dann
Oakley Beginner
Hello, been a while. Dann the "Oakley Beginner" here.
I wanted to throw out a quick announcement regarding the latest version of the O-Review. Let me first say that this is far from complete. There's still a ton to do, but time is limited and I wanted to get things moved over prior to the RED event. However I tried to follow the 80/20 rule and the things that are left, should be on the smaller scale.
Anyhow, what you see is the process of about 4 months of solid work. Everything was rebuilt from the ground up in a more modern programming language which should allow me to do much more moving forward and even in this release. I've already begun to see the things I can do, so I will look forward to suggestions. Things like social media interactions will play a more prominent role since they seem to be in demand right now. Centralization is everything, and no one wants to have millions of scattered sites around to keep track of.
So I'll go over some of the new areas that have changed in order to provide a quick overview. And as always, keep in mind things are still pending.
Database
I moved all the tables into a single managed page in version 9, but everything was once again scrapped. Instead of drilling down from the top, I've moved the entire contents of the database into a paginated list. You can browse as-is, or use the filters to whittle down the selection based on the classic (but confusing to recent fans) as well as tags. A single family can be selected at a given time, but multiple tags can be chosen, and will work in a subtractive manner to reduce the overall results. So selecting Carbon Fiber and O Matter will produce the Jupiter Carbon, not all models with either.
Since tags will become more prevalent, I will request your help in adding them whenever you are on a page. Currently it is pretty bare-bones, so this feature will only become useful as the tag data is slowly populated. As it stands now, most tags will not return the intended set. I will attend to these once the programming stuff dies down, but I'm hoping others may help out here and there.
Additionally, you can perform a similar search on colorways. Once on the model search off the menu, there is a "Filter by Colorway" link. Instead of family and tags, you can filter by fields. Some such as model name and frame/lens/strap color are plain text fields. Others are drop-downs since the values tend to be fixed. Again these return results that match ALL values, so they will be subtractive in nature.
The ability to add models and colorways is still in effect. You must be logged in, and if I have elevated your account, you can edit existing entries. You can edit from each database page, but there will also be a toggle button on the search so you can access the form from there as well.
The remainder of the database (frames, lenses, catalogs, other minor stuff) is still pending, so bear with me.
Members
The member section at its core has remained the same, but there are a few more features you can select. Since e-mail notification is once again possible, I've allowed you to toggle which types are sent. There should be five at the moment. Updates when a thread you have subscribed to is updates, updates to threads you've started, posts where you have been tagged or quoted, Private Messages, and Comments on other non-forum things.
Your user options can be access via the link in the top header, just click on your name. From here you can change all the profile information, settings such as posts per page, and external sites that link to your account here.
Social sites currently working are limited to Facebook and Instagram. Both support account authentication and image posting. You can add them via the settings page, or by attempting to login via the header bar. If an account hasn't been connected, it will allow you to quickly add it after verifying your password. New accounts can be created in this manner too.
The profile page has been updated a bit, and features a new header image that involved a lot of math, so marvel at it for a while. This area is under construction a bit, but you should finally be able to find forum posts for a user, which will be nice.
Forum
The forum got an overhaul, although it more closely matches the versions prior to v9. It's more classically structured. The main page is broken into three sections: the Live Chat, Quick View, and Topic listing. Live chat remains the same from the prior version. Quick view gives you threads that are new since your last visit, subscriptions, and top threads. You can also search (searching within posts is still pending), and a 'mark all read' option.
I've broken a lot of the threads out by hand into various topics. 90% were either in the General or Off Topic, so I did my best to move them around. However nothing is set in stone, and we can still shuffle things around should we find more.
The major thing that changed is the ability to add thread types. In addition to the standard forum threads, you can add News Items, Wiki Entries, Polls, and Movies. My goal with this new version was to reduce the breadth of the site and get things down to a few central locations. News Items and Wiki for one will now be managed through the Forum. This allows for a single user interface, but also carries with it, the standard reply pages, so there's not a separate area for that. Aside from the initial post being prominent, and aggregating all News and Wiki elsewhere, the flow remains the same. Polls will function like the rest, but you can add items during creation and those will be voted and tracked.
Unique to the Movie topic, is the ability to produce a more detailed movie specific thread. In prior versions, we tracked movie references through the normal database. Then as wikis became the big rage, I has a general movie connection entry. Now with API's, I'm able to connect to the movie database, and pull from the thousands of user managed entries. So when creating a thread, you can attach a movie which will display some basic information like title, tagline, poster, and backdrop. Not yet finished, but soon we will be able to tie database entries to the movies in addition to just having a standard discussion thread.
In the reply fields, I've added a standard text editing ribbon which covers the usual bold, italic, etc... features. You can also pull in your Facebook and Instagram images. This is in beta, but should be a much easier way to add images. As the Gallery and Collections finish, those will be activated.
HTML is on by default so if you don't want to use BBcode, you can just enter HTML at will. There's a new preview button which will show you a fully processed version of what you have currently entered, so you can check before posting.
Tagging is a new feature and caused me much stress to implement. I think it's a little more solid, but please let me know if any quirks show themselves. Either press the @ button or just type the @ character. As you continue to type, you can select a name from the list below, or just finish typing the name and press the space bar.
Mobile
At long last, the site won't cause gnashing of teeth while on a mobile device. iPads will continue to show the full site, but smaller devices will display a custom fitted version of the site. I've reengineered the main pages to work with this, but that involves keeping two copies now, so please let me know if anything is missing from the mobile side. Also it will la a bit since I've rather complete a standard page, then make the copy so less parallel development has to occur.
Hopefully you all like the new design and people start coming back to the site. It's been mildly depressing seeing the mass exodus of people, but I do appreciate those who have stuck in there and continued to contribute in all manners. It's never gone unnoticed.
I wanted to throw out a quick announcement regarding the latest version of the O-Review. Let me first say that this is far from complete. There's still a ton to do, but time is limited and I wanted to get things moved over prior to the RED event. However I tried to follow the 80/20 rule and the things that are left, should be on the smaller scale.
Anyhow, what you see is the process of about 4 months of solid work. Everything was rebuilt from the ground up in a more modern programming language which should allow me to do much more moving forward and even in this release. I've already begun to see the things I can do, so I will look forward to suggestions. Things like social media interactions will play a more prominent role since they seem to be in demand right now. Centralization is everything, and no one wants to have millions of scattered sites around to keep track of.
So I'll go over some of the new areas that have changed in order to provide a quick overview. And as always, keep in mind things are still pending.
Database
I moved all the tables into a single managed page in version 9, but everything was once again scrapped. Instead of drilling down from the top, I've moved the entire contents of the database into a paginated list. You can browse as-is, or use the filters to whittle down the selection based on the classic (but confusing to recent fans) as well as tags. A single family can be selected at a given time, but multiple tags can be chosen, and will work in a subtractive manner to reduce the overall results. So selecting Carbon Fiber and O Matter will produce the Jupiter Carbon, not all models with either.
Since tags will become more prevalent, I will request your help in adding them whenever you are on a page. Currently it is pretty bare-bones, so this feature will only become useful as the tag data is slowly populated. As it stands now, most tags will not return the intended set. I will attend to these once the programming stuff dies down, but I'm hoping others may help out here and there.
Additionally, you can perform a similar search on colorways. Once on the model search off the menu, there is a "Filter by Colorway" link. Instead of family and tags, you can filter by fields. Some such as model name and frame/lens/strap color are plain text fields. Others are drop-downs since the values tend to be fixed. Again these return results that match ALL values, so they will be subtractive in nature.
The ability to add models and colorways is still in effect. You must be logged in, and if I have elevated your account, you can edit existing entries. You can edit from each database page, but there will also be a toggle button on the search so you can access the form from there as well.
The remainder of the database (frames, lenses, catalogs, other minor stuff) is still pending, so bear with me.
Members
The member section at its core has remained the same, but there are a few more features you can select. Since e-mail notification is once again possible, I've allowed you to toggle which types are sent. There should be five at the moment. Updates when a thread you have subscribed to is updates, updates to threads you've started, posts where you have been tagged or quoted, Private Messages, and Comments on other non-forum things.
Your user options can be access via the link in the top header, just click on your name. From here you can change all the profile information, settings such as posts per page, and external sites that link to your account here.
Social sites currently working are limited to Facebook and Instagram. Both support account authentication and image posting. You can add them via the settings page, or by attempting to login via the header bar. If an account hasn't been connected, it will allow you to quickly add it after verifying your password. New accounts can be created in this manner too.
The profile page has been updated a bit, and features a new header image that involved a lot of math, so marvel at it for a while. This area is under construction a bit, but you should finally be able to find forum posts for a user, which will be nice.
Forum
The forum got an overhaul, although it more closely matches the versions prior to v9. It's more classically structured. The main page is broken into three sections: the Live Chat, Quick View, and Topic listing. Live chat remains the same from the prior version. Quick view gives you threads that are new since your last visit, subscriptions, and top threads. You can also search (searching within posts is still pending), and a 'mark all read' option.
I've broken a lot of the threads out by hand into various topics. 90% were either in the General or Off Topic, so I did my best to move them around. However nothing is set in stone, and we can still shuffle things around should we find more.
The major thing that changed is the ability to add thread types. In addition to the standard forum threads, you can add News Items, Wiki Entries, Polls, and Movies. My goal with this new version was to reduce the breadth of the site and get things down to a few central locations. News Items and Wiki for one will now be managed through the Forum. This allows for a single user interface, but also carries with it, the standard reply pages, so there's not a separate area for that. Aside from the initial post being prominent, and aggregating all News and Wiki elsewhere, the flow remains the same. Polls will function like the rest, but you can add items during creation and those will be voted and tracked.
Unique to the Movie topic, is the ability to produce a more detailed movie specific thread. In prior versions, we tracked movie references through the normal database. Then as wikis became the big rage, I has a general movie connection entry. Now with API's, I'm able to connect to the movie database, and pull from the thousands of user managed entries. So when creating a thread, you can attach a movie which will display some basic information like title, tagline, poster, and backdrop. Not yet finished, but soon we will be able to tie database entries to the movies in addition to just having a standard discussion thread.
In the reply fields, I've added a standard text editing ribbon which covers the usual bold, italic, etc... features. You can also pull in your Facebook and Instagram images. This is in beta, but should be a much easier way to add images. As the Gallery and Collections finish, those will be activated.
HTML is on by default so if you don't want to use BBcode, you can just enter HTML at will. There's a new preview button which will show you a fully processed version of what you have currently entered, so you can check before posting.
Tagging is a new feature and caused me much stress to implement. I think it's a little more solid, but please let me know if any quirks show themselves. Either press the @ button or just type the @ character. As you continue to type, you can select a name from the list below, or just finish typing the name and press the space bar.
Mobile
At long last, the site won't cause gnashing of teeth while on a mobile device. iPads will continue to show the full site, but smaller devices will display a custom fitted version of the site. I've reengineered the main pages to work with this, but that involves keeping two copies now, so please let me know if anything is missing from the mobile side. Also it will la a bit since I've rather complete a standard page, then make the copy so less parallel development has to occur.
Hopefully you all like the new design and people start coming back to the site. It's been mildly depressing seeing the mass exodus of people, but I do appreciate those who have stuck in there and continued to contribute in all manners. It's never gone unnoticed.
Looking forward to hang out with you,Lake and many others at the Red event.
