New Radio Sonar Site
Hey all, here’s another update as promised! Work is coming along nicely on the new Radio Sonar website. The main reason for the new site was to make a superior CMS than the one they originally had in place when I took over as Head Of Web. The structure was a mess, a number of key features / functions weren’t working and there was a list developing of new features that needed to be added.
Since then, I have started from the ground up developing a complete new back-end with a multi-level permissions system where different levels of user have access to different functions – and a site administrator can also grant extra permissions to selected users. There is also a new scheduling system with the output in a timetable format rather than a basic list as the majority of other student radio stations tend to do. I’m also working on adding blogs for the management team so they can keep members updated on what’s happening at the station. The gallery system is getting an overhaul too as the current one has a number of problems with uploading, and there’s no ability to comment on photos.
I am developing the new system myself from the ground up using PHP, MySQL, JavaScript (including jQuery), XHTML and CSS. When the site is up to the level of functionality that there current site is, I’ll “launch” the new version – then start working on new and exciting features including:
- A blogging system for shows
- Audio previews for upcoming shows
- An auto-updating playlist system
- An improved music section for adding band interviews and album / gig reviews
- Show and manager of the day feature
- A live on site player rather than just a link to the audio stream
- Possibly a chat feature making communication to the studio even easier
- Plus loads more!
Here are a few screenshots from the development of the site so far. The final layout and colours (especially the schedule!) still need to be tweaked slightly.
The view schedule page in the admin centre. Similar to the current layout – but totally re-written. Different hours are diaplyed depnding on the start / finish times of shows that week. Shows can be repeated and can have individual entries.
The page management section in the admin centre. Lot’s of options to tweak here including access restrictions, main & sub navigation menus, content, titles, page layout etc.
The admin dashboard where all admin tasks can be launched. My first attempt at a dashboard style admin area rather than a proper navigation based system. Only tasks the user has permission to access will be displayed here.
A preview of a simple text page on the website. Pages can have either one or two columns (two column displayed above). As part of the music section, the gig reviews will have their own dedicated system in the future.
That’s all you get to see for now! I’m hoping it will be ready to launch in around 2 weeks or so if things continue to go well. Check back soon for more updates on this project amongst other things!
