posted by mutagene @ 2010-06-17
Danny has reported problems with downloads/playback using the ipad. This crops up on e.g. http://whomix.windbubbles.net/api/remix/download/349.mp3 . In looking into that, I found out that the ogg vorbis download of the same file was only around 500k. I guess the ogg vorbis conversion got interrupted part way. Anyway, individual problems are easy enough to fix; I deleted the ogg and it got correctly automatically generated the next time. So please, if you run into a bad file or download, let us know.
posted by mutagene @ 2010-06-07 updated 2010-06-09
I'll briefly try to summarize the changes made to whomix.
- Moved to CodeIgniter. No good reason for CI instead of Kohana or Zend, just the first framework I saw that wasn't so strict as to prevent a migration from the preceding spaghetti. Advantages: easier to extend quickly, more easily comprehensible by others, and much prettier URLs. Of note, I had tried to migrate to Ruby on Rails years ago, but while the framework is excellent, it's a PITA to move from a lot of legacy php to Ruby when it's not just CRUD db stuff, and (at that time) RoR was also too slow on my host. Plus (at that time) RoR was all about prototype, and I've come to much prefer jquery.
- Redid the "Rating Axes" as "Rating Space". This is pretty much a cosmetic choice, but I was fed up with the old axes and I wanted to use the <canvas> element. Advantages: pretty animation, selectable x/y axes. Disadvantages: not editable within the axes. But with the sliders for setting ratings per-mix, I don't think this is a major loss.
- Per-remixer remix lists. Clicking on a remixer in the main music list will bring up a page that shows only remixes by that remixer. Limitations: the list is calculated based on the remixer's name, so if e.g. Rat Souffle has an accent one day and not the next (my/the db's fault, not Rat Souffle's), he might show up on two different lists. Advantages: you can leave per-remixer feedback. Yay.
- The on-line player can target remixers or genres. This feature isn't exposed yet, but going to play/remixer/remxername or play/genre/electronic will list only the mixes matching those descriptions.
- The blog. Ok, it's about a decade late, but it's something.
So, I just went live with the redesign now, unfinished though some parts are. Feedback, complaints and bug reports welcome but not necessarily dealt with in a timely fashion.
posted by mutagene @ 2010-06-06 updated 2010-06-07
Whomix had a guestbook from the very start. Using flat text files, edited on some crappy in-control-panel editor on an acquaintance's hoster back in 2002/2003, it was a php spaghetti disaster. Over the years, it was hacked, abused, badly maintained, and eventually neutered to limit the damage it could cause. OnlyWhomix's wikimedia installation circa 2004/2005 caused more headaches.
Redesigning whomix's back end, I started to redo the guestbook, but thought better of it. What's the point? For a long time, the motto for Whomix comments was "Whomix is not a forum". I liked keeping whomix pure to the remixing, but more than that it was just too much of a hassle to try to moderate comments even if I felt them necessary. Now, sharing administrative duties and having disqus take care of the nitty-gritty, that's not such a big time sink, and meanwhile the role of the guestbook in general is hard to really identify. If you want to say something about a mix, say it in the mix's feedback. If you want to say something to/about a remixer, say it in their feedback view. If you want to say something about the site, respond to us here in the blog.
Goodbye guestbook.