Welcome to the first Webmaster Blog! In order to fill users in with some of the projects being worked on I decided to start posting "Webmaster Blogs." These blogs will be like normal site updates but longer and focus on what's in the works, future plans, and sandbox ideas. This is an open forum so you're welcome to post any ideas, suggestions, or comments you want.
Lately I've been working on finding ways to make OtakuElite available across several platforms. The first of these was the Android Application. The application was a huge success but I wanted to make the site more web based. As a result I started on creating a mobile site that would make the site more accessible on the road. While I prefer focusing more on the mobile site the Android Market provides more brand awareness. As a result I started working on a brand new upgrade since one was well overdue. This upgrade will be taking the application out of Beta as well.
Anime Database 2.0 for Android will offer a richer interface and includes easier navigation and will be opening the application to allow users to login and access their checklist. This feature has been planned for a very long time! But after spending weeks on the first design it was very draining and as a result I was loosing focus on the main site. Which is why a break was taken to work on the mobile site and work on beefing up the database a tiny bit. Which continues to be a major issue. I'm trying to balance features and content, but in the long run features will pay off more which is why my primary focus has always been and will be on features.
One of the other recent projects was to create a Facebook Application. This application was a small project to get more familiar with Facebook's development features. I am still trying to figure out the best way to integrate sites like Facebook and Twitter into the site. It's a lot of work and requires a lot of time and research. Another thing I've been looking at lately is Facebook and Twitters success. One thing I really like about Facebook and Twitter is the character limitations and the high level of integration. As a result I want to incorporate some of these ideas into the site. Which will be done during the next site redesign. Yes, another redesign is coming!
So what can you expect on the next redesign? One word, integration! I plan to finally take the user profiles page and start integrating your site actions directly into your profile. It'll be very similar to Facebook and Twitter. When you comment on an entry it'll post an update on your profile. At the same time I want to cripple users by forcing them to have all of their actions posted on their profile. So customization will be another issue I'll be tackling.
Another big thing I want to do is start offering options for developers. This will likely be through RSS or some other XML format. Developers will be able to access the site's database through XML requests so that they may show content from OtakuElite on their sites. The challenge with this is to balance accessible while preventing sites from data mining content for their own sites. The developer network is an idea that I want to start working on, but won't happen for a while. However I do want to start offering custom widgets. I'm not sure exactly what type of content I want to add on widgets yet.
The final project I've been working on is the video page. This is the hardest project yet since it requires cooperation from a third party. I have 3 sites I'm trying to work with, Hulu, Crunchyroll, and YouTube. In order to correctly do the video page I need developer access which is difficult to get. Hulu's developer access allows developers to access their entire library and post videos on the site. Crunchyroll has a similar. YouTube has open developer access which I have! The problem is Funimation does not allow embeds. Which I contacted them about and of course have not yet received a response. I doubt I'll get a response anytime in the near future if ever. Once one of these three offer me the access I need I'll be able to start working on the new video page! Sadly the site is too small so there is absolutely no idea when that will happen.
For now the focus is the new Android upgrade! After that I'll have to focus on content again and then start working on the main site/mobile site. The next step will likely be to fix up the mobile site's forum. As you can tell it's a lot of work, but people are visiting the site and we're getting a lot of new users registering on the site. Another big issue is getting new users to contribute to the site since it looks like most users are registering and verifying their accounts but leaving it at that. I have a feeling once people start contributing more the site will start to pick up faster and faster. As always I want to thank all visitors! And a special thanks to those who register accounts! Just registering as a user is a huge help!
Until next time,
~Webmaster