DONATE AND HELP IN OUR SITE OVERHAUL/UPDATE

[cdnchris]

Wait, if I navigate to Amazon from this forum before making purchases there, the forum gets a cut? I wasn't aware, I'll have to start doing that!

If you navigate through links in posts it should (the forum software is supposed to add affiliate information when someone posts a link to Amazon, though I think it's spotty). There are also banners/buttons on other parts of the site, though have been meaning to add them again to the forum footer again.

[cdnchris]

So, uh... what exactly do I have to do if I click through this ad in order for the site to make some money?

Date a farmer, obviously.

And sorry, I'm trying to filter some of these (and make them less obtrusive).

[DarkImbecile]

My page view data must be making me look even more desperate than usual these days...

[cdnchris]

I'm super curious about your browsing history now...

[DarkImbecile]

Here you go:

[Drucker]

Part of what is happening here is that at this time of year, many premium/regular brands have not yet launched new campaigns for the calendar year. So the ads you see across the internet in early January tend to be more bottom-feeder, cheaper stuff than usual. It's still influenced by targeting/browsing history, but more so than other times of year, the cheaper weirder ads have an easier time getting through and beating other ads in auctions, because they are competing with less.

[TMDaines]

Now I’ve got my excuse lined up for when I get some “dodgy” ads in the future.

[cdnchris]

I brought up features that will be added to the new site in the Karel Zeman thread, but figured I'd post here to the more appropriate thread.

I'm trying to make it easier for people to search details on specific releases and titles across multiple labels, while also keeping historical records as best I can. One thing I've overhauled is how technical specs and supplements are managed so that they can be more easily indexed and searched. One advantage this has allowed is that I can easily compare specifications between individual titles (and sets) to see what one release has and another doesn't. Here's an example:



I'm trying to clean things up visually, and also allow multiple comparisons: though it appears the Criterion has more exclusive content, this comparison doesn't take into account that Second Run's other Zeman releases has some of the features found on the Criterion set.

Because of how supplements are indexed I can also index participants in the supplements. So if you want to find commentaries by Tony Rayns they'll be listed here. You want to see stuff Michael Brooke has contributed to, no problem!



This is obviously not everything he has contributed to, but I am still entering data.

The new site can also keep track of films, from shorts to features, show what releases they're on, and not just if it is the main feature on a disc: the site will also list what releases a film is on, even if it's just a supplement on the disc. If you want to find DVDs/Blu-rays/whatever that feature Werner Herzog Eats His Show, they will be listed here.

It will also index television programs (as best it can). So if you want to see what releases have episodes from The Dick Cavett Show, they'll be listed here.

There's other stuff that will be added but these are some of the key things.

I want to keep track of restorations but this is a difficult one and something I hope to add in the future. I'm also still entering data and trying to get a significant amount to start. Not everything will be up when this is all launched (I'm hoping in the next few months) but it will be an on-going thing. Also, don't be surprised if there are a lot of corrections after this is all launched, and things will not be complete.

At first the focus will be on specialty labels. Some studio releases will appear, but probably only if there is a matching third-party release (since Arrow release The Apartment, a comparison to the MGM will be available). In all honesty, I will more than likely not put too much effort into entering data for those titles.

At any rate, I just wanted to let everyone know that, yes, I have been working on this, it's been taking longer than I thought, but I'm very close now.

[tenia]

Tbh, this is exactly the kind of things I love to find, because in the specialised labels globalised world, comparisons like these are just sooooo time-saving.

I'm not sure what obstacles you might have with the restorations bits, but if you need outside help, don't hesitate to shout out here. I'll be glad to help (at least while I'm still unemployed and have lots of free time right now).

[TMDaines]

This sounds invaluable. I'll happy contribute details for some of the more 'exotic' titles I have from outside the UK, US, France etc.

[cdnchris]

I'm glad people will find this all useful. I've been working on it all for a long time wondering if anyone would even give a shit. With streaming coming in, information disappearing online about various titles that had been released years ago, I've been trying to put together as comprehensive a system as I can. The system is pretty much in place and now I just need to fill it with data, clean up some UI aspects, and whatever else that comes up.

The restorations are difficult mostly because of information limited around older titles, though if people know where that info is or have access to it, that would help. I've been looking at creating a form for users to submit information for titles if they feel so inclined, which will help. Another issue with the restorations is more from a design perspective and it will call for a large modification on my part. I tried to make everything an "object" to more easily track and index things, so a supplement is an object, a participant is an object, so on and so forth. I fucked up in my design for details about restorations, and the biggest fuck-up was tying them to the disc instead of the film, so that makes comparisons harder: it's only good for storing the notes provided by the label, what the resolution is, and such. I have to redesign it to tie the restoration to the film, possibly store the year, who it was done by, the resolution, source materials, maybe even technicians, and then I can tie that restoration (its own object) to the disc, and then comparisons can be quickly performed. That's a bit of work so I'm not sure when it will be done.

At any rate, if people are willing to help that would be appreciated. I'll get something in place eventually, but I'm still cleaning up some things.

[senseabove]

I was going to ask if there's a way we can help populate that information. Even if it's just a PMd Google Sheet where vetted users can input information that you can dump into whatever format you're using to store this...

[cdnchris]

I do want to add a form to either allow users to submit/propose edits for information. But initially if there are spread sheets out there with that type of info that I could reference it would definitely help. Unfortunately it won't be as easy as copying a spreadsheet to the back-end, as it's too complicated for that, but I have made an interface to quickly enter things manually.

[cdnchris]

So, I'm not 100% sure how I'm going to manage this, but I'm going to be looking for volunteers to test the site redesign. It will probably be in the next week or so. At the moment I'm still trying to clear out some design issues and bugs that I know of, and I'm also trying to copy all of the data over from the existing site. I'm also still entering data, and probably will be doing that even after I finally launch it.

Right now I'm gauging interest and from there I'll figure out how to give access. What it would entail is (when one has time, I time want anyone going out of their way) would be just to click through, interact with pages and features, and make a note of any bugs/issues that pop up, or maybe even suggestions.

Anyone interested can reply here or PM me, though it might take me a bit to get back to you.

[senseabove]

I'd be happy to be a beta tester

[therewillbeblus]

Same, happy to help

[knives]

I'll do whatever to help.

[soundchaser]

Happy to help as well, assuming you don’t need a plethora of web design knowledge.

[Never Cursed]

I'd be happy to help as well

[Michael Kerpan]

I'd be happy to help check things out.

[Parasite]

.

[Boosmahn]

Count me in!

[cdnchris]

Sort of surprised by the response!

I'll get to the people that PM'd me as well, but I will set things up and let you all know when its ready. Probably a week or so.

[cdnchris]

Just a note to the few people that use the Release Calendar on this site: you may have noticed that it hasn't been kept up to date with future releases and part of that has to do with the new site. I would enter titles into the new site's database and then import them here. Unfortunately I broke something and I haven't had time to fix it so I've been just manually entering titles as I need to the current database. I'm hoping to have the redesign up by the end of the month (fingers crossed) and the new one will have all of the upcoming titles.

[cdnchris]

So, as some may have noticed, I deployed the redesign Friday night. Some features:

New

1. HTTPS should now be supported (I will put in a redirect from HTTP)
2. The site is now mobile friendly (with full screen mode for some images)
3. You can search content and use syntax similar to what you can use for most search engines (I'm still tuning this and results should get better over time). You still (as of now) need to use the forum specific search to search forum content
4. The site indexed special features, keeping track of what releases they appear on
5. Feeding off the prior one, you can compare specifications and features between releases to see what is exclusive or the same
6. The site also keeps track of who participated in certain supplements. So, if you want to find Tony Rayns' commentaries you can search for them here

Some Issues I'm Working Through

1. I was unable to get in all of the data in I was hoping to. While I think the comparison feature will be beneficial, the data is so far limited. I was hoping to at least have a good chunk of releases from specialty labels entered but time and other commitments got in the way. Now that I have this deployed I should be able to enter more material but it will take a long while. I'll probably be focusing on a label at a time.
2. I was also hoping to have a page for users to suggest corrections to any title but I'm still working out kinks. It might be another month or two
3. On top of that, I have to start on a page for title suggestions
4. The site can keep track of restorations so that they can be compared between releases, BUT this will take some time to research so this aspect is limited as well at the moment
5. I still have to put in region comparisons
6. I fear I lost some data while moving between sites so I'll be working on restoring that
7. The main site search DOES NOT search the forum as of this moment. While I would like it to there are issues around this at the moment but I am hoping to remedy this sometime in the future.

I've received some suggestions that I'll be implementing over time. One I'll hopefully get out today or tomorrow is moving the forum information closer to the top on mobile home screen. There are also some little design issues and bugs I'll be working out, but after watching it this weekend and working on it over a number of years I think it's now officially launched.