nearing the finish line

Posted by on Jun 19, 2011 in audio, blog, gongs, MediaWiki, site administration, site design, site history, WordPress | No Comments

…in which I pronounce the 2011 makeover nearly done

[Update 2020-04-23: This post is a bit of history. As we are retiring both our ccHost and MediWiki pages, links below have been replaced to maintain access to the original content or removed if no longer applicable.]

When starting this in May, I was sure it would be wrapped up before June. Let’s just say I learned a lot. And that there was a lot of porting from way back that needed doing. Now almost three weeks into a second month, I can at least look back on all this twiddling with some satisfaction. What’s been accomplished?

  • The original wikiGong subject pages have all been ported over and appear under the Blog menu bar:
  • The earliest assays have been ported to our wiki “travelogue” format
  • Sound files are smaller and more easily accessible
    • The original .WAV files have all been reduced to MP3 and posted on our Sounds pages
    • The MediaWiki FlashMP3 player extension has been implemented on the wiki
    • The WordPress Audio player extension has been implemented on the blog pages
    • Both players allow users to “play” the sound files on a single page simultaneously
  • Many of the graphics have been optimized for quicker download

When do we declare victory and move on? Well, this week I’ll:

  • Tackle making redirects for all the old page URLs
  • Port over the last useful bits of the old home page
  • Archive the old content pages

We’ll save an overhaul of the Sounds page templates for a rainy day because, frankly, it feels like high time for me to get back in the business of recording and playing.

Due to the time that went down the drain over the last eighteen months fighting vandalism and bot activity, we’ll moderate blog commentary and the wiki and Sounds pages will still require an invitation. But please do let us know what you think and contact us if you’d like a wiki or Sounds page login and want to contribute.