We need to do some testing before the June streaming concert

[mosc]

In the migration I've done the best I can, but I'm not familiar with the procedures for running the live steaming events; especially the the stuff that works with posters. Before the June streaming event we need to do some testing. I've set up a "development" server:

httpds://sparky.electro-music.com

We can use this for testing. Ideally Jan, Phobos and I would be able to get on at the same time and coordinate through the chat, but that may be difficult to arrange.

In any case, if one is a member of the radio ops group, you'll see "Radio_Ops" linked at the top blue menu bar on all the forum pages. That link has the stream operator tools. Also, the wiki pages have for the most part been left unchanged. If during testing problems show up, which I expect, we can fix them.

So, try testing on sparky and post here what doesn't work.

[blue hell]

The one problem I noticed sofar is that some pages from the radio ops pages have been declared obsolete ... I'd like to keep:

open port stuff
sc_trans tools
playlist schedule editor test
playlist schedule viewer test

where the sc_trans tools will have to be moved from my server at home to electro-music.com. I occasionally use them for configuring sc_trans, or can also kick of an umwanted DJ

The playlist test tools serve a double purpose - for me they were used to test changes in the software, but they can also be used to try out stuff for the playlists .. to see how it works, without the possibility to do any damage to things.

This is not urgent though as long as no one streams from the open port or uses a direct dj connection on sc_trans - which is unlikely to be the case for the near future [the last one who was using the sc_trans connection was Paulo, but lately he is set to work with a regular port] . :

BTW : a lot of testing can be done on streams that are not in use on the regular server.

[mosc]

[blue hell]

[phobos]

for what it's worth I just did a quick test connecting and switching my stream to main (it was me on the radio anyway) and that still works as it should.

[mosc]

[phobos]

Thanks
it's one of my placeholder banners but I gave it a fresh paint job to go with the new server.

I just noticed it says "Now streaming live on electro-mucis.com radio 1" above it.
I think that should only be displayed on the scheduled date.
No idea how that is all implemented under the hood, I just put the stickers on it.

[mosc]

[mosc]

[phobos]

That link to https://electro-music.com/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=Radio.NextSpecialEvent is somewhere buried in the code and is automatically attached to the posters.
Ideally there would be an input box on the schedule editor page https://electro-music.com/radio_admin/set_schedule.php to add custom URLs to the forum post or whatever is relevant for clicking on the posters.

and while you're at it,..
if the posters could be uploaded directly on that page as well that would be less cumbersome than first having to upload them somewhere on the forum as an attachment and copy/paste the link.
It would also be nice if the same posters could then be used directly on the wiki as well.

The way it works now you have to:
- upload them to the forum to have an image URL to paste in the schedule editor,
- upload them to the calendar page on the wiki
- upload them to the special event page on the wiki

and you have to do this every time when a poster needs to be updated, which often happens due to last minute schedule changes.

edit for Howard: more info about what it currently involves to set up an event can be found here: https://electro-music.com/forum/topic-74417.html

[blue hell]

Ow, there was a reason for having the banner point to the wiki .. this is because the wiki has info about the event that can not handily be in the forum thread.

Still the forum thread does hold a communication channel which is handier for people to write things about the event.

The for real time stuff there also is the chat and these three systems interact to make it easier to organize an event, and make it easier to find all the information.

Now, it would of course be handy when people would be smart enough to read things and to figure out how things work.

Anyway, feel free to come up with another system - but do not just state that things should be this or should be that without considering the whole.

We need a place where peoiple can read about the event, where they can talk about the event, where they can communicate during the vent. There must be a place where people can see the schedule for the event, where they can read about the event rules, where their info can be in their local time zone - as time zone calculations are far to difficult to be made by humans .. and then I probably forget some stuff.

So, please think something up which will work - and then start changing things.

In the wiki I've tried to write up how things currently work. There is a radio section and that section has an overview of the pages that are present. Likely this could be extended a bit .. or changed for that new system that you come up with .. or whatever.

Ok, and now I'll read PHo's thoughts - wow -- thoughts - good!



edit: But now it is time to get up, wake mom, water the plants, make breakfast, apply mom's eydrops .. oh .. and wake up .. the good news for today is that the postman will come soon to bring me the fennel seeds needed to bake some dûmkes :)

edit2: erm .. fennell .. i meant anise

[phobos]

I agree that the wiki is an integral part of it but it has always made more sense to me as well to have the banner point to the forum post so people can directly sign up. It's a well known fact that the more links people have to click to find what they are looking for, the quicker they just leave the page, that's basic website design. Especially with younger generations that have the attention span of potato and are used to a completely different internet. These events aren't some big well known thing that everyone wants to be a part of, quite the opposite and we should be thankful that there are still people joining, not the other way around.

I do want to change the forum post itself a bit and divide it into more obvious sections so it looks less like an uninviting wall of text. I also wonder if there is a way to copy the Sign-Up Template with the click of a button. I know it is possible on websites to copy things to clipboard but I have no idea if that is possible in a forum post here. That might also make it more mobile or touchscreen friendly as selecting and copying text is probably a bit finicky.

[blue hell]

Or maybe the whole thing could be integrated into a blog thing - those thend to be handier for layout and organisation of contents and are laso not too hard to make interactive.

It would have to have a bit of scripting support too (javascript and a little server side) .. which would not be too hard maybe.

[phobos]

here's a thought I had for a while,..

<ramble>

My old old website that I had many years ago (don't think any of you ever saw it) had a lot of external links on it. After all that was what a large part of the internet, or more aptly named the 'World Wide Web', consisted off. Links that led to other interesting places, it was the time that webrings were still a thing. You could take a journey by just going from link to link not knowing what you would find or were you would end up. Wikipedia still kinda has it but with internal links.

Anyway I used notepad to create all my webpages (not even notepad++) so every time I wanted to add a new link I had to write out the <a href="blablabla etc etc and over time the links became more involved with custom styling and css. So to make things a bit more efficient (and I also liked the challenge) I created a custom form just to create links. I only had to enter the link text, the location and I added some options to select from with a drop down menu, radio buttons etc.. After filling in the form and selecting the correct settings, which really only took a couple of seconds, I could press the [create] button and it would spit out the complete html formatted link in text form. I still had to copy and paste it in the html file manually, but it was a lot quicker and kinda fun to do.

Maybe you already see where I am going with this or you are waiting for me to get to the point -> . but it would be great to have something like that for events.
For example if you look at the current process I use to set up a wiki page I first have to find a previous event with the calendar in the bottom left corner (don't know if there is a more efficient way), open it, click edit, copy the text, add a new calendar item and paste the text.. than make the changes that are needed for the new event, which is everything I added as a comment at the top of the wiki page.

It's not difficult, nor is it a lot of work but ±95% (ex schedule) of every event uses the exact same page so it would be much more convenient if this could be created with the help of a form or something similar. You'd only have to add the necessary data for the current event (event name, date, at the moment link to forum page to sign up) and it would create the complete wiki page from that and insert it at the correct calendar date. A blank schedule could be included or maybe use drop-down menus to select the port, radio buttons for set length (only 2 option for that anyway), text input for artist name, etc,.. but some of that might be easier to do manually.

next step is to have it create a schedule entry as well since part of that data is the same. If you add the option for adding images (posters) it could automatically upload those to multiple locations as well (if that is even needed) which takes care of that part.

If it could also create a forum post from the same form than you have everything set in one go. Of course wiki/schedule/forum entries could still be manually customized and edited afterwards. This does create the risk of accidentally overwriting things if you're not careful, but it could ask for confirmation if it detects that something already exists (like a calendar item in the wiki). Also there would only be a very select group of streamops that use it in the first place.


I have no idea how much of this is technically feasible with how things are currently setup but it's just a thought

</ramble>

[mosc]

Great, I wanted input and I got it. Thanks...

I try not to just do things on my own, but to get input and think. Anything is technically feasible, but it's hard with an existing system already in place. I love html forms. They are easy to create and easy for people to use.

It looks like there are two processes to simplify. 1) how to sign up to participate in an event, and 2) how to set up an event.

For now I'll make the link on the banner point the the signup forum post. Phobos can edit that post to include a link to the wiki. It would be relatively easy to set up a participation registration form, if that would be helpful. But, my bias is to leave the upcoming June 20th event as it is.

I think automating the event creation and management process would motivate more people to want to create and run events. I'll be happy to do that. Before I do, I need to know exactly what is the present process. Thanks, Phobos for writing that down.

Keep those ideas and suggestions coming in...

[phobos]

Howard: I noticed the text above the banner changed
I don't know if you just entered it manually this time or if it's actually connected to the schedule, but could you add which timezone it is after the 9:00 PM ?


also just noticed that https://electro-music.com/catalog/conditions.php is no longer a valid link

[blue hell]

Or better - use the forum date format .. which for me reads

Today, at 09:15

or

2026-05-28 19:01

or even better proper ISO time format which is java-script converted to the user local time zone [and does actually SAY it is in user time zone]

PM and AM is very confusing for non-english people and AM and PM in some of the US time zones is simply unintelligable.

[phobos]

[blue hell]

the text is not from the schedule system - i guess it is another thing that has been trumpified.

:(

[mosc]

[phobos]

can confirm that it is directly linked to schedule editor
looks good Howard

though not completely sure how it is customized, is this particular order and wording Chez Mosc specific ?
Or will it simply change to "Modular ESP live on Adventures in Sound" on wednesday ?

[blue hell]

Ow, it is the same, it is fancy and not trumpified .. good.

I'm resigning from forum duties.

Jan.