Winter Has Arrived in Seattle

On Friday I watched from my window at Galvanize (nudge.online’s most recent home) in Pioneer Square as snow fell.  Of course, it did not stick, because Seattle is rarely cold enough even for there to be ice.  In contrast, everyone is waiting for Grammar Captive to warm up and keep its promise of free podcast content.  Please be patient, for we are nearly there!

Last week we added a listing and pagination feature for the podcast categories of Clausal Analysis, Linear Analysis, and Socratic Inversion, as well as a similar feature for all categories of podcasts according to their order of publication — namely, Chronology.  Further, work was begun on the podcast categories of Concept and Form and Use.  As the podcasts in these latter two categories contain  more refined content, a different sorting technique must be applied: podcasts will be selected individually with links to other closely related podcasts.

All of the above is to make it easy for users to find what they want quickly and easily, and in a manner that is conceptually conducive to further study and exploration.

In light of the above, a new credit was added for Flavius Matis and Bilal Akil.  It was simplePagination that made the pagination of the new listings possible. If you want to learn more, look for simplePagination under Credits in the Grammar Captive navigation bar.

Also, a new Thank You note has been added for private students who pay with PayPal or PayPal’s credit card options, but who do not participate in the more regularly scheduled webinar series.  Cool is that, when you click on Roddy’s image you return to the Grammar Captive host page in such a manner that the pop-up windows do not reappear.  The assumption is, of course, that you have already seen them and do not want to see them again.  Then too, if you want to see the slide show, either again or for the first time, without having to reload the page, you can simply click on Roddy’s image again after the page has opened and the show will reappear!

I will do my best to complete the sections on Concept and Form and Use this week, but there can be no guarantee, as I am still new to MySQL as I am new to just about everything else with regard to web development.

Once this aspect of the Weekly Podcast host page is complete, I will integrate the host page with the Grammar Captive main page, whereupon the task of bringing podcast, newsletter, and subscription together in one smooth motion will be undertaken.

As of yesterday the United States have quit the practice of Daylight Saving time  for another year.  So, please be aware of the one hour shift if you are not in the Seattle time zone.  Already scheduled students can keep their old time, but not yet scheduled students will have to adjust to the new.

Have a great week!

Roddy

You Cannot Read What You Do Not Wtite

Obviously an untrue statement unless you are reading from a private database. So, why all the hubris?

I discovered that the variable type of the value attribute must be consistent across option elements in order to avoid complications.
In any case, the podcast category type has now been added to the form template for building RSS feeds.

The more automation now, the more substantive content later.

Roddy

Grammar Captive’s 1st Anniversary

One full year has passed since the first version of the Grammar Captive website was uploaded to the internet.

It has been a very long year with numerous and major set-backs.  Still, many good things have happened.  And, in celebration of today’s anniversary, I would like to bring to your attention to the newest feature of the  developmental podcast host page.

From this moment forward each new podcast will be tagged with one of five categories including Concept, Form and Use, or one of the three Grammar Captive techniques: Clausal Analysis, Linear Analysis, and Socratic Inversion.  Not only will users be able to select podcasts according to category, but all podcasts will be listed in order of their publication with the most recent appearing first.

Under the category Chronology all podcasts, no matter their category tag are listed together in chronological order.

Although no podcast has yet been produced, click on the heading Chronology in the podcast hostpage‘s navigation bar.  You will know that you have reached the end when you have clicked on a link called Click and Listen and the selected podcast appears.  Enjoy!

It was a major technical feat to achieve this highly organized display style, but it was well worth the effort.  For now, users will be able to find what they are looking for with a minimum of effort.

Roddy

Automatic Column Height Adjustment

Although not a complete solution the column heights on the podcast webpage are now equal in height no matter the amount of material contained in each.  One simply scrolls to see the rest.

Further adjustment must still be made for smart-phone viewing where absolute heights are highly undesirable.  Correcting this short-coming will be tomorrow’s adventure.

Have a good night (Seattle time)!

Roddy

Category Selection and Pagination

As expected, this week was full of new surprises.  In particular, users can now select a category of podcasts and have only podcasts within that category display in chronological order beginning with the most recent first. What is more, users can scroll through the list with a pagination widget that displays only a set number of podcasts at a time.  In other words, with knowledge of the number of a particular podcast one has merely to select the page on which that podcast number is likely to be found, and it will very likely be there.  No need to scroll through the entire list!

Go to the podcast_dev_copy.php file, find the navigator bar, and click on Chronology.  Then look for the phrase Podcast Index …, and click again.  Make sure that the bottom of the resulting page is visible, for there is a surprise at the bottom.

Have a great weekend!

Roddy

日本人も「文法キャプチブ」を使い！

最近の状況と努力で新しい時刻表が成ってきました。現在は、日本人も「文法キャプチブ」を都合のよい時間で使用することができます。昼ご飯の前後「文法キャプブ」のウェブビナーに参加するし、その個別指導のオンラインのサービスも使うことができます。

なお、「文法キャプチブ」の主要なページを開き、ナビバーの「Other」のメニューの下に「Time Schedule」をクリックして、日本地帯の「文法キャプチブ」の使う時間を選びやすいです。そうしたら、同様のナビバーの中「Products」のメニューの下にウェビナー又は「GC Tutor」の項目を選んで、サインアップすることもできます。

英語があなりできない方がメールを送信して、日本語で問い合わせられます。

じゃ、又ね！

Roddy

New Time Schedule

Circumstances and endeavor have made it possible for Grammar Captive to offer its paid webinars to a much larger audience.  For example,

  • Someone living in Europe, Africa, or the Middle East now has access to Grammar Captive’s online webinars throughout most of the evening.
  • Those living in Northeast, East, and Southeast Asia have access before, during, and after lunch.
  • Excluding the wee hours of the morning South and Central Americans have nearly the entire day; only late afternoon and very early evening are excluded.

What is more, SKYPE, has so advanced both in the quality of its features and performance, it is now Grammar Captive’s preferred networking utility.  If you do not SKYPE, start now.  The SKYPE platform will not cost you anything and is easy to install.  It is safe, reliable, and available to everyone.

And, if you do not like Microsoft, you can use Apple’s FaceTime or Google HangOuts.  Yes, Grammar Captive is flexible!

So, click on the words Time Schedule at the top of the Other menu in Grammar Captive’s main page navigation bar and choose a time for you.  Then, sign up for  a webinar and discover what you have been missing all along!

Roddy