some design changes and more to come

[jimbobhickville]

I've been busy working out the bugs with the new code, but I've also been updating the design of the site. Besides the obvious asthetic updates, I've been tweaking things here and there. Now, it tells you how many releases a band has in the 'Discography' bar. In the lineup, it now differentiates between 'Currently Also In', and 'Used To Be In'. Basically, active bands that the musician is still in go in the first column. Bands that he either played on an older album or the band is defunct go in the second. Each album has a total length next to each disc (as well as a total number of tracks). Band name changes are now highlighted next to the band name at the top of the page. I cleaned up the presentation of the albums by year section to make it easier to read. Albums that have multiple bands listed now say (split with yadda / blah) in the discography section.

Oh, and on a related note, there are still remnants of the old site lingering around. Musicians are listed with aliases on releases that they played on their real name (for example, it lists the Death Machine aliases on the Zero Hour page). Split albums are not tied together properly in many places. These things will take time to get worked out. Mostly, I need to make easy ways for the librarians to correct them, and I'm working on it, but it isn't ready. So, if you see some of those things, don't fret, we are working on it.

Anyway, I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm continuing to work on things. If you have any ideas or suggestions for things that don't quite work how you'd like or missing features that should be added, post them here. I can't promise I'll get to everything right away, but it's nice to get some feedback on what's liked and what isn't.

Later,
Greg

[Goreripper]

Originally Posted by jimbobhickville

In the lineup, it now differentiates between 'Currently Also In', and 'Used To Be In'. Basically, active bands that the musician is still in go in the first column. Bands that he either played on an older album or the band is defunct go in the second.

Greg, this part isn't working properly. The 'used to be in' column isn't showing bands that some guys used to be in; I'm assuming it's only showing bands that have split up. For example, in the Soulfly listing, it doesn't show that Max 'used to be in' Sepultura and it doesn't show that Jason Newsted 'used to be in' Metallica. You may want to fix that.

[jimbobhickville]

Ah crap... thanks for pointing that out. Thinking about how I coded it, yes, you're exactly right. It's only showing bands that have broken up. I'll fix it.

[jimbobhickville]

It's fixed.

[Goreripper]

So I noticed. Works good now!

[jimbobhickville]

I updated the design a little bit more. Mostly just reworked the home page, but some links were moved around a bit. More stuff to come, especially fixing the band/album images so they don't stick outside the box in Mozilla-based browsers. If the home page looks jacked up, reload it so your browser will get the updated stylesheet.

Comments are welcome.

[Skizoo]

Not much to add since a couple of days ago I told you about some ideas ; the Librarians top albums, etc. Also, I still don't like that much the Librarian links at the left, the looked much better up there. About the images, that would be super, looks bad when an image is too big and it changes all the page and shit.

The now playing or the recent NP of the Librarians would be cool too, and make a little box in the main page showing what's up in our playlist at the moment or more recently. Anyway, talk later.

[jimbobhickville]

I fixed the image box problem a while ago, and I added some fancified way to load the larger-sized images when there are more than one. To see it, check out Symbyosis - On the Wings of Phoenix.

On an unrelated note, it seems that only Goreripper, Skizoo, and I use this forum (and even then, not often), so I'm thinking I'll probably just build something internal on the site for us to communicate with each other and kill this one off.

[metal paddy]

this is a handy site bruv

[jimbobhickville]

thanks, we appreciate it.

[Pate]

I had this idea for something where the librarians can rate albums, like on a 1-5 scale, and that would be displayed. That would give some sense of quality, as most albums have nothing under "opinions".

I've got no idea how practical or worthwhile it would be. The latter will probably come to me in a short amount of time.

Anyway, I greatly appreciate the ease of working with LM. Hopefully in a brief amount of time we can eliminate the need for the abomination known as Metal Archives.

Anyway, thanks jimbobhickville and goreripper.

[jimbobhickville]

Yeah, that sort of thing has been discussed, and as soon as I can get some other issues resolved, it will likely be added. Good to know there's another person on board with the idea; helps to motivate me to actually program things if I know they'll be used.

You've been a kickass addition to the site, dude. Keep on rockin.

[Skizoo]

Originally Posted by jimbobhickville

helps to motivate me to actually program things if I know they'll be used.

Damn Greg, and I thought I bothered you a lot with my "wishlists" and my majestic ideas . I'm going to e-mail you 24/7 nonstop so you can get the sufficient motivation lol.

[Pate]

XD

[Goreripper]

Originally Posted by Pate

Hopefully in a brief amount of time we can eliminate the need for the abomination known as Metal Archives.

That site wouldn't be too bad if the engine wasn't so diabolical. 80% of the time I can't get it to work on Opera at all.

Originally Posted by Pate

Anyway, thanks jimbobhickville and goreripper.

No worries mate.

[jimbobhickville]

don't worry Skizoo, I already got a billion things on the list because of you.

Should be back up and running in the next week or two, then on to finishing up what I was working on before.

[Pate]

Originally Posted by Goreripper

That site wouldn't be too bad if the engine wasn't so diabolical. 80% of the time I can't get it to work on Opera at all.

And if the staff weren't arrogant, ignorant, rant-worthy pricks.

[Skizoo]

Originally Posted by Pate

And if the staff weren't arrogant, ignorant, rant-worthy pricks.

Do I smell some hating around here?

It's true, the search engine, the staff, the crappy design...it's all , but I can't ignore the fact that it has been a valuable source for a couple of times, at least for me. But..what hell...fuck 'em! Who drinks me with me!?

[Pate]

[Goreripper]

Originally Posted by Pate

And if the staff weren't arrogant, ignorant, rant-worthy pricks.

Haha. I've never got that involved in it to know what they're like. I can be arrogant too though.

[jimbobhickville]

I'm the most arrogant, so I win. Er.... um... I wouldn't mind Metal Archives, except the founder mocked Librarius subtly in an interview. So, screw 'em, they deserve their long, frequent downtime.

[Goreripper]

That's pretty lame. Well, I thikn we should adopt a policy of not saying anything about MA. Then at least they can't accuse us of slagging them off.

[jimbobhickville]

yeah, probably a good idea.

[Goreripper]

Plus, it makes us look more mature.

[jimbobhickville]

and looks can be deceiving. bah-zing!!!