent an average for all user ratings so far, or you will see "No Rating Yet" if there are no ratings for that episode. The box will also tell you how many times that episode has been rated, to date.

To rate an episode, you click the "Rate Now" link. A small window will open where you can quickly rate that episode.

Please make sure you are rating the episode that you think you are. Don't rate an episode you haven't heard. These ratings are to guide other users as to which episodes are better than others.

I may be adding a link in the various streaming players for an option to rate programs from the group being streamed.

I will be adding a similar module for editing episode descriptions. Soon. The user editable descriptions will work the same way but you will only be able to add a description for an episode that doesn't have one. I also plan to add user accounts for the OTR at the File List/DL/Edit level, and may eventual charge a small fee to help with site upkeep. Something to keep in mind.

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Users Of Granite Labor Mobile

(21JAN08)

For those of you interested in using the text-based Granite Labor Mobile site, there are many ways to get there. You can access the Mobile site link on the Home page of the regular site (this page) or you can login directly. There are two address for the Mobile site: http://granitelabor.com/Mobile/ or http://mobi.granitelabor.com.

I admit that the Mobile site has not been updated in quite a while. I have been too busy working on the main site. When I get enough time I will do some updating to it, including adding new content such as the new radio programs that have been added to the regular site, but not to Mobile.

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