This is yet another update about the inner workings of the site. Sorry. I hope these non-music-related discussions don't get in the way too much.
Based on the feedback I got from the last round of changes, I've spruced things up around here.
One of the most common requests was to be able to navigate through search results by page number instead of just "next" and "previous". I've implemented this, albeit in a limited way: you get to see links to 10 pages at the most. It's pretty similar to how Google shows search results.
The page number navigation isn't implemented on the site-wide search or the shop search. Sorry.
Another big request (especially for the discussions section) was to have the choice of seeing all the recent comments, not just the last 15 or 20 or whatever arbitrary figure I had imposed. You now get "next" and "previous" links so you can navigate further back in time, so to speak.
The same goes for the newest submissions. In every section, you can now view the newest submissions and then use the "next" and "previous" links to explore further.
Now for the really new feature....
On each one of those tabs ("New","Comments" and "Search"), whenever you use the page numbers or "next"/"previous" links, you won't get a page refresh. Instead, the new information will load straight into the page.
This is using a fairly neat bit of JavaScript trickery. Don't worry though: if you don't have JavaScript enabled, you can still navigate as normal with page refreshes.
The bad news for anyone using Internet Explorer 5 on the Mac is that this feature won't work for you. Sorry
I've tested on as many browsers as possible but if you find a problem, please let me know and tell me what browser and operating system you're using.
Some other changes...
I've added a proper search functionality to the links section. This should make it pretty easy to find a link on a particular topic without scrolling through all the links in a category.
I've updated the way the searching works in the tunes section. It should now do a much better job of matching tunes even when the search term has a typo or two.
There is one downside to the way search works in links and tunes: it doesn't work well for short words (three letters or less). It assumes that these are "noise words" and ignores them. Still, I think that overall it works a lot better. If you find any instances where the three letter limit is clearly getting in the way, let me know.
Right. I think that's it for now.
Let me just also take this opportunity to thank everyone who has clicked on that "make a donation" button and put something towards the hosting costs of the site. Thank you all very much.
Hope you like the new features. If you have any feedback, post it here in this discussion.
She's gone but thanks to the updated technology here you can do a search on "Tanya" and find no less than 120 comments with references to her. This, of course, excludes all the threads + her own comments which have been deleted in the interests of good taste.
I don't have a lot of computer skills as those of you who've helped me out know, but one of the things about this site is that people do care out about each other as well as the music and the tradition.
When you think of the sad ways computer technology is abused I think it wonderful that this special site sort of regulates itself, and though some topics can be heavy there is an overall sense of humour which keeps coming to the surface.
And then there are the personal messages of support which come through.
A big thank you to Jeremy, and to everyone else who contributes, making this so good!
I can't get to the second page--if I click on the "2" I get a page entitled "newest discussions" that has an arrow going round and round, but nothing else loads.
First of all, a great site. Thanks for all your efforts. I've learned more from this site over the years than anywhere else.
One question with the way the new tunes search works. Is there a way to limit the search. For example, I was searching for the tune "Sporting Paddy". When I entered the name for searching, I get 152 selections, i.e., any tune with either "Sporting" or "Paddy" in the title. It was still 10 pages or so into the list before I got to the tune I was looking for. I tried "Sporting Paddy" in quotes, Sporting+Paddy, Sporting&Paddy. Each version gave the same number of hits. What am I doing wrong?
Hmmm... you're right about the search results coming back seemingly unordered. I've updated the search query and the results are looking a lot more meaningful now.
I've tested it with Sporting Paddy and now that tune comes back as the first result. Let me know if you find any other oddities with the search.
Jack, I'm glad you like the spinning arrow so much Here, just for you, is a direct link to the graphic (which took me quite a while to make so I'm glad my time wasn't wasted):
I don't know if this is a feature or not, but after you've opened a discussion and you click the "Back" button, you get returned to the first page of the discussions list (at least with Firefox). This is a bit disconcerting.
I love those little animated gifs, Jeremy. Now I can stare at it all night... it's so... so... uh... I forget.
Anyway, I'm wondering if you created the emoticons too. If so, could you revamp the one with the tongue sticking out to look indignant and like he's doing a raspberry. Right now it looks like he's smiling and has a cold sore. Have you ever had a big hanging cold sore like that -- it's nothing to smile about.
This is a great site, surely takes a big investment of your time, professional skills, and probably money to host, making it entirely reasonable to solicit financial support. I would actually be more comfortable with some sort of dues or periodic fee than with "make a donation", because I cannot determine what sort of donation is reasonable, or how often I should do so.
Sorry to harp on this... The problem I have with the Back Buttton issue described above is that it pushes people into the first few discussions, rather than encouraging them to continue discussions on higher numbered pages. Is this a good thing? (I say this knowing that it's a function of the way the script puts up the page...)
Also, would it be worth a try to sort discussions by the date of the most recent comment, as opposed to the post date of the first comment? That would keep some older discussions that are ongoing closer to the top of the list, without disturbing the most recent entries (I think). Maybe it's just me, but I tend to want to look back and see if there's any fresh content in the last week's threads, especially since it can take a couple of days for things to really get going on a good subject.
I like Gzeg's suggestion as an option, perhaps an additional tab at the top of the discussions page, to allow viewing the discussions either in order of most recent discussion topic / thread (the current method), or in order of most recently submitted comment to any topic / thread. With so many new threads being started these days, being able to sort by both methods would be very useful.
But doesn't the "comments" tab solve that problem? It shows the most recently submitted comments so that's a way of following with discussions have been added to recently.
Jeremy, thanks a billion for the search feature in the links section. It took me two seconds to find out some band in Illinois has snapped up the name of my brand new business.
Re: "comments" tab. Now that I notice that you have added the page selection ("1,2,...10) to the "comments" page, I agree with you that the new architecture of the "comments" tab solves that problem.
In regards to the donation feature........this is your site, what do you consider it to be? (business? non-profit arts organization? ministry? other?) You know the pecuniary demands of the site, as well as the amount of your time and effort that it requires. Maybe you have already thought all this out before you decided on the "make a donation" tab. As a participant, it seems to me that maintaining the site would require ongoing expenditures of time, money & effort that could be quantified. I, for one, would be willing to pay a reasonable fee / membership dues on a regular basis. In fact, I see numerous advantages: stabilize revenue, keep out those not truly interested in the site, etc. You could offer a 30 day or 90 day or 6 month or 12 hour or whatever free trial membership, after which mebership would be required. ............. ...............ok, this could probably open up other cans of worms........regulatory paperwork, taxes, deadbeats using different e-mail addresses and names taking advantage of successive free membership trials...........
Or, if sticking to the "make a donation", what is a reasonable periodic donation for us "regulars" to make?
Ok, maybe just "give as you want to".....
Maybe I ought to at least buy a t-shirt.......I have meant to.....
food for thought, anyway. As the owner, you have probably thought all of this out already far beyond this rambling.
Okay... I think I have the back button problem beat.
If you browse through the lists under the "new" or "comments" tab in any area and then click through to something, using the back button should bring you back to the same page number you were on. The page number won't be remembered if you go to a different section of the site.
So, if you're looking through the list of newest discussions and you click through to the third page of of newest discussions and then click on a discussion to view it, using the back button should take you back to the third page of newest discussions. But if you go off to the tunes section, then next time you come back to discussions the newest discussions list will be back to page one.
Make sense? Well, anyway, it should behave fairly seamlessly.
Now, as for the subject of a quantifiable donation...
I don't agree that it's something that can so easily calculated. Just as there's no minimum number or maximum number of tunes, recordings, links, etc. that you can submit, there's no minimum or maximum to how much you can donate. From each according to their means
More changes to The Session
More changes to The Session
This is yet another update about the inner workings of the site. Sorry.
I hope these non-music-related discussions don't get in the way too much.
Based on the feedback I got from the last round of changes, I've spruced things up around here.
One of the most common requests was to be able to navigate through search results by page number instead of just "next" and "previous". I've implemented this, albeit in a limited way: you get to see links to 10 pages at the most. It's pretty similar to how Google shows search results.
The page number navigation isn't implemented on the site-wide search or the shop search. Sorry.
Another big request (especially for the discussions section) was to have the choice of seeing all the recent comments, not just the last 15 or 20 or whatever arbitrary figure I had imposed. You now get "next" and "previous" links so you can navigate further back in time, so to speak.
The same goes for the newest submissions. In every section, you can now view the newest submissions and then use the "next" and "previous" links to explore further.
Now for the really new feature....
On each one of those tabs ("New","Comments" and "Search"), whenever you use the page numbers or "next"/"previous" links, you won't get a page refresh. Instead, the new information will load straight into the page.
This is using a fairly neat bit of JavaScript trickery. Don't worry though: if you don't have JavaScript enabled, you can still navigate as normal with page refreshes.
The bad news for anyone using Internet Explorer 5 on the Mac is that this feature won't work for you. Sorry
I've tested on as many browsers as possible but if you find a problem, please let me know and tell me what browser and operating system you're using.
Some other changes...
I've added a proper search functionality to the links section. This should make it pretty easy to find a link on a particular topic without scrolling through all the links in a category.
I've updated the way the searching works in the tunes section. It should now do a much better job of matching tunes even when the search term has a typo or two.
There is one downside to the way search works in links and tunes: it doesn't work well for short words (three letters or less). It assumes that these are "noise words" and ignores them. Still, I think that overall it works a lot better. If you find any instances where the three letter limit is clearly getting in the way, let me know.
Right. I think that's it for now.
Let me just also take this opportunity to thank everyone who has clicked on that "make a donation" button and put something towards the hosting costs of the site. Thank you all very much.
Hope you like the new features. If you have any feedback, post it here in this discussion.
Now, back to the music...
# Posted on February 27th 2005 by Jeremy
Re: More changes to The Session
Three cheers for Jeremy!
Hip, hip...etc., etc.,etc.
# Posted on February 27th 2005 by patrick cavanagh
Re: More changes to The Session
Thank you. Your work to make this a quality web site is much appreciated. Best Wishes.
# Posted on February 27th 2005 by CeolCairdeas
Re: More changes to The Session
She's gone but thanks to the updated technology here you can do a search on "Tanya" and find no less than 120 comments with references to her. This, of course, excludes all the threads + her own comments which have been deleted in the interests of good taste.
# Posted on February 27th 2005 by Johannes J
Re: More changes to The Session
Cool beans, Jeremy!
And of course, another request -- how about a "last" link as well as a "next" one for the discussion thread pages?
Johnny J, I've always been able to find the Tanya comments. When I need a laugh, I also search the Sharron ones, too.
Thanks again, Jeremy. I can't thank you all the times I feel thankful for the site, because then I'd always be on about it.
Zina (posting on Pete's account again)
# Posted on February 27th 2005 by Reverend
Re: More changes to The Session
I don't have a lot of computer skills as those of you who've helped me out know, but one of the things about this site is that people do care out about each other as well as the music and the tradition.
When you think of the sad ways computer technology is abused I think it wonderful that this special site sort of regulates itself, and though some topics can be heavy there is an overall sense of humour which keeps coming to the surface.
And then there are the personal messages of support which come through.
A big thank you to Jeremy, and to everyone else who contributes, making this so good!
Brianx
# Posted on February 28th 2005 by briantheflute
page two hangs up
opera 7.11 on w98
I can't get to the second page--if I click on the "2" I get a page entitled "newest discussions" that has an arrow going round and round, but nothing else loads.
# Posted on February 28th 2005 by s1m0n
Re: page two hangs up
exactly the same here.
Mac OSX 10.3.8 Explorer 5.2.3
# Posted on February 28th 2005 by showaddydadito
Re: page two hangs up
me too...
# Posted on February 28th 2005 by Cammy
Re: page two hangs up
Same here, so I'm using Mozilla instead, which works fine (on Mac OS9)
# Posted on February 28th 2005 by Ottery
Re: More changes to The Session
As I said:
"The bad news for anyone using Internet Explorer 5 on the Mac is that this feature won't work for you."
But I've updated the script now so that users of Mac IE5 and Opera get proper page refreshes rather than an eternally spinning arrow.
Any other browsers having any difficulty?
# Posted on February 28th 2005 by Jeremy
Re: More changes to The Session
I got hypnotized by the little spinning arrow and missed the session tonight.
# Posted on February 28th 2005 by Phantom Button
Re: More changes to The Session
First of all, a great site. Thanks for all your efforts. I've learned more from this site over the years than anywhere else.
One question with the way the new tunes search works. Is there a way to limit the search. For example, I was searching for the tune "Sporting Paddy". When I entered the name for searching, I get 152 selections, i.e., any tune with either "Sporting" or "Paddy" in the title. It was still 10 pages or so into the list before I got to the tune I was looking for. I tried "Sporting Paddy" in quotes, Sporting+Paddy, Sporting&Paddy. Each version gave the same number of hits. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks again,
# Posted on February 28th 2005 by Jiml
Re: More changes to The Session
Hmmm... you're right about the search results coming back seemingly unordered. I've updated the search query and the results are looking a lot more meaningful now.
I've tested it with Sporting Paddy and now that tune comes back as the first result. Let me know if you find any other oddities with the search.
Jack, I'm glad you like the spinning arrow so much
Here, just for you, is a direct link to the graphic (which took me quite a while to make so I'm glad my time wasn't wasted):
http://www.thesession.org/images/loading.gif
# Posted on March 1st 2005 by Jeremy
Re: More changes to The Session
I don't know if this is a feature or not, but after you've opened a discussion and you click the "Back" button, you get returned to the first page of the discussions list (at least with Firefox). This is a bit disconcerting.
# Posted on March 1st 2005 by Gzeg
Re: More changes to The Session
Ah! I've just logged on and Gzeg has made the point I was going to.
If it's any help I use Internet Tasmania [intas.net.au] and the bit at the top of the page says Southern Internet Services Internet Explorer.
Anyway when you press the "back" button it goes right to the front page of discussions.
Hope this is of some use.
Brianx
# Posted on March 1st 2005 by briantheflute
Re: More changes to The Session
I love those little animated gifs, Jeremy. Now I can stare at it all night... it's so... so... uh... I forget.
Anyway, I'm wondering if you created the emoticons too. If so, could you revamp the one with the tongue sticking out to look indignant and like he's doing a raspberry. Right now it looks like he's smiling and has a cold sore. Have you ever had a big hanging cold sore like that -- it's nothing to smile about.
This is the one I'm talking about:
# Posted on March 1st 2005 by Phantom Button
Re: More changes to The Session
Jeremy, I like the changes.
This is a great site, surely takes a big investment of your time, professional skills, and probably money to host, making it entirely reasonable to solicit financial support. I would actually be more comfortable with some sort of dues or periodic fee than with "make a donation", because I cannot determine what sort of donation is reasonable, or how often I should do so.
# Posted on March 1st 2005 by ceciltguitar
Re: More changes to The Session
Thanks, Jeremy. That works a lot better.
# Posted on March 1st 2005 by Jiml
Re: More changes to The Session
Sorry to harp on this... The problem I have with the Back Buttton issue described above is that it pushes people into the first few discussions, rather than encouraging them to continue discussions on higher numbered pages. Is this a good thing? (I say this knowing that it's a function of the way the script puts up the page...)
Also, would it be worth a try to sort discussions by the date of the most recent comment, as opposed to the post date of the first comment? That would keep some older discussions that are ongoing closer to the top of the list, without disturbing the most recent entries (I think). Maybe it's just me, but I tend to want to look back and see if there's any fresh content in the last week's threads, especially since it can take a couple of days for things to really get going on a good subject.
# Posted on March 1st 2005 by Gzeg
Re: More changes to The Session
I like Gzeg's suggestion as an option, perhaps an additional tab at the top of the discussions page, to allow viewing the discussions either in order of most recent discussion topic / thread (the current method), or in order of most recently submitted comment to any topic / thread. With so many new threads being started these days, being able to sort by both methods would be very useful.
# Posted on March 1st 2005 by ceciltguitar
Re: More changes to The Session
But doesn't the "comments" tab solve that problem? It shows the most recently submitted comments so that's a way of following with discussions have been added to recently.
# Posted on March 1st 2005 by Jeremy
Re: More changes to The Session
Jeremy, thanks a billion for the search feature in the links section. It took me two seconds to find out some band in Illinois has snapped up the name of my brand new business.
# Posted on March 2nd 2005 by Kerri Brown
Re: More changes to The Session
Jeremy,
Re: "comments" tab. Now that I notice that you have added the page selection ("1,2,...10) to the "comments" page, I agree with you that the new architecture of the "comments" tab solves that problem.
In regards to the donation feature........this is your site, what do you consider it to be? (business? non-profit arts organization? ministry? other?) You know the pecuniary demands of the site, as well as the amount of your time and effort that it requires. Maybe you have already thought all this out before you decided on the "make a donation" tab. As a participant, it seems to me that maintaining the site would require ongoing expenditures of time, money & effort that could be quantified. I, for one, would be willing to pay a reasonable fee / membership dues on a regular basis. In fact, I see numerous advantages: stabilize revenue, keep out those not truly interested in the site, etc. You could offer a 30 day or 90 day or 6 month or 12 hour or whatever free trial membership, after which mebership would be required. ............. ...............ok, this could probably open up other cans of worms........regulatory paperwork, taxes, deadbeats using different e-mail addresses and names taking advantage of successive free membership trials...........
Or, if sticking to the "make a donation", what is a reasonable periodic donation for us "regulars" to make?
Ok, maybe just "give as you want to".....
Maybe I ought to at least buy a t-shirt.......I have meant to.....
food for thought, anyway. As the owner, you have probably thought all of this out already far beyond this rambling.
stream of consciousness over.....
# Posted on March 2nd 2005 by ceciltguitar
Re: More changes to The Session
# Posted on March 2nd 2005 by ceciltguitar
Re: More changes to The Session
Okay... I think I have the back button problem beat.
If you browse through the lists under the "new" or "comments" tab in any area and then click through to something, using the back button should bring you back to the same page number you were on. The page number won't be remembered if you go to a different section of the site.
So, if you're looking through the list of newest discussions and you click through to the third page of of newest discussions and then click on a discussion to view it, using the back button should take you back to the third page of newest discussions. But if you go off to the tunes section, then next time you come back to discussions the newest discussions list will be back to page one.
Make sense? Well, anyway, it should behave fairly seamlessly.
Now, as for the subject of a quantifiable donation...
I don't agree that it's something that can so easily calculated. Just as there's no minimum number or maximum number of tunes, recordings, links, etc. that you can submit, there's no minimum or maximum to how much you can donate. From each according to their means
# Posted on March 3rd 2005 by Jeremy
Re: More changes to The Session
"From each accordion to their ability, to each accordion to his need." - Karl Marx, before he gave up ITM and became a Socialist revolutionary.
# Posted on March 3rd 2005 by Phantom Button