Heh heh ... new games :)
March 31, 2009
Added three of my new favorite games to the procrastinate page ...
The Hardest Game (addicting and a bit of an adrenalin rush, and frustrating too)
Bucket Ball (also addicting, but more methodical and just as frustrating)
Zilch (a dice game that is super addicting once you figure out the scoring system)
Enjoy :)
Display of foreign characters fixed
March 26, 2009
Display of foreign characters should be fixed now.
Very cool that I had to fix it :) thanks to our non-US friends Par and Tommy for registering!
-Ben
What happens when the grid fills up?
March 26, 2009
I've gotten this question a few times already. In "theory" (and in practice before going live) I went through this scenario and I can dynamically grow the grid but I cannot shrink it. I can also add pages.
The grid right now is 700x1000 pixels. Each square is 20x20 pixels which gives 35x50 profiles (1750) (yes I used a calculator).
So as the first grid fills up, I will gauge performance. Right now I notice between the hours of 11am and 2pm the side tends to be a bit slow. If it looks okay, I will lengthen the grid on page one a little bit. Eventually I will add page 2, page 3, page 4...etc...
So there is plenty of room for growth! And I'm looking forward to that growth :)
-Ben
Swing DJ Profile added!
March 25, 2009
For you swing DJ's, a swing DJ profile has been added. Same as Instructor profile (since most instructors and DJs are also Lindy Hoppers) so it gives you the same stuff as the Lindy Hopper profile plus contact info fields and instructor bio field or swing DJ bio field.
Enjoy!
-Ben
Sheri says .....
March 24, 2009
"I wish we REALLY had a comment section..."
I agree :) I wanted to comment on Doug Silton's bio where he says of his early days:
"I remember getting really dizzy doing Swingouts, and decided that I was better suited for East Coast Swing"
(lol)
So first on my list is to do the DJ profile. I figured I would be able to take a break after that but will see about getting some profile functions up.
-Ben
Thanks so far from me and Sheri
March 24, 2009
Really enjoying reading all the profiles.
Big thanks also to our instructors who have already added their profiles, I appreciate you guys being on board too.... Plus it's fun to hear where you guys got started to and anything else you feel like contributing (like Michael Gamble talking about Herrang).
So anyhow, thanks so far to: Carla Heiney, Michael Gamble, Rusty Frank, Thomas Blacharz, Neil Figuracion, and Doug Silton for adding profiles! Appreciate it! Thanks also to Dave Graybill (though he didn't put himself as an instructor but we all know he is one)
-Ben
Keep 'em coming!
March 24, 2009
Still getting around to reading everyone's profiles ... keep them coming! My favorite for today:
http://iamlindyhop.com/show_user.php?rid=499
"Special" characters showing up strangely
March 23, 2009
Hi all-
Yup, I'm aware of the special characters showing up strangely ... in the pop-up it looks okay, or in the listing it looks okay, but in other parts (like the full profile) it doesn't. I'm hopefully going to have time next week to look at this but I'm not sure yet. The reason is that there are some security functions that I use to assist in people not being able to hack the site but unfortunately it turns some punctuation into other characters and they aren't being displayed properly back to the browser. It is mostly a cosmetic problem right now.
In the meantime, thanks for your patience with being able to still use and browse the site with the strange characters showing up.
And many thanks for the positive feedback so far too!
Ben
Future Feature List
March 20, 2009
I'm compiling a list of requests for future features so keep sending them in. And still working kinks out as I go so if you see anything let me know!
So far on the list:
1) add some sort of comment or rating for profiles like youtube.
2) add some sort of bookmark feature. when there are a lot of profiles i will want to know how to find one again that i liked
3) add "DJ" to the list of professionals (I will knock this one out the soonest)
Keep the comments and requests coming .. and help me spread the word too. Thanks!
-Ben
Hello World! (a.k.a. official website launch)
March 20, 2009
The website launch happened in two steps
1) point the main site to the actual page instead of the splash page
2) send an email out to our mailing list.
More effort to get the word out coming soon :)
Here is the email I sent to our mailing list which gives a bit of background behind the launch of the site. Thanks!
From: <Ben and Sheri>
Date: Fri, Mar 20, 2009 at 2:52 AM
Subject: Ben and Sheri: 3/18/09: New Site Launch: I AM LINDY HOP!
To: Ben and Sheri
Hello Mailing list -
I'm pleased to finally launch my new pet project website:
"I AM LINDY HOP: Be a part of Lindy Hop history!"
http://iamlindyhop.com Please please go and check it out, add your own photo to the front collage, and even contribute a story or two!
The purpose of this site is to hear stories of the new generation of Lindy Hop, record them down, and share them with others both in the swing community and outside of the swing community. And to add your own photo to the front collage.
A bit of how this site came into being:
I've been wanting to launch some sort of "World Lindy Hop Community" project for some time now. The ideas changed every now and again and I wasn't sure what the final manifesation would look like.
One idea was wanting to put some sort of collage software up where people from anywhere can add their own photos, displaying like a mosaic the different walks of life that have been touched by Lindy Hop. Frankie and Norma always talk about Lindy transcending racial and demographic barriers in the 1920's and 1930's, so showing a collage of photos from all over seemed to be a natural project.
Another idea was whenever I heard Frankie and Norma's stories, it always made me wonder if there would ever be a way to record stories from today's Lindy Hoppers. Like, how did this guy or that gal get started? Even specifically today the name Peter Loggins came up in our conversation and we both wondered how he got started. And perhaps some sort of registry for people to put these kinds of stories would be something pretty cool to do.
And the idea of sharing stories really blossomed late last year as our dance team started sharing with each other their own stories of why they got started, how they got started, and little interesting facts like that. Even sharing what they all did for a living! (I admit out of all the dancers I "know", I would know day-jobs and careers of only about 2% of them).
So with all these ideas in my head, the website itself started to gel a bit .. but getting it out there onto a website, well that was a little buttkicking called "Frankie Week". It was finally hearing about "Frankie week" to celebrate the upcoming Frankie's 95th birthday that made me want to get my website up and running as my contribution to the celebration of Lindy Hop.
Please come and take a look, at least register and add your own photo to the collage, and if you can add a story or two and be a part of Lindy Hop history.
Finally, I'm still working out some kinks so if you have any difficulties with the site or have an idea for features to add, please send them to me!
Thanks!!!!
Ben
