Re: Radio Folk

In message <SkNmZzcsoTeDFw2D@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Jacey Bedford
<lookinsig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes
>In message <CfTdf.9407$Es4.580@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
>Malcolm Douglas <malcolm.douglas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes

>>> I can play it perfectly well on IE, so that's what I do. No
>>>problem.
>>> Jacey
>>
>>*Of course* it's a problem; and one that should have been
>>addressed before the site went live.
With respect - until a site goes live there's no way to test all the
browsers that are going to get thrown at it. When it first went live it
was up there for beta-testing with non-PRS and PPL music only. By the
time it went live with licensed music on 1st July it had proven OK with
the most common browsers. Much as I don't like IE and don't use it as my
main browser, it is one of the most commonly used browsers and most
people have access to IE and Netscape - which work perfectly well.

>>Not everybody wants to be forced to use IE. The scripting used
>>instead of normal links to the sound files works in IE, but only in
>>*some* other browsers under *some* circumstances; though it's
>>evidently a lot better than it was when first launched.
>>
>>Here is an important question that I don't think has been
>>answered, though I've asked it before:
>>
>>Have the MIME types been set on BritFolk's server?
>>
>>Failure to do that can result in browsers being unable to locate the
>>correct plugin for a media file. It is a common error, and often
>>overlooked even by professionals. It may well have nothing to do
>>with the site's accessibility problems, but a clear answer would at
>>least eliminate one possibility.
>>
>>Malcolm Douglas

Malcolm, Phil Snell, our programmer, is away this week but he gave me a
short answer to your queries. I didn't understand the questions and I
don't understand the answer but since you and he speak the same language
- hopefully you do.

====================
Phil Snell says:
====================
The MIME types are set on the server to:
m3u - audio/x-mpegurl
ram - audio/x-pn-realaudio
Note: I made a change to the IIS server today - please let me know if it
has helped.

Most of the other web radio stations use a streaming server. I'm
guessing that a lot of them are based in colleges where the originators
have access to free servers and free software. Sadly we don't and the
Arts Council aren't interested in funding us. A server set up like this
would cost thousands. (I have set up servers using freeware here in my
office and they worked, but I am on ADSL and only have 256kb/s uplink in
best case, when there is no contention. More than 2 listeners and it
would grind to a stop.)

Radio Britfolk uses 'psuedo streaming' where the audio is held on a
Server and a playlist points to it. Because of the PPL and/or PRS
restrictions we have to make it difficult to stop/start or skip any of
the content. (Yes, I know hackers can get 'round it.) That's why I can't
use the embedded media player(s). The workshops don't have licensed
material and, therefore, can have controls. In order to make the
controls unusable I have implemented the audio playback using the object
tag like this:
"<object width='300' height='64'>"+
" <param name='src' value='"+ programme +"'>" +
" <param name='autoplay' value='true'> " +
" <param name='controller' value='"+controller+"'> "+ " <param
name='hidden' value='"+hidden+"'> "+ "<embed src='"+ programme +"'
autostart='true' hidden='"+hidden+"' loop='false' width='300'
height='64'></embed>" + "</object>"; where programme is the path of the
..m3u or ram file and hidden is a boolean.

Here is some text from the site - found by pressing the 'can't listen'
link on the programme page....
Windows Internet Explorer
With the MP3 stream: Version 6, Windows Media Player 10 works reliably -
you can upgrade for free from Microsoft's web site. Firefox, Netscape
(i.e., Mozilla) With the Real Audio stream: Real Player has proven to
be very unreliable. There is a freeware application that replaces Real
Player and works on the 4 Windows platforms we have tried it on. You can
download it (FREE!) from
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Real_Alternative.htm. It also has
the advantage of no horrid adverts.

I don't know what else I can do.

As for the site compatibility - it only works on modern browsers, I
routinely test it on IE, Firefox and Netscape - the latest versions. I
am aware of other browsers that enthusiasts like to use but simply
haven't the time to cater for them at the expense of all of our other
users. If you have Netscape 2 and won't upgrade then - sorry.

============END OF MESSAGE FROM PHIL===================

So, Malcolm, it seems to me that we're cutting our coat according to our
cloth. We can never repay Phil adequately for all the hours he's put
into developing this site and if he makes the decision to support the
most used browsers, then, as it stands now, it's his decision. Of course
if FolkWISE gets a massive injection of cash and can employ him
full-time for a couple of months, then I'm sure he can get all the other
browsers sorted out too.

Since discussion of the actual nuts and bolts of web design is off-topic
for this group, if you have any practical suggestions based on the
information that Phil has sent I wonder whether you could e-mail him
direct on <phil@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> and we'll bring the information back to
the group if there's movement on the (so far) unsupported browsers.

Thanks for your interest and comments so far.

Jacey
--
Jacey Bedford
jacey at artisan hyphen harmony dot com
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: What is ASP.NET?
    ... deployed on IIS/Windows 2000 Server. ... HTML to the client. ... development is aimed at running on browsers, ... "web development is aimed at running on browsers, not the Windows OS" ...
    (microsoft.public.dotnet.general)
  • Re: Weird problem Asp.net, certain users, code behind
    ... I took a look at your site on 3 different machines, ... Windows Server 2003/IE 6: None of the links would show up. ...
    (microsoft.public.dotnet.framework.aspnet)
  • Re: File does not begin with %pdf-
    ... I guess what really threw me off though was the fact that other browsers ... PDF Reader-Foxit:http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php ... Well we have a Windows 2000 server on the LAN, ... uninstalled Defender but still have the issue. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
  • Re: OWA ( Exch 2K3 SP2 ) problems with different browers
    ... Sometimes the Basic Auth mechanism breaks on the server, ... works with some non-MS browsers, ... Safari, getting authentication requests continuesly... ...
    (microsoft.public.exchange.clients)
  • Re: Two Questions on Link REL/REV and dead-end hyperlinks.
    ... how do I make the associated hyperlinks in the body? ... Some browsers make links from the LINK elements in the head. ... Whether you get a directory listing or not and when you do is ... highly dependant on how your server is configured. ...
    (comp.infosystems.www.authoring.html)
Loading