Video Stream Caching

One of the big annoyances I have with streaming video files (normally on websites such as YouTube & Megavideo) is whenever I go to jump to another section of the video I lose what I currently have already loaded. It would be really useful if I could quickly go back to the section I’ve previously loaded.

This is a mock up I done, the video I used is from RayWilliamJohnson

I’m quite sure this would need to be implemented by the software, but I can’t see how it would be difficult to add.

Facebook – Pop-up chat

Pop-ups are a double edge sword; on the one hand they have been used incorrectly and become an utter annoyance. But on the other, they also can drastically improve a users experience with a website. For example the Facebook chat system is very inconvenient as I have to be looking at a Facebook page to talk to people. On a big screen this might not be a big issue, but on a small screen this makes it surprisingly difficult to  multi-task.

Oh noes! I can’t see the chat & watch the video

However, if Facebook make the chat system as a desktop application or just available in a pop-up I suspect that would solve issue.

JavaScript Library Integrated into browsers

It seems silly that I have to keep re-downloading the same file (A Javascript Library) to make a webpage more exciting. I would love to see not just jQuery, but most JavaScript libraries integrated into browsers (maybe as a add-on or something?) to speed up the download times of webpages.

On the other hand, it could be time to consider a new browser based language which is designed to make surfers & developers lives easier. For example adding a new attribute to html forms which allowed for browser specific (so people with screen readers will not be disadvantaged) validation.

<form>
<fieldset>
<label>Phone Number:
<input name="price" type="text" value="090 111 050" /></label>
</fieldset>
</form>

OpenID/Facebook Connect – More widely adopted

I hate having to sign up to websites, especially when I could just as easily use a login details from a single source. It would be really cool if more websites allowed for a “one click registration” option.

Adobe Flash – Video Player Standardization

One of my biggest pet hates is going onto a nice website just to find features I expect to find, or actions I believe are normal are just not present on the video players. For example I think it is normal for a click on a video to mean “pause” and a double click to go to full screen mode. I think this is just something Web Developers need to consider.

<?php
/*
errors class - Helps management of errors in a script.

@version
	1.0
@author
	Mike Rogers (FullOnDesin.co.uk)
@last updated
	03 June 2009
@usage
	You are free to share, modify and use this code for commercial or non-commercial uses.
	Please give a link back (to http://www.fullondesign.co.uk/ ) if you can, but you don't have you.
	You use this at your own risk.
*/
class errors {
	var $errors_data;

	/*
	Add the error from $new_error into an array of errors.

	@param
		$new_error	string The text related to your error.
	@return:
		True - Error has been Added
	@example
		add_error('Username is Incorrect');
	*/
	public function add_error($new_error){
		$this->errors_data[] = $new_error;
		return TRUE;
	}

	/*
		Outputs the errors.

	@param
		None
	@return:
		- A div (ID - error) which contains the errors.
		NULL - No errors
	@example
		echo output_errors();
	*/
	public function output_errors(){
		if(is_array($this->errors_data)){
			// Cycle through the errors.
			foreach($this->errors_data as $error)	{
				$return .= '<p>'.$error.'</p>';
			}
		// Add it to the error div
		return '<div id="error">'.$return.'</div>';
		}
		return NULL;
	}
}

// @Example - creating the class:
$errors = new errors;

// @Example - Add an error
$errors->add_error('Username is incorrect');

// @Example - Return the errors
echo $errors->output_errors();
?>

If you are looking to fully integrate a script similar to the above, there is a really good post regarding the set_error_handler() function on Tinsology ( PHP Error Handling ).

The Core Components

• API – Lets you talk to the facebook servers. [put picture here explaining in detail]
• FBML – Facebook markup language, it’s like a cute little html snippet which facebook turns into normal HTML.
• XFBML – A javascript which lets you use FBML in iframes.
• FQL – Lets you run SQL type query’s.
• FBJS – This changes your javascript so you can only work within a close environment.
• PHP Client Libraries – The PHP Facebook provides to communicate with their servers.

The fun stuff

Assuming you have downloaded the required files, you can now start playing with the facebook API. Here is the basic shell for any Facebook application:

<?php
# Start by Defining everything the code needs to talk to facebook. Facebook provides these when you sign up.
define(YOUR_API_KEY, '');
define(YOUR_SECRET_CODE, '');

// Include the facebook API PHP classes.
require_once('facebook.php');

// Connect to facebook
$facebook = new Facebook(YOUR_API_KEY,YOUR_SECRET_CODE);

// Return everything facebook has sent to you.
echo '
<pre'.'>Debug:' . print_r($facebook,true) . '</pre'.'>';
?>

As you guessed, that does basically just returns the data sent by facebook. If you want to try this out yourself, take a look at the Facebook Developer App.

<?php # File created on 25th April 2009 by Mike Rogers (http://www.fullondesign.co.uk/). 

## Start defining constants ##
define(LOG_URL, '/home/user/download_logs/'); // Put the location of where you want to put the logs. Make sure this is absolute
# $_GET['ID'] - this is the ID of the file we want. It gets the value from the URL.

## Now set the data you wish to use - this can be moved to an include if you want ##
$file[0] = 'http://www.example.com/file.pdf';

## Define the functions required to update the file.
function update_file($filename, $value){
	if(is_writable($filename) && is_readable($filename)){
		if(file_put_contents($filename, $value)){
			return TRUE;
		}
	}
	return NULL;
}
function pull_file($filename){
	if(is_writable($filename) && is_readable($filename)){
		return file_get_contents($filename);
	}
	return NULL;
}
function rebuild_file($filename){
	if(is_writable($filename) && is_readable($filename)){
		file_put_contents($filename, '1');
	}
}

if(is_numeric($_GET['ID'])){ // Meaning the Data sent is safe.

	// Build log file URL
	$filename = LOG_URL.$_GET['ID'].'.log.txt';
	$value = pull_file($filename);

	header('location:'.$file[$_GET['ID']]);

	// Update logs
	if(is_numeric($value)){
		update_file($filename, ($value+1));
	} else { // Meaning the file does not exist or has been messed with.
		rebuild_file($filename);
	}
} else {
	echo 'Sorry, there was an error.';
}

/* If you want to see how many people have downloaded a file, run something like:
# pull_file(LOG_URL.numberishere.'.log.txt');
/*

You are free to share, modify and use this code for commercial uses. Please give a link back (to http://www.fullondesign.co.uk/ ) if you can, but you don't have you.

I claim no liability for this code, you use it at your own risk.

*/

?>

You can run this by changing the URL that accesses the file. For example:
file.php?ID=0

Feel free to edit and share this code.