, MARATHON CHRISMTAS Changelog
Christmas Pixel Tinsel Animated GIF by Ivan Dixon

marathon.christmas

Changelog

2020-12-17 Tonight, You Will Be Visited By 2019 Ghosts...Again

Nav Menu (Laptop + Desktop)

  • Deleted left-hand side nav menu from WPRBXmas Title Card.
  • Implemented new hoverable Christmas lights nav menu.
  • A bit of minor UI wonkiness to fix in the lead-up to WPRBXmas, but the basic structure/code works.

Nav Menu (Tablet + Mobile)

  • Deleted horizontal nav menu that displayed on top of WPRBXmas Title Card for tablets & mobile phones.
  • Implemented Candy Cane "hamburger" type menu for tablet & mobile.
  • A bit of minor UI wonkiness to fix in the lead-up to WPRBXmas, but the basic strucutre/code works.

Ghosts of Marathons Past

  • Added second batch of Jon Solomon's annual upload of previous marathon's WPRBXmas submissions (songs) to Ghosts of Marathons Past archive.
  • Added second batch of Jon Solomon's annual upload of previous marathon's WPRBXmas submissions (stories) to Ghosts of Marathons Past archive.

WPRBXmas Listener Chat

  • Tweaked color scheme & fonts.
  • Tweaked Font Awesome icons.
  • Resized .chat-main, chat-messages, & chat-container to fill (most) of browser for better UI.
  • Tested both chat window & user list to make sure that overflow scrolled, didn't break app.

Footer

  • Added footer to site.
  • Relocated Ramones MIDI version of "Merry Christmas, I Don't Want to Fight Tonight" to footer.
  • Relocated Changelog link to footer.
  • Relocated Bouncing Santa to footer on mobile view only.
2020-12-10 Tonight, You Will Be Visited By 2019 Ghosts

Ghosts of Marathons Past

  • Added first batch of Jon Solomon's annual upload of previous marathon's WPRBXmas submissions (songs) to Ghosts of Marathons Past archive.
  • Added first batch of Jon Solomon's annual upload of previous marathon's WPRBXmas submissions (stories) to Ghosts of Marathons Past archive.
  • Updated links on Ghosts of Marathons Past card to reflect 2019 uploads.
2020-12-09 Chat With Me, Like Listeners Do

WPRBXMas Stream

  • Created WPRBXmas Stream card.
    • This is where Jon's WPRBXmas livestream will "live" during this year's marahton.
    • Embedded livestream of fireplace to serve as placeholder until WPRBXmas.

    Listener Chat

    • Created Listener Chat card & placed it next to WPRBXmas Stream card.
    • Created full stack WPRB Listener Chat web app using express, sockets.io, moments.js & vanilla Javascript.
      • Created three placeholder rooms for now: Main Chait, Ice Station Solomon, & WPRBXmas International.
      • Might end up keeping WPRBXmas International for people tuning in from outside the US who want to connect?
    • Deployed WPRB Listener Chat web app using MARATHON CHRISTMAS' Heroku account, linked web app in card.
    • Tested WPRB Listener Chat web app's basic functionality to confirm it was working properly: success!

    Make A Request Card

    • Implemented flexbox in Make a Request form.
    • Added "Submit Request" button to card.

    WPRBXmas Tweets

    • Created WPRBXmas Tweets card, added placeholder text.
      • Implementing this might be a little tricky: it doesn't appear Twitter Publish has a simple embed option that displays a #hashtag feed?

    WPRBXmap

    • Created "WPRBXmap" card, added placeholder text.
2020-12-08 The Rise of Jon Solobot

Layout Changes + Improvements

  • Tweaked card layout / organization to better reflect card functions, visual/UI heirarchy.
    • "Now Playing on WPRBXmas" card now adjacent to "Make a Request" card.
    • Ghosts of Marathons Past is now adjacent to WPRBPressmass.

Refactoring

  • Did (first) site-wide refactoring now that site has gone through 10+ different code "drafts" and the addition of several important utility classes.
  • Cleaned out cruft & improved source code's readability & structure.

Responsiveness

  • Made extensive use of utility classes to streamline & simplify responsiveness across all cards.

Title Card

  • Added links & icons for Jon Solomon's social medias.
  • Started reorganizing/refactoring code.
  • Responsive design tweaks for mobile, tablet, laptop (13"), and desktop.
    • No longer a mess, especially on mobile.
    • We're getting there...

Jon Solomon's Tweets

  • Created "Jon Solomon's Tweets" card, embedded with @jonsolomon's tweets.
  • Added "Hey, your browser probably won't display embedded tweets" warning message for Firefox users.

Jon Solobot's Tweets

  • Created "Jon Solobot's Tweets" card, embedded with @jonsolobot's tweets.
  • Added "Hey, your browser probably won't display embedded tweets" warning message for Firefox users.
2020-12-04 It's All About Responsiveness, Baby

Pure CSS Christmas Lights "Header"

  • Responsive design tweaks for mobile, tablet, laptop (13"), and desktop.
    • Implemented multiple show-or-hide divs that display a different number of blinking lights based on client's screen size.

Title Card

  • Added links & icons for Jon Solomon's social medias.
  • Started reorganizing/refactoring code.
  • Responsive design tweaks for mobile, tablet, laptop (13"), and desktop.
    • No longer a mess, especially on mobile.
    • We're getting there...

WPRBXmas Submissions

  • Responsive design tweaks for mobile, tablet, laptop (13"), and desktop.

Now Playing on WPRBXMAS

  • More heavy-duty CSS restyling of Spinitron API data.
    • Previous row-based layout wasn't legible, robust as it initially seemed.
    • Replaced with column-based layout that's cleaner, a lot easier to scan.
    • Tweaks to visual heirarchy of artist, song, album, label, and release date data.
    • Discovered I could use !important to over-ride Spintron pre-styling of data (e.g. broadcast time).
  • Responsive design tweaks for mobile, tablet, desktop.
    • Significantly reduced the amount of data shown to visitors on mobile.
    • No album covers, DJ notes, broadcast times, or media player available on mobile.

Ghosts of Marathons Past

  • Responsive design tweaks for mobile, tablet, laptop (13"), and desktop.

Ghosts of Marathons Past -- WPRBXmas Stories 2015

  • Began auditing data across all 2015 stories.
  • Added links & icons to Stanley Demeski's "Egg Nog Intro Christmas Story."
  • Added links & icons to Bela Koe-Krompecher's "Christmas Story 2015."
  • Added links & icons to Roseanne Carrara's "Jane Nate Christmas."
  • Corrected data entry error on Mark Robinson's "December 1969."
2020-12-03 🎂 Happy Birthday, Changelog!

Changelog

  • Created changelog to keep track of day-to-day changes to marathon.christmas.
    • Needed something that would keep Jon abreast of progress without semi-constant update e-mails or check-ins.
  • It doesn't look AMAZING right now, but I'll come back and tinker with this later.

Title Card

  • Replaced "lorem ipsum" placeholder text with actual text.
  • Added Facebook SVG Icon, link to Facebook RSVP page.
  • Added Changelog to Nav Menu.

Now Playing on WPRBXMAS

  • Changed card title from "Now Playing on WPRB" to "Now Playing on WPRBXmas."
  • Added explainer text to card along with several useful hyperlinks.
  • Added radio icon to "tune into WPRB" link.
  • Repositioned "tune into WPRB" link within card explainer text.
  • Did some heavy-duty CSS restyling of Spinitron API data (in both "Current Track" & "Current Playlist") to enhance readability, better align with site fonts & colors, and better situate incoming API data within the card's layout.
    • Looks good (for the most part), but extremely long album titles will cause label/release date data to wrap & break layout.

Ghosts of Marathons Past

  • Added explainer text to card.
  • Repositioned WPRBXmas Stories, Songs, & Playlist dropdowns within card layout.