Category: lib.rario.us news

Refreshing.

everything is new again

I promised a rewrite years ago, and finally have managed to both start it AND get it stable* enough for use. I have tried to keep all the javascript widget thing and RSS URLs working. Let me know if there are any problems.

I plan on having the relationships (“friending” users and viewing a page of all your friends’ stuff) reinstated soon, among some other enhancements. Also missing is the old import feature. Hopefully, I’ll have enough time to get that finished in the few weeks.

I am writing an API to go with the new site. I already have some of the basic features working, but it’s not ready quite yet for public consumption. Stay tuned.

If you have any issues or questions, feel free to contact me.

*”stable” being a relative term here.

relationships

not just for normal people anymore!

I’ve finally added basic social networking support. You can now add any user on lib.rario.us as a contact, friend, or family.

If you’re logged in, you’ll be able to see the link to add a user to your contact list in their profile page.

You will be able to see media added by people in your contact list by going to http://lib.rario.us/media/sxtxixtxcxh/contacts (using your username, not mine).

Substitute “media” with books, dvds, or music, to see stuff in just that category. Just like the other collection url’s by adding /rss you’ll get an rss feed.

My contact list is at http://lib.rario.us/user/sxtxixtxcxh/contacts (and you’ll find yours by using your username instead of mine).

There is still a lot to go into this, so keep an eye out.

importing and configurating

point. click. copy. paste.

Jim has updated his CSV parsing code, and what that means to those of us who aren’t php artists is that the import features should work a lot more efficiently.

You can import your collection from a text export of your delicious library here or the LibraryThing_TD.xls file from librarything here. Let me know how these work out for you.

Secondly, remember when I announced the javascript web badge thingy? Well… in case messing around with the query string thing was too complicated, and copy/paste is your kinda thing (Hey, I’m not being condescending. How do you think the code for this site was written?), you can try out the brand spankin’ new badge configurator! A nice little GUI for setting all those ‘advanced options’.

Soon, I’ll add a GUI for configuring the CSS so you can customize it for your site, without having to hack into the provided script. Point. Click. Copy. Paste.

rafe’s law

have you got anything without spam?

An Internet service cannot be considered truly successful until it has attracted spammers.
–Rafe Colburn

While that at least makes us feel like we’ve ‘made it’ (are we successful?), it does little to ease the hurt that is seeing this site spammed.

I don’t know what they stand to gain spamming us. The URLs they’re adding in their “reviews” aren’t even linked, so… no love from the spiders (think GoogleBot) there.

In any case, it’s prompted me disallow titles that aren’t found on Amazon. Don’t worry, we’re working on a custom item option that, ideally, includes the option of using your own covers.

a quick update

just checkin’ in

I know I haven’t posted anything new in a while; however, that doesn’t mean development has ceased. Things have been going very slowly (obviously), but forward nevertheless. I’ve enlisted the help of another developer, a friend of mine from http://zynode.info. We’ll hopefully be hitting beta status here soon.

On a personal note: I’ve relocated completely, and in that process, we’ve moved a couple times, had a baby, and… well, isn’t that enough?

ex libris patriae

international amazonia

We’ve recently added some international support and beefed up the title look-up. You can specify which Amazon server you wish to use to look up your title. Also, if there are more than 10 results, you can page through them to find that obscure little title that makes your collection that much better than everyone else’s.

Once you’ve submitted a title using any of the other Amazon servers, the form will default to the one you chose last.

We haven’t updated the browser button (favelet, or what have you) yet, so it only works with Amazon US.

I’m still working on an API for those who know what I’m talking about, and I’ll be keeping you all posted.

And finally, wow, I probably shouldn’t have even tried to use Latin. Can someone correct the title (from the library of my country)?