Updates 847 - 849

• Added server side support for searching all available maps using the index
• Added int and float array preview to optionviewer
• Fixed issue with returning deleted maps in the search index/recent maps
• Increased the default web snapshot time limit to account for slow times
• Added server support for search result template
• Fixed up search results template
• Added pagination support to the search template
• Updated the template to make it load faster for various different pages
• Optimized template snapshot images
• More changes to the search result template

Updates 845 - 846

• Updated the template mechanism to make it more uniform and easier to change
• Started adding the search results page
• Added slideshow files
• Moved search indexing into the core libraries

Update 844

• Added support for being able to remove files from the indexing service
• Made the indexing service thread safe
• Added various helper interfaces to the indexing service to make it easier to use
• Fixed a couple of html parsing errors with the templates
• Fixed an issue where blanks were getting left on tags
• Still in the process of debugging some searchindex compiler issues

Update 843

• Updated video encoding libraries
• Added support for webm and ogv nad h264 encoding
• h264 encoding is now used for html5 video

Updates 840 - 842

• Fixed an issue with default parameters override the newly added parameters
• Now allows blank tags
• Added more options to the publishing parameters for better filtering
• Fixed up the template to support the new server generated tags, server variables, and footer content
• Added automatically generated tags on the server side
• Added generic support for recent caching to server
• Updated the server recent map support and fixed a few issues with recent lists going missing

Update 839

• Added support for meta data query searches of multiple files in one shot
• Added support for metadata to be returned as json or a combined list of items
• Added support for base directories for use at parsing command line input arguments

Updates 837 - 838

• Added persistence of what mode is selected when viewing maps
• More changes to the home template
• Made it so that the default landing page is the new home
• Fixed a viewport issue when viewing the pages on mobile platforms
• Fixed a server side issue with jpeg compression and quality

Updates 835 - 836

• Modularized the template to be used by the other pages
• Fixed the issue with the comment form alignment
• Started work on the home template on the server side

Updates 833 - 834

• Added support for html 5 video (mp4). tested on android, launches the built in player. Need to test on iPhone devices.
• Changed the way video is displayed, such that it's automatically updated when the video is ready on the server side.
• Added client side support for popular videos. The template should now auto populate once videos are being watched.
• Added support for exporting recent maps to the server such that the templates are kept up to date with fresh information with is gathered on every view

Update 832

• Added support for building the map index
• Fixed an issue with incoming request and escape sequences
• Added priority queue caching for published maps to increase performance and memory management
• Added delete map support to the server
• Added support for checking the status on generated movie and screenshots through a json[p] api

Updates 829 - 831

• Added support for deleting a map to the html library
• Added support for forking and viewing existing maps from the viewer
• Fixed a bug with preference where the initial preferences wasn't getting reloaded properly
• Added more publishing options such as current viewing position and timeline length
• Added a generic event "publish" which gets fired before the map is sent off to the server
• More template changes
• Added support for the embed button on the template
• Added a copy function to javascript library which allows prepending of a label
• Enhanced the server shutdown process to avoid using a preset timer
• Made it so that only the user who published the map originally can re-publish a map to the same url

Updates 827 - 828

• Complete revamp of the published map template now live. Too many changes to list, but template is about 80% complete.
• Added support for spore statistics on the server side [needed for new template]
• Added server side support for like/dislike/flag api's

Updates 825 - 826

• Major work done on a new home template which will eventually succeed the current map template [WIP]
• Fixed issue with submitting invalid forms to from javascript
• Fixed a server side issue which was producing errors in image snapshots
• Fixed a server side issue where stats were being collected for invalid maps as well

Updates 823 - 824

• Added better/generic support for persisted sessions on the server
• Lots of server work to integrate login and publishing api's
• Added support for logging in/out directly from the viewer, also providing feedback as to whether or not you're currently logged in
• Added a generic json handler for talking with the server publishing api
• Added a loggedOn and loggedOff event, as well as updated the tutorial to use it
• Lots of login dialog enhancements
• Fixed up the publisher so that it ties into the server work
• Stats are now being tracked across all maps and the map template is being utilized correctly now
• Added proper mp4 support [may change to webm or make iphone friendly instead]

Updates 820 - 822

• Added an account handler to the server which handles all the login communication [wip]
• Added a login and register dialog to be used by any plugin [wip]
• Lots more ui changes on the publishing dialog
• Added background support to the publish template
• Added share api to the publish template
• Changed the way that build errors and addons are handled on server to provide even better javascript compression
• Added support for debug mode detection to javascript

Updates 818 - 819

• Updated the server to make sure that published pages aren't cached
• Added new publishing dialog [still WIP]
• Removed old publishing wizard
• Added an api for clearing the session changed flag

Updates 816 - 817

• Added preliminary direct publishing through the viewer by way of menu item
• Removed old plugin for publishing
• Removed embedded version history
• Added a download button to publisher template, for downloading in various different formats
• Updates to the publish template
• Cut down on the amount of real estate used by headers and titles
• Upgraded to jquery ui 1.9 for tooltip support

Updates 814 - 815

• Added the first version of the publish ui html page set
• Added support to remove the background coloring for embedded view playbar so that it matches the template look
• Added the first draft of the publish api to the server

Week Long UI Selection And Mockups

This week went into the painful process of selecting the best UI to use for the mainstreamed published maps. Various different criterias had to be taken into account.In order of importance, these were page load times, ui look and feel, ease of use, desktop viewing and lastly mobile support.

It was a pain, but I mocked up the UI in most of the popular frameworks but ultimately selected jQuery UI to use for this state of the app. The main reason being that jQuery UI is light weight, cleanly designed, easy to update and has lots of support behind it. My only regret is that it's not tailored to mobiles.

However after weighing all options it was decided that it is more beneficial to cater to the majority of browsers and still have a "good" mobile experience versus a native mobile experience that doesn't lend well to anything else. The goal is still to have one uniform gui that looks great on a desktop but works well on a mobile so that we don't have to maintain two different versions of the app.

Here are a couple of those that didn't make the cut and the reasons behind them if anyone is interested :

jQuery Mobile - Works very nicely on mobiles, however the cons here are the poor support (relatively new), difficult to get the layouts I wanted, and

Sencha Touch - Not suitable for a desktop experience, the layouts were too difficult, and the load times were not optimal (big libraries)

ExtJS - Seemed like a good fit for it, however this is the definition of a heavyweight library. As we learned during mobile viewer development as well, it just doesn't lend it self well to various smartphones.

Jo - Too many quirks with using this library. It also doesn't lend itself well to desktops. Very lightweight though.

SmartClient - Great potential for any layouts, however has pretty much the same limitations of ExtJS

Conclusion
All published maps will now load quickly and efficiently using the jQuery UI mockup. Now comes the great fun of hooking the page into the server to provide dynamic information. Luckily most of this was done during the mockup stages. The fact that it's up and running can testify to that. It will go live in the server starting next week.