A new problem. I have an mp3 player on my site as a pop-up (using the CC widget). When I select the "don't play" option, the pop-up disappears and never comes back, not even when I log off and log back in. I can still see the code in the Edit window. This must also be happening to classmates. The pop-up box hides the text underneath so I can see people closing it to see what's underneath, or just decided not to play the music at that time. I was also wondering if this happened because I am an admin. What's up and how can it be fixed?

Is it possible to just have a pop-out player button instead of that large pop-up box?

I really appreciate your help. (The player is located in the Classmates Link, under Homegrown Talent and then under The Fabulous Flippers.)

OK, I just cleared my cache and all is back. BUT THIS IS THE BIG QUESTION: If a classmate clicks on "Don't Play," would he/she then need to clear his or her cache to get the pop-up back?? Lordy, I hope not, 'cause my "older group" are not going to do that. All I know, is when I and another admin clicked on "Don't play" we both lost the content, and we were just browsing the site like regular members. I hope you can clear this up for me....surely others have had the same problem. I am using IE, if that matters.

Thanks!

This is one of those solutions that makes 50% happy and the other 50% not so happy. We had a lot of people tell us that every time they went to the page, they were prompted on if they wanted to listen tot the music and they did not like that. They wanted to be able to answer one time, and have the site remember that they did or did not want to listen. So, we now set a cookie when the user answers the question for the music preference. Now if you have returned to the site and your session cookie is still active, the site will remember that you wanted the music off. So, yes, for now anyway, users would need to clear cache and restart their browser session to get the question to reappear on the page.

How about a check box with that message: "Don't ask me this again"? or "Always do this on this page."

I'd like to find a solution that could activate the box to reopen upon click so that I have complete control. Maybe an Icon that would be a speaker with a strike through. When clicked, the popup would reappear. I would like a similar solution for the IM box as well. this would eliminate the need to clear cache and cookies and restart browser sessions to get back to these features.

Keep working on it because this is not satisfactory. Why can't it work like the playlist.com pop-out player? You have to decide to play it by clicking on it. Otherwise nothing happens. AND you can minimize it and keep listening after leaving the site.

What happens with the Text Link option? Can you still listen to the music after leaving the page?

I agree that the IM box also needs a different solution. Looks like you all are earning your money!

Carolyn

Unfortunately this is a case of having lots of Class Creator staff, lots of Admins, lots of different features, and all parties not being on the same page. We have an incredibly slick internal communication system here to minimize this but inevitably some of these conversations are going to play out when in fact the same conversation already played out for a different but similar area of the system. That's precisely the case here with the MP3 player, and how music works on Gallery Creator. It's the exact same principle on both but we've got it working far better on Gallery Creator than we do here. Let me explain what we need the music feature to do here that we've already got working perfectly in Gallery Creator:

1) Admins need to have the ability to embed the player on the page or pop it into a separate window, as they already do now.

2) If the Admin chooses to pop the music into a new window when the page loads, then a TEMPORARY cookie is set remembering that choice. I think it only lasts 20 minutes or so. If the user should return to the page any time in the next 20 minutes their previous choice is remembered and the music pops and plays again (unless it's still in the other window already playing now.) This is wonderful because it doesn't bother the viewer with asking them the question over and over and over again every time they hit the page.

3) If the user chooses NOT to play the music, then a new text links appears at the top of the page. This link ONLY appears if the user has deliberately chosen not to play the music. The link says "Audio accompanies this page. Play." So now the user has the option of clicking that link up there at any time to pop the music out and start listening if they've changed their mind. A far better solution than making people clear their cache, I'm sure you'd agree.

4) If the user has chosen NOT to play the music, again, the cookie only lasts 20 minutes. So any time in the next 20 minutes they'll continue to see the text link at the top of the page allowing them to pop and play the music at any time

5) Whether the viewer plays the music or not, after 20 minutes the cookie expires, their choice is no longer remembered, and the next time they return to the page 21 minutes or later they'll be asked if they want to play or not play the music again. This, of course, is a great solution to NOT always have that question pop up in your face after you've answered it. In most cases after 20 minutes people are done with the page anyway and won't likely be coming back any time soon.

You can see that this scenario minimizes the "annoyance factor" while always giving people an option to launch the music if they had chosen not to. It's a far, far better solution than making somebody clear their cache, etc. This whole conversation and all of the solutions above played out extensively in another thread, and I can tell you the way this all works in Gallery Creator currently is rather brilliant. All we need to do is mimic the same methodology here. We should also do this though:

6) On BOTH Gallery Creator and the MP3 widget we need to add a "Pop Out Player" button to the interface itself, allowing Admins to embed the player on the page if they want to, yet allow let the Classmate pop it into a different window if THEY want to. If the Admin has chosen to auto pop the player into a new window on load then this 'Pop Out Player" button is NOT necessary on the interface. So we either need or don't need the button based on the scenario.

I'll run all this past the Programmer (Al) who created the MP3 player widget for adjustments.

YES! Please let me know when these changes are made. I am so grateful to be heard!

Welcome. I architected this along with the input from all of you in the other thread, and unfortunately didn't read this thread myself until this afternoon. I'll bring this up in our next meeting, as we of course always want to minimize this type of rebrainstorming (is that a word?) wherever possible.

I have switched from the embedded CC player to the popout CC player, and now it disappears when I select "No Music". It does not come back after twenty minutes, either. I am using Firefox. I always have to go in and remove the cookie to get the player back. Have you changed the length of the cookie? Any suggestions?

Hi Charles,

I don't think they have changed the length of the cookie. I've asked the programmer for verification on this.

Jessica
Class Creator Support