Category Selection and Pagination

As expected, this week was full of new surprises.  In particular, users can now select a category of podcasts and have only podcasts within that category display in chronological order beginning with the most recent first. What is more, users can scroll through the list with a pagination widget that displays only a set number of podcasts at a time.  In other words, with knowledge of the number of a particular podcast one has merely to select the page on which that podcast number is likely to be found, and it will very likely be there.  No need to scroll through the entire list!

Go to the podcast_dev_copy.php file, find the navigator bar, and click on Chronology.  Then look for the phrase Podcast Index …, and click again.  Make sure that the bottom of the resulting page is visible, for there is a surprise at the bottom.

Have a great weekend!

Roddy

日本人も「文法キャプチブ」を使い！

最近の状況と努力で新しい時刻表が成ってきました。現在は、日本人も「文法キャプチブ」を都合のよい時間で使用することができます。昼ご飯の前後「文法キャプブ」のウェブビナーに参加するし、その個別指導のオンラインのサービスも使うことができます。

なお、「文法キャプチブ」の主要なページを開き、ナビバーの「Other」のメニューの下に「Time Schedule」をクリックして、日本地帯の「文法キャプチブ」の使う時間を選びやすいです。そうしたら、同様のナビバーの中「Products」のメニューの下にウェビナー又は「GC Tutor」の項目を選んで、サインアップすることもできます。

英語があなりできない方がメールを送信して、日本語で問い合わせられます。

じゃ、又ね！

Roddy

New Time Schedule

Circumstances and endeavor have made it possible for Grammar Captive to offer its paid webinars to a much larger audience.  For example,

  • Someone living in Europe, Africa, or the Middle East now has access to Grammar Captive’s online webinars throughout most of the evening.
  • Those living in Northeast, East, and Southeast Asia have access before, during, and after lunch.
  • Excluding the wee hours of the morning South and Central Americans have nearly the entire day; only late afternoon and very early evening are excluded.

What is more, SKYPE, has so advanced both in the quality of its features and performance, it is now Grammar Captive’s preferred networking utility.  If you do not SKYPE, start now.  The SKYPE platform will not cost you anything and is easy to install.  It is safe, reliable, and available to everyone.

And, if you do not like Microsoft, you can use Apple’s FaceTime or Google HangOuts.  Yes, Grammar Captive is flexible!

So, click on the words Time Schedule at the top of the Other menu in Grammar Captive’s main page navigation bar and choose a time for you.  Then, sign up for  a webinar and discover what you have been missing all along!

Roddy

The Fall Solstice Update

It would have been nice to have everything ready to go in September, but simply put, there have been too many delays.  Important is that the temporary loss of momentum and focus has been regained.

In my effort to understand and employ AJAX I have discovered a variety of popular CRUD suites on the net. CRUD stands for Create, Read, Update, and Delete.  Though such suites are beyond the immediate needs of Grammar Captive, they  do provide valuable functionality beyond the mere selection and retrieval of selected podcast data that can be used  later on.   In short, another investment, another sacrifice, and another risk!  Tant pis!

In preparation for the installation of  CRUD functionality on the Grammar Captive podcast page more aesthetic and organizational enhancements have been undertaken.

When taken one step at a time, Grammar is not difficult.  When taken all at once it can be overwhelming.  An important goal of Grammar Captive is to organize and simplify with many little steps that render difficult matters clear and easy to understand.

This coming week’s focus will be on organization — a task that has already begun at Grammar Captive Weekly Podcasts.

Roddy

Preview of the Podcast Hostpage

For a preview of the Grammar Captive Podcast Hostpage click on the following two links in the order given.

First Link:  Opens directly to the Grammar Captive podcast hostpage — namely, Grammar Captive Weekly Podcasts.  This is what the user will see, if he googles Grammar Captive Weekly Podcasts and clicks on the link to the page.

Second Link: Emulates what will happen if a user finds and clicks on a link or image of a Grammar Captive podcast hosted on a third-party podcast hostpage like iTunes or Stitcher.  After opening to the proxy page click on the proxy link at the bottom of the page.

Third Link:  When the Grammar Captive Weekly Podcasts page opens, the user may toggle between the newly appearing information on his selected podcast and the rest of the page.  This toggling action is emulated by clicking on the image and the phrase Podcast No. 60 just below it.

Primary Benefit: By opening to the Grammar Captive Weekly Podcast landing page via a third-party podcast hostpage, the user finds, in addition to exactly what he is looking for — namely, more information about the podcast that he just heard or is about to hear — , but also an index to all of the other podcasts that will assist him in putting the pieces together.

Now, the Grammar Captive Podcast Hostpage is far from complete, but this fundamental and convenient mechanism is solidly in place.

Enjoy!

Roddy

p.s.  Pay no mind to the inconsistency in numbers.  The inconsistency is in the database, not the technology, and the entire database will be wiped clean before launch time.

AJAX

There are innovative ways that lead to problems, and there are proven ways that lead to success.  Unfortunately, the pleasure of innovation can sometimes get in the way of true achievement.

These past three weeks have led to much exploration and a mixture of successful and failed innovation.  Important is that through this exploration and the many  associated experiments I have stumbled on what might be called the best solution — AJAX.

In any case, I now have a quiver of new alternatives for what lies ahead.   This next week promises more tangible results.

Roddy

The Few Last Major Hurdles

There is one more major hurdle to overcome before podcasting can begin:  the integration of a template system that is not of the email-newsletter variety.

With each call made from a different podcast different information must be retrieved and entered into the same template page.  Further, this page must automatically load with the podcast main page.

The podcast main page and  mechanism for retrieving the correct data and delivering it to the main and template pages are now ready for upload, what is left is the matter of creating the template page, getting the main and template pages to work together, and then integrating the newsletter and podcasts.

Roddy

Cookies and Sessions

After a full week’s worth of study into the uses, pitfalls, and functionality of PHP cookies and sessions, as well as several important distractions unrelated to Grammar Captive, construction on the podcast host page has started moving forward again.

The goal is to create a direct link between the Grammar Captive podcast host page and the many podcast host pages where users typically go to obtain podcasts.  Although the task may appear simple enough, it is rather involved for several reasons.

When a user discovers a podcast that he likes on a third-party website he should be able to find the same podcast on the Grammar Captive website without having to search for it.  Once on the Grammar Captive website the user should be able to find, not only more information about the same podcast, but direct links to other podcasts that are closely related.  Further, all of the other podcasts must be well organized and within one to three clicks away.  Finally, all of  this information must appear in the same window on the same page and take only a minimum of scrolling to find.

Technically speaking, the task is quite involved, but well within reach.

Roddy