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 ArtistServer
 Saturday, May 12, 2012 1:20:23 AM
ArtistServer Version 2 on the Horizon
It has been quite a long time since I’ve made a blog post. A lot has happened since my last post – mostly, I’ve been working, spending time with my wife and son, taking care of our yard, and occasionally working on music.
Since early February, I've been working most nights on the next version of ArtistServer.com - which will be a 100% rewrite. Some features will be removed, others added, and many will be updated. I've been grafting on features and updates while modifying other areas to improve performance for 10 years now, so the best thing to do is toss the old code out as a learning experience, and start again.
Here's a review of what has been going on so far with Version 2 of ArtistServer.com:
- Planning Final Set of Features - my first task was sketching out a list of features I wanted to keep or remove, problems I wanted to fix, and goals I wanted to meet. I then browsed competitor sites, as well as other music sites, and took notes that further shaped the set of featuresReconsidering Platform - if you've been doing something the same way for a long time, it is good to ask yourself if it still makes sense to do it. I code in ColdFusion, and have been since 1997, when the only other option was CGI scripts in PERL. I looked into switching, which would require learning while developing. I looked at PHP and Ruby as the Ruby On Rails framework. While both languages are much more popular, and have their own pluses and minuses - as well as larger developer communities, I decided to stick with what I know, and get better at it. I'm going to be 43 this year, I have a wife and a three year old son that I love spending time with, so the idea of putting even more time into the relaunch didn't make sense.
- Evaluating application frameworks - taking advantage of object oriented programming and the features available within frameworks. ArtistServer 1.0 is for the most part a 'procedural' Web application. While I have applied some object oriented design principals, the overall design is not. Some features we'll gain: multiple language support, improved performance through caching and optimized code, and a separation of the interface from the data/logic. This last point will better enable me to support a desktop site, smartphone site, and tablet site all from the same code base just by loading a different interface. I'm considering using the Mach-II framework for the sites, and the Taffy framework for the new API, which will also power portions of the site.
- Interface Design - I've designed new version of every page of the new site except for the MyAccount area, the dashboard, and a few other pages. This allows me to better visualize the finished product and experiment with ideas without investing time into development.
- Site Object and Layout Planning - with the interface designs mentioned above, I've now been going over them, taking notes and planning out all the site objects and layouts necessary to generate and populate these interfaces. This will then be used to drive development and serve as a checklist while building out the application.
What Happens Next?
With the above all worked out, I’ll have a full understanding of what the new site will look like, how it will function, as well as what generates it. I anticipate this will greatly accelerate development due to consolidating most of the decision making into the planning stages. I'll then start building next month, June 2012. I hope all is well with you - more posts to come.
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comments
1
date: 05/24/2012 12:23:13 AM
name: Subtronik
url:
Sounds great Gideon. I was nervous AS might shut down this year.
2
date: 05/25/2012 09:33:37 PM
name: gideon
url:
I'd say we're just just getting started :) Once the screen designs stop changing, I'll share what I have to get some feedback. So far I think it is a massive improvement. Glad to have put your concerns to rest. I had a feeling people were thinking this, which was the reason for the posting. I'll try to make my plans more transparent as they solidify.
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