Young Composers Roadmap - August 2006 Onwards

Flood control shoutbox? Or posting?

I didn't know there was a posting one..

Anyway it's just 10 seconds :S :wub:

And if you mean the shoutbox, we're getting a new shoutbox with the upgrade. (real-time / AJAX according to the plan)

Flood control is disabled for mods, Daniel.

There probably is a way of getting it to count down before your eyes with Javascript, but this isn't a language I'm all that well versed in. Still, doesn't mean I won't use this as an opportunity to expand my knowledge. :wub: But I consider this suggestion quite low priority.

The vB staff are still trying to resolve the issue we've been having with the converter, meanwhile...

I've already tried the AJAX shoutbox by the way. Very nice piece of kit. :huh:

Oh, and I've decided to stick with standard vB HTML for the skin (for now at least), and here's why: it will probably make upgrading a lot easier.

I'm selling the access codes to the test forum... Bids start at $890... GO!!

Yes that Ajax thing is aaahahahahahhwesome. And the paper messages!

They're actually pager messages, Letehn. :thumbsup: And we're probably only going to introduce them for mods, at least at first.

Meanwhile, I'm continuing to liase with the converter's developer in an effort to get some working scripts that will clean out excess IPB HTML left in converted posts.

Nice new avatar :D

DO you think there is any way to put a count-down timer on the flood control page? I hate having to stare blankly at the screen and count to 10 :P

bwahahhaha!! I never count and end up getting the warning like 5 times before it posts. :glare:

Those previews look fairly sexy. I would say stick with brown, 'umber in aeternum' (that probably means "Umbrellas Forever!" or "Little Eclipse Shadow Thingie For Always!"). I've always thought of old manuscript paper or vellum, when I've come here. Mmmm....vellum. Perhaps that's what the scheme could be called. Beats 'Brown'.

I've actually implemented Hillary's request about the countdown for flood control, but I can't get it to work in one specific circumstance: when you add a reply using Quick Reply and it shows the flood control error message above the quick reply box without refreshing the page (vB's quick reply is AJAX-powered). Might be able to find a workaround for this, but it's more likely that the countdown will simply not exist in this context. It'll exist when you do searches and stuff, though.

:laugh: Many thanks.

Will the new software have one of those personal notepads in the user CPs? Those things are nifty.

And about PMs, will you still have some form of exporter?

Will the new software have one of those personal notepads in the user CPs? Those things are nifty.

Doesn't seem like it, but there's always Wordpad isn't there? :dry:

And about PMs, will you still have some form of exporter?

vB's PM export capabilities are vastly superior to IPB, so yes, there will still be an exporter (several different kinds in fact), but the old pms_html script won't be required anymore.

Doesn't seem like it, but there's always Wordpad isn't there

But I can't access a Wordpad file on my desktop from a school or work computer :dry:

Moving on...

Phase 1 complete!

Well, pretty much. There were a few teething problems, as expected, the most significant of which apparently being that virtually all users had their PM system disabled by default. I believe I've now rectified this, and have also enabled PM email notification and popup by default for all users. Note that in order for the popup to work, you may need to alter any popup-blocking functionality in your browser to allow popups from www.youngcomposers.com. Rest assured that doing this is entirely safe as we will never show you popup advertisements.

In addition, all users with 20 or more posts have access to the new pager functionality. Go to a member profile and click "Send a pager message to ". Your message will pop up on their screen in quasi real time (doesn't require them to refresh the page).

The software conversion was probably the hardest part of the roadmap, but it's now complete, and apparently a success. Coming next will probably be the social networking software, and a little before that some fancy URLs for the forum.

The friendly URLs are now up and running. These should drastically increase our rankings in search engines, which in turn should increase the number of people who visit YC, which in turn should help the community to grow. :P

Not a lot else to say, really, apart from mentioning that there probably won't be any scope for anyone saying "I don't like the formatting you chose for this URL", because it'll likely have been finalised. Stuff needs to remain constant in order to keep search engines happy.

Yes, progress has indeed been a lot slower than initially hoped.

Delays have stemmed from difficulties associated with finding software developers for the music management / social networking system. chopin did start up with one group of people, but they failed to deliver and in fact ended up defrauding him (credit card dispute resolution process is still ongoing). However, we've now found a new group of developers who are set to begin on January 14th 2008. This time around, there are safeguards in place to prevent fraud and ensure eventual delivery.

I must confess to having completely forgotten about the staff center. I don't have the time right now to develop it, and I dare say this state of affairs will continue on for at least another few weeks/months, but I'll try to keep it in mind.

P.S. Updated "site-wide authentication" on the list, as you indicated should have been done several months ago...

Sounds like any IT project - over budget, late....

;)

As my grade 10 ComSci teacher said, the world of programming and software developement revolve around a triangle where only 2 out of the three sides are true at any given time. The three sides are budget, time and function. If the project is finished under budget and on time, it won't work properly, if the project is on time and works, it'll be over budget and if the project works and is within the budget, it'll be finished late :toothygrin:

Excellent, any more suggestions for it?

I'm also happy that the homepage has finally received a long-overdue makeover...

Top ten most viewed attachments can't easily be shown there, since the software only provides the necessary functionality for viewing threads. I could potentially add code to get attachments to show up, but I also believe that one of the new design's key strengths is its simplicity, so bloating it with further content may do more harm than good.

I'd love to include some info on submissions uploaded to the upcoming music management system* once it arrives, however.

* I realise terms like this are old and tired...

Perhaps the top ten most viewed attachments should be on there as well?

This will be taken care of when the music management system is launched. The homepage will in fact be different than what you see now. What you see now will be redirected to be the main wiki page eventually.

We will have the top 10 or so rated uploads (whether they are midi or mp3's) Same applies to videos. The user can sort this by top 10 ratings, top 10 views, top 10 most discussed and top 10 favorites. We will also have most recent uploaded compositions/videos.

I'd love to include some info on submissions uploaded to the upcoming music management system* once it arrives, however.

* I realise terms like this are old and tired...

I know we have been promising this for awhile, and nothing seems to be happening. I first annouced plans for this I think sometime last March '06, according to this thread here. However even though it may not seem so, alot has been accomplished since then, (the planning, designing the specs, the hiring, obtaining the budget).

Anyway, I haven't put up an official notice yet (I will as soon as I release the funds to start the project) but we are scheduled on Jan 14th 2008 to begin work on all of this. The expected release date will be 4-5 months. If things work out as planned this time, we can expect this next exciting change to take place by May or June 2008. We also will be on a dedicated server.

I am hoping to make a video tutorial of the new features of this site before we launch, to act as a promo (maybe Mike can do this, I am very camera shy :P)

Edit: I just realized our plans have completely changed since the first time I brought up the social network idea in 2006. This is another reason for our delays. The free mod that was under production, that we were going to use for the very basic social network, was discontinued. This cost us some time as well. Then our plans changed completely when I decided that we needed to build this thing from scratch. It took me a very long time to come to the conclusion that we needed a custom built solution. But back in the day, I did not have the money for a custom solution. Anyway, this is the reason why we have had so many delays. From a combination of relying on free software development just to find out it was being discontinued, to simply changing strategy completely, to being defrauded, this is how I can explain the 1.5 year delay. There will be no more delays. We are doing this.

Promo video? :w00t: :laugh:

Oh dear... that makes all the waiting worth it. I think both of you and the mods should each do a segment. :toothygrin:

I'll do it! If I get to wear a hood and manipulate my voice....