Lasmit - Web Developer from Leamington Spa

Lasmit PHP XSPF Playlist Generator

lewis — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 14:30:57 +0000

The MP3 playlist generator is a simple all in one package to allow you to put mp3s on your website presented in a flash MP3 player with a playlist. You can see a demo at http://demo.lasmit.co.uk/playlist . Once installed you can add MP3s at any time and the playlist is automatically updated.

Installation Instructions

Download MP3 Playlist Generator
Upload the entire playlist folder to your webhost root directory
Upload your mp3s to the playlist/mp3s folder
Delete the explanatory text file from the mp3s folder
Visit www.yoursite.com/playlist/player.html - you should see a player with your mp3s listed

Changelog

2006-11-19 v1.0 Included getID3 and flash player in download package and improved usability
2006-09-05 v0.9 Minor bug fixes
2006-07-13 v0.8 First release

Updated Version

lewis — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 16:42:08 +0000

Thanks to everyone who’s left comments and sent emails over the last few weeks. I’ve now made a revised version of the file which should be easier to use. I’ve also included a readme file explaining how to install the script and a sample HTML file showing how to integrate it with the player.

Download latest version: http://www.lasmit.co.uk/playlist_generator.zip

I should also point out that the purpose of the script is to generate a playlist on the fly, that is you upload the file to your site and then visit /playlist_generator.php and it automatically produces a playlist each visit. For example if you visit http://beb.lasmit.co.uk/playlist_generator.php there is an example playlist. If I was to add another bunch of files to the mp3s folder and then re-visit the page it would show the new files.

If you wanted to create a ’static’ version of the playlist you could visit the page and do ‘file’->’save as’ from your browser.

Please continue to send me any comments you have and let me know your experiences.

Websites for Bands

lewis — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 13:29:11 +0000

I’ve finally worked out all the details for the websites for bands package which is to be offered through Pillar Box Records. Being in a band myself, I think that the offer is pretty good value (starting at £100) and should have pretty much everything bands need to get a solid web presence, grow their fanbase and generally market themselves and their music. Hurrah!
For more details see websites for bands page over at PBR.

PHP XSPF Playlist Generator

lewis — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 15:10:51 +0000

I’ve been working towards making a template site for bands for a while, with the aim of offering affordable, standards compliant, user editable sites to local bands.

One thing I’ve really wanted to do is allow bands to upload MP3s to a folder and then have a proper playlist with tracknames generated for a music player on the fly (as you can do with the commercial Wimpy Player).

I finally got round to doing this today and so by combining the following free compononents:

it’s easy to produce a snazzy automatic playlist, with song and artist names, for this great little player. You can see a demo at www.projectcircle3.com/music.

Update: Thanks to XSPF.org for adding me to their list of applications

S Management

lewis — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 11:43:04 +0000

I’ve just finished work on rebuilding the S Management website. Essentially we’ve added a content management system to allow them to add their own images and artists. It works really well and has some nice features, including a dynamic watermark feature.

The main challenge with the site was rendering an old frames / tables layout into valid XHTML and CSS, this was a particular challenge as the site included a content block which was centered vertically in the page, and which could be wider than the page (have a look at the site to see what I mean). This coupled with the fact that Safari (the default browser for Mac OS X) doesn’t support min-height lead to some real challenges, all of which I’m happy to report have been overcome thanks to advice in some of the articles below:

http://www.wpdfd.com/editorial/thebox/deadcentre2.html
http://www.stormdetector.com/hacks/safarihack.html#safari1
http://mezzoblue.com/archives/2004/09/16/minheight_fi/

New PBR Site Launched

lewis — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 14:53:41 +0000

Me and Ben and Matt run a little record label called Pillar Box Records. It’s a lot of fun, although really hard work, especially as we’re all very busy with other projects.

Today I launced the new site. Must say I’m pretty pleased with it, and there are some nice features like the little icons that appear next to mp3s, news and gigs representing the band the item is about.

It also makes use of the fantastic triyofeed which will host the podcast, right as soon as we get time to mix and master it…

activ.health

lewis — Sat, 20 May 2006 11:48:34 +0000

activ.health provide fitness training and life coaching services in and around Bristol. Their website was badly out of date and needed an injection of fresh life, as well as the ability for them to update some of the site themselves.

As well as creating a bunch of fitness tools for them, I added a content manegement system to allow them to update the site themselves. This is the bit I am most proud of as activ.health are fitness professionals and do not spend much time in front of a computer, however after a little bit of guidance they are now able to manage their site effectively.

Pandora - the cleverest website ever?

lewis — Fri, 19 May 2006 16:56:30 +0000

Pandora is a fantastic online personal DJ system. Let me explain, essentially you visit the site and you give it the name of a song or artist that you like. It them makes a whole radio station of music that it thinks you will like. As you go along you can tell it which songs that you like and dislike. It takes this into account and continues to serve up your personal radio station
It sounds a bit too good to be true, but for me at least it works really well and I couldn’t recommend it highly enough.

Gigging For It!

lewis — Thu, 04 May 2006 22:05:23 +0000

I’ve finally gotten round to writing about gigging for it having gone on local radio tonight to plug the event. With the aim of raising a shed load of cash for breakthrough breast cancer, gigging for it is a night of music and comedy, with pretty much all of my favourite Leamington bands as well as absurdly good raffle prizes and general all round merryment.

Despite not really being involved in organising gigging for it I got to go on the radio as a representative of Kingtide, my all time favourite Leamington band, who I happen to play bass for. As well as mentioning gigging for it a lot on the radio they also played a Kingtide tune (October) and a song by Coventry singer/songwriter Kristy Gallacher who I am also a big fan of.

Am really quite excited about the night now, it should be a good one and with £90 raised in raffle money already we should raise a fair pile of cash too!

Seva v1 Live

lewis — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 20:17:28 +0000

Phase one of Seva to the Max is now live, and I’m still feeling pleased with the results. It’s great to feel like the last thing you did is the one your most proud of.