Busking in Brighton

It's been a while since I last posted anything on this site. Don't worry, I'm still working on it. I think I have the basic design; I just need to clean a few things up and try to add Internet Explorer compatibility.

This video is a performance by Emanuel Ax of two pieces by Frederic Chopin; Mazurka in C# Minor, Op. 6 No. 2 and Waltz in A Minor, Op. 34 No. 2. I first heard these pieces in a documentary about Nazi Germany, and the embedded YouTube video is a clip from that documentary.

In case you're interested, I'm learning Tango en Skai. It's a very challenging piece, but I can just about play it from memory. I have to slow down at the parts where I have to quickly move up the fret board, but I should eventually be able to play it smoothly all the way through.

Now, back to the technical stuff. If you're not into all that, obviously, you can feel free to stop reading. Time is limited, so I'll just list what needs to be changed. I might update the list or elaborate each item later on, but I have physics in 10 minutes.

• Replace the PNG search icon with a vector graphic

  The search icon is brown at the moment because I made it when I was experimenting with a parchment colour scheme. Rather than replacing it with a new PNG every time I change the colour of the website, I will figure out how to create a vector graphic. I believe vector graphics can be assigned a colour in CSS or something, but I could be wrong about that. In any case, a vector graphic will also be less to download, as it is essentially a mathematical equation written in XML.

• Change the colour of the text on the "Accept" button (Done)
• Create sample pages for home, profile and whatever else is needed
• Clean up the CSS; split it up into multiple files that will be downloaded when they are needed

  Splitting the CSS into multiple files will make it easier for me to separate layout from look and feel. It will also allow me to remove what isn't needed on certain web pages, which will reduce the amount of data that needs to be downloaded and as a result, reduce load times.

• Turn the CSS files into PHP files so I can add functions and variables where they are needed

  First of all, in case you are new to CSS, it can be done. In fact, it can also be done with JavaScript. Secondly, I'll be using functions and variables to simplify things like colours and gradients. As far as I know, specific values in CSS can be set as varables, and this will be useful for quickly changing the colour scheme of this website. However, for large blocks of code, I'll need to use PHP to ensure it will all work in older browsers.

• Figure out how to implement player controls at the bottom of the screen

  I will probably replace the embedded YouTube videos with thumbnails with links to the videos. I will then try and embed a custom YouTube player in the bar at the bottom of the screen using YouTube's APIs and use JavaScript to instruct the video links to send their href attributes to the player at the bottom when clicked.

• Learn Ajax; I don't want this site to feel like it was made in 1998.

According to feedback from someone who has visited this site, new visitors probably don't want to be bombarded with a load of Latin. I agree, and I need to test out the .float-right property in my CSS, so I'm adding another video.

This is Tango en Skai, composed and performed by Roland Dyens. I first heard it played by my previous guitar teacher, and the more I listen to it, the more I like it.

There are a few changes I have made recently. I've made changes to the mobile CSS, so this site will look much better on most modern smartphones. I intend to keep the responsive design, and I think I've got the code figured out for that. I've also given the YouTube videos light controls to go with the light look and feel of this website. Of course, I'll probably make more changes to the YouTube player as I experiment with dark designs and so on.

Speaking of design, I've been told to ditch that parchment colour scheme and switch to a blue theme. I agree that the current colour is a bit ugly, and even if it isn't, skeuomorphic designs are controversial these days, and not a good idea if they don't look convincing enough. However, rather than blue, I think I'll go with a dark red default colour scheme, and I hope to let the users customise the colour of the website to their liking.

I need to add some overflow to this test page (make it scroll), so I'm adding in some lorem ipsum.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Mauris iaculis tortor ut tellus congue, id auctor felis interdum. Etiam vitae ullamcorper sem. In vitae euismod dolor. Phasellus massa mauris, ultricies nec pellentesque vel, eleifend sed metus. Donec convallis nibh a lectus semper facilisis. Nunc vel erat tincidunt, ornare quam vulputate, commodo libero. Fusce ultrices diam id orci interdum, in ultrices lacus scelerisque. Aliquam ac risus a nulla faucibus hendrerit. Ut dictum quam magna, ut viverra purus mattis vel. Nunc lacinia nulla eros, sed dignissim ipsum volutpat et. Integer dapibus lorem eu enim fringilla vestibulum. Proin accumsan urna nec hendrerit lacinia. Suspendisse vestibulum pretium feugiat. Quisque sagittis, turpis condimentum vestibulum vehicula, orci tellus dignissim elit, in convallis ipsum tellus vel velit. Pellentesque lorem lacus, mollis sit amet magna in, posuere iaculis lectus. Nunc aliquet dolor mi, a imperdiet ipsum gravida nec.

Pellentesque orci magna, posuere in cursus a, volutpat nec turpis. Sed ac magna feugiat, facilisis tellus et, auctor risus. Mauris nec dignissim quam. Mauris dapibus sit amet risus at mattis. Donec in fermentum nunc, pellentesque ullamcorper tellus. Pellentesque lacinia arcu in pulvinar ornare. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Duis sed porttitor nisi. Aenean eget enim dictum, pellentesque ligula luctus, rhoncus leo.

Aliquam imperdiet diam quis felis placerat, ut dapibus nunc lobortis. Phasellus hendrerit vel libero vitae pretium. Phasellus dictum purus eros, quis mollis felis sollicitudin id. Cras ultrices dapibus sapien, dapibus mattis nibh sollicitudin quis. Donec non dignissim libero. Aenean molestie vel erat ut semper. Fusce sed tellus sit amet magna molestie fermentum. Integer ac semper elit, et faucibus magna. Proin nec nisi et lorem eleifend dapibus. Quisque dictum eros ut leo consectetur sagittis. Maecenas dapibus lorem lectus, eu vulputate orci laoreet vel.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla facilisi. Curabitur dapibus non mi cursus pellentesque. Sed ac ipsum sagittis, egestas massa quis, auctor est. Pellentesque tristique aliquam erat vel lobortis. Phasellus iaculis enim eget arcu malesuada, fringilla blandit lectus rhoncus. Fusce porta tortor mi, ut gravida lacus egestas commodo. Sed vulputate nisi id porta lacinia. Aenean tristique magna vel libero iaculis sollicitudin. Proin accumsan tellus ut odio fringilla, ut pharetra enim lobortis. Praesent in iaculis est, vel pharetra purus. Nunc scelerisque viverra augue, nec blandit dolor vestibulum ac. Suspendisse potenti. Nulla sagittis mi sit amet gravida feugiat. Nulla luctus augue sit amet laoreet eleifend.

Donec viverra nisi a massa gravida eleifend. Aenean justo purus, rhoncus id ante sed, varius tempus sapien. Praesent eget leo sollicitudin, bibendum lectus ac, posuere nunc. Donec scelerisque venenatis leo, eu pulvinar massa venenatis nec. Nullam tincidunt tortor urna. Nullam at pharetra justo. Aliquam erat volutpat. Vivamus condimentum eleifend lorem in sagittis. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas.

I figured I might as well have something to look at on this site while you're waiting, so I decided to embed a YouTube video of myself playing Rio By Night by Vincent Lindsey-Clark. Enjoy!

On this domain name, I hope to set up a social network for buskers in Brighton, and hopefully other places. There are things I have to do first, such as getting a better understanding of PHP and deciding on a hosting provider. (I don't trust 000webhost anymore...) When I get started creating this site, it will be invite only. I know, I hate people who do that too. Just understand that this website will be in its prototype stage, and I don't want to be responsible for lost data or anything. If this thing goes to plan, anyone will be able to sign up here before 2015. I'm off to the CSS file; I've got to get rid of that serif font, or at least switch to a classier one...