Change Log

March 06/08 - To my surprise I suddenly found that the images were no longer working. It seemed someone turned off a switch somewhere. Anyway, that's working now... my apologies.

February 24/08 - I've made some significant updates for the recent history section, and made an executive decision to remove the YouTube videos section. The reason being that YouTube has far too many videos which get removed due to copyright violations, and as a result, too many of the videos on this site were broken.

February 18/08 - So you may notice that some bits and pieces of the site look different, feel different, etc. Well, maybe you won't, 'cause there's been only a few minor UI changes, but I'm proud to say that the backend re-code is complete! With the exception of the mobile pages, and a few other features that are currently on hold, I'm very pleased with how stable the new version of the site is. It took a while, and there may be a few bugs that pop up here and there, but overall, I think the site is about 100% better than before!

February 09/08 - I know it seems that I haven't been making much updates recently, but I promise it only seems that way. In actual fact, I am make massive changes that haven't been uploaded just yet. My goal is to increase usability, improve my search engine, and much much more. Stay tuned!

January 09/08 - I've updated the Spotlight artist once again. Gonna try and get new ones up more frequently. Also created a mobile page: http://www.ifyoulove.net/mobile If you go here, you'll be able to search and view items on the site. This is useful if you're out renting movies, buying CDs, or a book, and need some recommendations - fast!

January 04/08 - Well look look, new layout...slightly.

January 03/08 - Well it's 2008. With that, I brought the new Spotlight Artist, the Nu Breed Music Group. I've also added a few fixes, and improved the method to add youtube videos. I noticed I actually broke this section, in my silliness, but it's now been fixed. My apologies. I've also exposed the link to the recent changes on the site's DB. Please help fight vandalism by checking this section out from time to time, and making sure everything is peachy. Have a good 08.

December 27/07 - Seems I somehow broke the Most Views of the Day when I was updating code...sorry about that. It's now fixed.

December 26/07 - Merry Christmas! I know it may seem like I've disappeared, but I swear I've been making updates here and there. Mostly bug fixes, and small updates, nothing major to report... but there have been some major improvements to the code, on the back end mostly.

December 3/07 - I made an important decision today. And that's to drop all caps and go with all lowercase letters. This was for 2 reasons. For one, because I was tired of fixing people's mistakes in capitalization, but also because lowercase letters is in these days. I also fixed a couple of bugs (in particular there was a www bug that I resolved). New spotlight artist coming soon!

November 4/07 - So a few changes, for one there's a new Spotlight Artist, Lachi. You may also still view previous spotlight artists as well, fear not. I've also made a few minor bug fixes, etc. Finally, the past week I set out developing another site, which is now up. Feel free to check it out: http://www.brokenpicturetelephone.com

October 25/07 - I'm still here and actively making changes, updating some code, fixing bugs. Minor stuff, but more functional flow of things.

October 23/07 - Do to incessant requests by certain incessant types, I've added a TV Show section.

October 14/07 - A few updates - mostly bug fixes. Tiny hidden ones that no one knew about except for myself. Unless, you did know about them, but then didn't fill out a bug report. Otherwise, all systems are go.

October 13/07 - I know it may seem that I haven't been very present in the past while. I've just moved myself to Seattle to work at Microsoft. Things are going great, and I'm really enjoying it. Now that I'm settled in, I've put together some updates for you - a forgotten password section, some other minor UI updates, and some minor bug fixes.

September 29/07 - Some minor UI updates. Also the User-page search functions are now complete. Finally: Two new categories. Hope you like them.

September 25/07 - If you're reading this, and this next bit of news comes as a surprise then you need to take lessons in observations. The update is this: I've added a member's section. Now you can log in, list your favorite items, upload a photo, and a few other things. There's one bit that isn't quite done yet - mainly the ability to search for users, but that will come eventually. The new members section has been up for a few days, but I've been exceptionally busy (for example, interviewing with one particularly important and quite well-known software company which has decided to hire me). However, the updates are here, and I hope you enjoy them. Tell your friends!

September 16/07 - Some major updates are now here. What do we have? For one, you're sure to notice the "SPOTLIGHT" page. Every once in a while, I'll be updating the artist on the spotlight page. They're just cool sounding musicians that I've gotten in touch with, that are worth checking out. The first is: RIDER JONES, a Vancouver based baand that sound amazing live. Very natural and low-key stuff, I hope you like it. Also, there's a new category: Video Games. I couldn't believe I had forgotten to add this category. So do me a favour and populate it, heh heh. Know any musicians that should be featured on the Spotlight section? Send me an email! Or join the street-team!

September 13/07 - I've updated some items on the site, due to some browser incompatability issues. Hopefully these are now fully resolved.

September 11/07 - I bring you a few updates today - For one, there is now a log section, where you can view the most recent changes to any and all descriptions on the site. Please use this tool to help fight vandalism. You can find it at: http://www.ifyoulove.net/history. Next, we have updated RSS feeds. Before, I was actually writing XML documents each time an item was added (not me, per se...it was automated, the point is an XML file physically existed on the server). Then I decided (because I noticed that if items changed descriptions, where renamed etc...) that the feed should be a little more dynamic. So now, the RSS feeds are all completely up to date and load dynamically each time they are called. This may hit my DBs a little harder than I'd like, but it's all about providing a better service, isn't it? Enjoy.

September 9/07 - I'm toying with the idea of creating a "Blog" section to track the updates, and what's going on with the site. The thing is it, in some ways, conflicts with this change-log right here. I may nix this whole change long and create a Blog...but then people who want to know what I've added and what not, won't always get the most recent info. And if I keep two sections, then a lot of info will be duplicated. You see my dilemna. Anyway, new features? 1) I've made the Street Team live. 2) I've added a FAQ. 3) Bug fixes. 4) You may have noticed some footer links. Please take the time to check them out. 5) These are updates to expect: i) I shall not talk about this one here..but expect it. ii) A 'logs' section - more on this later. iii) the Blog section, if I decide to add it. That's it for now.

September 6/07 - Today I bring you an important feature: The ability to revert to previous descriptions. This is to ensure the quality of material here, some of you may note this is similar to Wikipedia's style of reverting to previous descriptions. The point is: You can now do it! Enjoy. There's also been a few bug fixes (thanks to those who pointed them out...Andrew, I mean you).

September 5/07 - I know it seems like I haven't updated in days. And I haven't, really. I've been playing with my cute little 1 year old niece. But there is an important update that will be heading your way soon. Stay tuned.

August 31/07 - Breadcrumbs. That's the feature I bestow upon thee today. That and I've ironed out the finiky details I was dealing with my RSS feed, and my post-process SESSIONS. I told people about it, and headaches were caused. Though, I do believe whatever issues existed before, are thankfully no more...if you do see some issues though, let me know.

August 30/07 - I don't update my changelog as often as I should. People will start thinking I'm not actively updating and improving the site. But I am, oh how I am. After the initial kinds have worked out, it seems to be much smoother sailing now. Things seem to actually...be, dare I say it...working? Yes, things generally work. I have found a few minor peculiarities here and there, and will adress them soon. New features are the RSS feeds I've included, so users can be automatically updated each time anything new gets added....in case you're that type that needs immediate updates. I'll soon be including an RSS change-log, in case anyone seems to even care for it. I've also, in addition to minor updates throughout the site, added some important links that happen to be way at the bottom. One of the most important: Save the Internet. Click it for more details...it's pretty important, if you ask me.

August 27/07 - Well, what a day of debugging it has proven to be. I underestimated the amount of data, and the various forms it appears in this site. There have been a few bugs that have cropped up, but I believe that I've done away with most of them. If you do spot something particularly out of the ordinary, please take 3 minutes, and let me know about it. Otherwise, seems like we're good to go. Once the ball starts rolling on this, Phase 2 will be started... (I say this with much mystery)

August 26/07 - Hello. We are live with v2. This news comes with mixed emotions, emotions of joy, happiness, excitement, but also emotions of tiredness (is that an emotion?). I'd like to formally thank the numerous coffee shops that housed me as I reprogrammed the site in these past two weeks. Thanks for all the coffee. (I would have listed the names of the establishments...but they didn't offer me free coffee, just coffee in exchange for precious moneys.) V2 comes with some great new features, and should be faster, smoother, and a much better ride. The admin functions are much better, as is the overall functions. Note that now, you can actually provide descriptions about each match-up, and rate things appropriately. Enjoy! Tell your friends. Tell Google. Tell the world. If you love websites, you'll love this one! (I had to throw in some cheese...). Finally, one last note: The layout is somewhat complete. It's another temporary layout, because I need to figure out how, and where to place everything so it is optimal. Until then, hopefully it's easy to figure out. Send me your feedback!

August 19/07 - In case you're wondering why I haven't been making many updates on the change log it's because there are MANY MANY changes coming soon. To put it shortly, I'm reprogramming the entire site. You may wonder why this is...believe me, I wondered why this was myself, when I was up at 3AM programming... The reason though is this: Speed, power, structure, and stability. The original site, I'm happily calling v1.0 was my "beta" release. I had put it all together in a week, and then reprogrammed it about a week later, making things more secure. That v1.0 had a lot less to it than this current version (those of you who saw the site from day 1 can back me up...). As I refined my idea, and figured more logistics and had a better idea of the direction I wanted to take the site (as well as the extra scripts I added), things just got piled on top of each other, and the potential bugs have increased. Rather than sit through all them and fix it, I decided to reprogram it. I know what needs to be on the site, and so rather than piling things up on top of each other, I'm making it a lot more clean and versatile. If you were a coder, you'd marvel at my own MVC I've got going. So, in conclusion...there will be no visual updates until I'm done v2.0 (I'm currently 45% done). V2 comes with a new look and feel too! Stay tuned! (BTW I appreciate the fan mail to those of you who've sent it!)

August 15/07 - I know it seems like there hasn't been any updates in the past bit, but believe me there have. Some of you may have noticed the site was down for a few hours yesterday. That was for two reasons: One, I was switching the site to another server, one I find more reliable overall. Anyone who knows about DNSs and caching, knows that this means that for some time my site existed in two places, and depending on where you lived, and what ISP you use, you could have seen one or the other site. And because there were two databases, this meant I could have had two different data sets, and inconsistencies. So rather than deal with that, I just took the site down. The second reason was for my handy-dandy friendly urls. You'll notice that the urls are no longer these insane strings of ?v=v&g=sc&w=432, but instead they're more readable. This helps the site out in terms of organization, but also for indexing, and lets search engines have a better time figuring out my site. It took a while to figure it all out, and work out the bugs that cropped up, but I think I've figured them all out. If you see anything funky though, or a page not found error be sure to let me know.

August 7/07 - Yeesh. In case you were seeing some funky things going on with this site this past day, I'll apologize for all the craziness and explain here. Yesterday, I did a bunch of updates, and completely revamped the search engine, and added a more detailed Flagging system. I tested a bunch of things before uploading, but since there were just so many pages affected by the updates, it was quite impossible to anticipate all the possible errors that may arise. Today, however, I found about a hundred bugs, and spent a long time fixing them. Some issues with Safari, for one...no menus in Safari. That issue should be fixed. There's still a logo colour issue that needs resolving (I know the solution, but it's not priority). There were a bunch of other bugs with the parent->child relationship, as well as just entering in new items...it was chaos. But hopefully, it's fixed now. My apologies. I'm going to need to hire a testing team for sure... or perhaps just mirror the site, and make it a sandbox, where I can do my tinkering. Anyway...hope you find the updates useful (and bug free!)

August 6/07 - It's the end of my long weekend, and I'm happy to say I accomplished the three major updates that I had written about yesterday. Now, we have a experimental little flash app I developed, that I suitably called "Seeds". It's a visual map of the connections on this site. Double clicking "plants" a seed into a new set of links. I think it's pretty interesting seeing how many times an item is paired with itself. Anyway, besides that, you'll notice that now when you enter in a Book, Album, or Movie, you're asked to put the creator of said piece. This allows things to go across categories, and allow for more interesting linkings. Now you can see all of an musician's albums, and then link to others through there. That's about it. Enjoy!

August 5/07 - Well, the site is coming along deliciously, if that is an adjective that can be applied here. There haven't been many visual updates, but there have been some bug fixes. I just want to thank all the people who are actively using my site to build up my databases. You know who you are, and I wish I could repeat your names every time on my changelog, but then it would just get redundant and less informative. Anyhow, there are 3 major updates that are going to be happening soon. 1 is very experimental, but I'm totally excited about. It's hush hush for now...but some of you have seen the "BETA" version, and I've gotten pretty great feedback on it. The other one is a logistics issue that Mr. Aaron Lake raised, and after debating it for 7 minutes, we came to an agreement, and so I'll have to incorporate some huge database changes and additions to support this, but hopefully it will make my site 10 thousand times better (and I think it will). The last update no one will know about, because it's in the back end, and only my Admins will be making use of it...but it should improve the quality of this site overall. Oh, I also added numbers beside the categories.

August 3/07 - So we've been live for three days. The database refactor has proven to be a smart move. Maintainability for this site has increased hunderd-fold. It involved a lot of special tweaks, and lots of really super fancy SQL scripts to do some crazy cool data manipulation, but it's finally to a point that I'm happy with. There's still some pages that are being layed out, but I'm happy the site is finally coming together. I've let some people know about it via Craigslist, and they've been posting and been incredibly encouraging. Special nods go out to Matt and Melanie. The "Most Viewed" section is now complete, as well as some measures to ensure people don't rate repeatedly on the same item. Top secret measures I shall not reveal!

August 2/07 - We're live ladies and gents. There was brief downtown when I decided to suddenly refactor my database to use a completely different process than it was using up until this moment. It meant migrating data, fixing up a lot of scripts, but I am happy to report that the end result is a much faster and easier to maintain site.

August 1/07 - You'll notice a new layout...we're almost there ladies and gents! Oh by the way...those little dandilion seeds that are floating at the top...they're random!

July 31/07 - A few days have gone by with no updates! But fear not...there are updates to come. They just exist on my computer for the time being. The good news is, we're going to go live soon! I just have a few more things to add on, and fix up, and then we'll be going live quite soon.

July 28/07 - I was a little busy today with some other work I had to get done. But I did add this neat little colour palette thing, so now you don't have to settle with the blue, but can pick whatever colour you like.

July 27/07 - Well, it's been another busy day...but more backend-maintenance scripts, and a few tweaks otherwise. I've given the admin section a little more oomph, so maintenance can be done with ease, and I've added the "FLAG FOR REVIEW" links, so that anyone can flag something if it's inappropriate, unreliable, contains a spelling mistake, or whatever else may crop up. I've also added a few new nav items, mainly a dropdown category list, and a help section. The help section lets you log bugs, contact me, and for beginners there's a quick-guide. I think I'll be adding an "Author" column to the add section for writers...it kind of needs one. I may end up changing some structures altogether. Otherwise, I'm happy to say things are looking pretty stable though...makes me feel happy about my coding abilities.

July 26/07 - Fixed up the Feature of the Day (had a small issue...if items were added to that category, the feature of the day would change...it was an issue with the random limits.) Now, everyday at 12am EST it should randomly select a new item. I've also sent out a mass emailing...to about 10-15 people, asking them to start loading in the values. A few bugs, and suggestions have come back, which have been resolved or logged in the book of suggestions to be considered. Looks like we're off to a gut start! Also fixed some bugs pointed out by Aaron and Adam. Fixed up the admin section...and started tracking views so I can get this 'Most Viewed' section going. Busy day!

July 25/07 - Added some nice elements...particularly the random button at the top and the feature of the day (which is a random element, picked every day...rather arbitrarily.) Also did a few tweaks here and there (you can give something a 0/5 rating now), increased some font-sizes and other pretty GUI things.

July 24/07 - Made some extra pages to be more about the site...also added the top nav buttons, and got rid of the Lorem Ipsum content. Mostly visual changes...haven't seen many bugs pop up yet...Maybe I'll attach bugzilla onto this for error reporting though...

July 23/07 - Well, looky looky, a new layout! This is by no means the layout Michelle's done. This is just the quick one I did, just to get away from that awful green I had going on before. It's temporary though...but maybe a bit closer to the real deal? At least in terms of arrangements and stuff... somethings will definitely change. Especially the logo...she's done a really nice one. That will be coming soon.

July 21/07 - Me and Kieran just spent about 1.5 hours filling in the music section. It went from 8 entries to 250. No major bugs found...but some kinks...oh the Kinks...they should be added! Alex helped too with a few of the other categories. Thanks dudes.

July 20/07 - Needed to wipe the DB clean due to some corrupt data sets. Figured out the issue though...so you can start throwing in more data into the DB.

July 17/07 - Finished code overhaul...compartmentalized things a bit more...there's still a bunch of bugs I need to work out, but it is otherwise functional. The bugs that occur are specific ones.

July 7/07 - It's my birthday.

July 3/07 - Decided to do an overhaul on the code...some important things need to be done...including documentation. Gotta get the ideas down on paper first...don't bother populating the DB just yet...it may get wiped quite soon.

June 29/07 - I've basically got the core stuff together...it's a bit buggy, but the idea is there.