Webble

I’ve always ben going back to past projects and fixing some bugs and adding some new small features here and there. But there’s always been a small part of me asking, what’s next? What bright idea will hit me next? Don’t get me wrong, I’m very pleased with Vine’s results and some other small projects I’ve done for either personal or for some of my classes. But I do want to start getting a little more serious in some of my approaches when it comes to working on either new or old projects.

For my Senior Project Development I am working on Vine and restructuring it from the ground up. It’s being powered by a MySQL Database and uses extensive caching to provide the information in a more efficient way. It’s taking up most of my current time apart from work but so far it’s definitely looking good, and not only will it get a framework update (my code-word for back-end stuff), but it will also get a refresh in the design which will also support wide-screen monitors.

I have been toying with an idea for a new project but I’m not sure whether or not it will be successful, isn’t that the story for everything? Hopefully over the next few weeks I can flush out the idea into something substantial.

What are you working on?

Vine, one of my many web projects, has been a project I’ve been fond of using myself to gather news on certain topics. After a few months of closely looking at how users use the site, I’ve discovered some interesting things, such as which topics gets read the most, how they navigate from topic to topic and other useful tidbits.

The most recent update to Vine was the updated vine theatre for YouTube (obviously beta), where you can watch videos directly on Vine without having to navigate to YouTube.com. The only problem with some of the updates, visual or technical, is that I’ve been neglecting adding more topics, which is essential to the growth of Vine.

And this is where I come across a crossroad, how do I split up topics? Do I go into the niche and drill down, or do I keep to the surface? How many levels of categories should I support? These are some questions that I’ve been mulling over the past few days and have come to a conclusion: Add as many as I possibly can!

To do this, I will have to rework some of the back-end to support larger quantities of information, improvements such as caching data, fluid layout to support larger monitors and a way for me to add topics in a fast and easy way.

During these updates, Vine will be getting a refresh in design but still keep it’s simplicity! If you have suggestions for topics, let me know.

A while back I discussed one of my newer web applications called Apricot, a small application aimed towards small teams wanting a central place to communicate and share information.

It was set to have a beta release early June but with some things not working on the production server (online), it has been delayed until all the bugs are ironed out for a beta release. Thankfully, I have a good friend from MeltingIce.net helping me out on some of the issues and optimizing the entire application.

Hopefully I will be able to have a release date soon. Keep your fingers crossed!

As the first development stage (beta, duh) of Apricot narrows down, I think it’s a good time to give a quick overview of what it is and how it will work.

Apricot is aimed at people who want an easy way to setup a quick chat room that they can share with friends, family of work colleagues. Upon registration, Apricot will automatically setup the room for you with the correct name and from day one start a complete history of your chat room.

Everything can be found on the Apricot Home page. Account settings, chat room settings and even your room history. With an AJAX powered home page, your content is presented in fast, intuitive and easy to use interface.

I will give a more in-depth look into the workings of Apricot as launch date gets closer (June 12th), so be sure to check back regularly.

Orange, the first application released under Simple, has a little feature that will backup the list you have made into an easy to read .txt file that you can save for later use. The .txt file will sit on the server for 24-hours so that it will give you time and download it and keep it for later use.

These .txt files are in no way available to the public unless they know the file name, which is randomly generated based on a few calculated numbers. The random folders they sit in is also protected from outside use, and the files are also not linked anywhere other than the current session.

Why am I talking about this? I just wanted to point out that privacy is a big issue surrounding personal data, such as task lists, notes and other information. Sure Orange doesn’t sit on a secure connection, but no information is sent to the server unless the export feature is being used.

Backups of all the list files do happen, this way if you remember the file number and need the list, it can be recovered. I haven’t created a tool for this so if you need a list, just contact me.

I also attended Google I/O this week and all I can say is that Google is definitely a company that’s doing things right. Their passion for the community is just awesome and really helps developers get their ideas into the real world.

I was fortunate to sit in on a few great sessions, the favorite being “The State of AJAX” hosted by Dion Almaer and Ben Galbraith, talking about how AJAX is being used and how JS libraries are becoming a great part of the JS community. (go jQuery). If you were unable to attend Google I/O, the opening Keynote, hosted by Vic Gundotra, is available on YouTube.

Have a good weekend.