I will be back in July to officially work on the site. It's been about a month since I have done any updating and I won't be doing any for a while. Officially, that is. I may get to a few things but I can't make any promises at this time. I have a lot of personal things going on that is distracting my now. I figure that I should be more focused by the time July rolls around. In the mean-time enjoy what's here.
That's right, there are actually four scripts involved. The link is on the Login page: Forgot or Lost Password. Clicking that link will popup a window for you to enter your login name, which is of course is your email address. You are then sent an email with a special link. Following that link will take you to the reset page where you can plug in the new password you want to use.
I will add a new menu soon. It will be called Users and it will contain an option for changing your password. In the future I will write more code so you can customize your Granite Labor experience to fit your taste. But for now the menu will only have the password changer.
I have been asked why don't I just send a user their password if they loose it or forget it. The reason is that I don't know it. Granite Labor never actually knows what your password is, so it can't be retrieved. Let me explain: When you register a new account on the site, or change your password, it is encrypted and the encryption is what is stored in your password field in the GL database. It cannot be unencrypted. When you login, the password you enter is encrypted in the same way. Only then is it tested to see if it matches the encrypted one stored in the DB. This keeps your account safe.
Anyway, as far as the new Password Reset: I've tested it thouroughly locally and will once I upload it. Let me know if you have any problems with it, or suggestions.
This past week I have made many new design changes to the site. So many in fact, I won't be able to remember then all.
First and formost are dynamic tabs. You must see the Media, Help, and Contact pages. They really are looking good... and working better than ever. These are three pages that used to be 15 pages! And the cool thing about it is they load as fast as one of the old ones. The trick that makes this happen is the new tabs.
Multiple pages are available on these three pages, but they only load what you need and changing to another page... or anywhere on the site for that matter, is a breeze. And you don't have to wait for the page headers to load because just the part of the page that is updated loads. Most of the tabs utilize AJAX for asyncronous loading, but not all. The Contact page tabs use iframes, but to the novice, the difference will be un-noticeable.
Grids are used on some pages that load in tabs. They load fast because they have been converted from bloated HTML to streamlined XML that work well with the Javascript objects (tabs, menus, grids) on the site.
All text help and video help and tutorials will all be on one page from now on. You can switch between the different ones using tabs. I am still working on the content for some of these and trying to get new content up as well.
I've rewritten the way the ratings and description editor works in the Old Time Radio Episode List section. The windows now open in the same type of JS windows as everything else. I couldn't use AJAX for these yet. I will eventually have to rewrite the whole radio section, but everything works good now.
I could write a book on all the changes and upgrades I've made, but you probably don't want to read through all that. Instead, why not go take a look around and see what you think.The Contact page has tabs now to replace the old clunky buttons. As a result I was able to get rid of a lot of bloated code. Also, the page has been moved back up where it belongs because I was able to fix the layering problem. Now on that page, when you pull down the menus, they don't go under the forms. I also spiffed up the colors a bit.
All pages with tabs and multiple options in the menu will open on the page you selected in the menu, other tabs on that page won't. This speeds up loading considerabley. And you can click on a tab at any time to change to a different Contact form.
Here are the highlights of the many upgrades I have made this week:
The whole Media section of the site has been changed. Now, Oldtime Radio, Music, Videos, Audio Books and Pictures can be found by selecting any option in the "GL Media" menu. This new page is driven by PHP, Javascript/AJAX, XML and HTML, which means only the page that you want loads.
The page has tabs that only load the selected media type that you want. Of course, you can select a different type if you want, in which case the new tab will load on demand... without loading the whole page over again!
Any option in the Media menu that you choose will open the new Media page (except Pictures right now because it is not finished). However, the page will open the tab that corresponds with your menu selection.
As I said, the Pictures tab is not complete yet, so choosing Pictures from the Media menu will open the old page until I get the new one up.
All media player open new javascript windows. The Video and Old Time Radio players have new skins, and the Audio Books players will be getting new skins soon. They will make it easier to see the individual chapters as they are listed in the player window.
I am temporarily disabling the calendar here on the Home page. I haven't had time to program a blog yet and the calendar takes up too much overhead to have it just sitting there. I will put it back up if and when it is needed.
I can't remember all the smaller changes I made as I have been very busy programming in javascript to get the new Media Selector up. More changes to come soon...
These are the same Javascript windows as explained below for the Music Players. They really do look much nicer.
I will be changing Audiobooks player windows and all others as well, soon. I will also change the skins on some of them, so they look a little different than the Page Help windows. I will also be completely rewriting the Media Page and OT Radio sections. Not sure how soon... lots of things to work on.
I have changed the way the player works on the Music page. It no longer opens a new HTML page. I now use Javascript to open the Player window. It's the same script that opens the Page Help window on every page. It opens faster and looks nicer with out added any new code. In fact, I was able to get rid of a few lines by getting rid of the link that used to appear in the old window that opened the Media page. It is not needed anymore since the player stays in the Music list page.
One nice thing about the new windows is that it won't pop up an Active X warning banner for folks using Internet Explorer since there is no popup window. IE7 also had a bug that I think has been fixed now, that opened two windows when trying to open a player. The player will work and look the same no matter what browser you use.
You can still surf other sites while listening to GL Music. You just have to open a new instance of your browser (ie a new browser tab or window). You can move and resize the new music player windows.
I will soon be changing all of the Players on Granite Labor to work the same way. The Old Time Radio, Audio Books, etc., will all change to this new window. I may change the skins on them so they look a bit different. It is easy to do and only adds one line of code that loads a css file.
If you click on the "Joe's" logo at the bottom of any page, it will take you to the top of that page. Some pages have a Top Of Page link in various places, but sometimes you will be deep in a page and want to return to the top. Now, instead of scrolling all the way back you can click the logo. Keep in mind that clicking it will also add it to your browsing history. (ie Back button)
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:
Why wait? Find a cool acronym for your phone number now. Just go to the PhoneFun page!
Granite Labor ©2009