I'd like to announce a little project I'm working on...
A couple of years ago I was performing a collaborative work (webdesign stuff) with a friend. He's living in a distant place and so we had a lot of phone calls, discussing project details. Since he had installed his own https server (secure connection with certificate), we came up with the idea of a nice chat application on his machine to be independent of phone costs.
Of course there's a bunch of free chat engine templates, but in my eagerness I wanted to build my own one using AJAX technology which was strongly emerging at this time.
Moreover I had a particular frontend conception in mind: a room with avatars, their texts shown in speech balloons, like in a cartoon strip.
I managed to create such a portal, including standard login procedure as well as user administration, and called it JAMSYS which stands for Just Another Meeting SYStem...
Actually it's comparable to a browser based Instant Messaging mechanism. Even there's no limitation in the number of simultaneous users, it's recommended for small groups up to 6 persons (avatars having a maximum size of about 150 x 150 pixels and being displayed side by side in a row).
Here's an example for avatars I've created so far (me, talltechson and necromanos):
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Usually they're static grayscale GIFs with transparency; could also be coloured PNGs with transparency (btw: Firefox and newer IE versions also support alpha channel).
This weekend I'll try to set up a JAMSYS instance on my own server. When everything works well, accounts for testing and playing can be handed out soon. Have to adjust some text (english surface) before.
We intend to check out if this tool can be useful as a place for Jamacast project member's online discussions. If so, it's likely to be improved a bit more, e.g. switch between avatar mode and normal textbox mode, or downloading protocol after chat session, etc.
I like the Avatar idea, very original to do it this way. Yes in order to have a fluid conversation about a prj II type of proposal something like this would be ideal. Say meet at a certain time with a few people and discuss a track proposa and debate it for awhile and come up with a starting point. Like I had discussed with Asaguare earlier, I was pondering the idea of creating a song for a particular cause. For example Aids, MS, what ever we all decided on within reason and to put this track up as track #1 any procedes we could get for this song would be donated at 80% to the cause and 20% to the Jamacast Collective Cause. This would represent an awesome contribution to a known cause and possibly get some attention as well for Jamacast Collective. Most Charities work just the opposite direction 80% to the business and 20% to the cause. I also will not play red tape games with these organizations. These symbles that represent these causes such as aids and some others are public domain for the most part and with every purchase or download of the Prj II CD or Mp3 Player they would also receive a sticker and a little pamphlet explaining thanks for their support etc. This is just a rough draft idea to see where all of our heads could be with such promotional and good cause efforts etc. What do you guys think of something in this angle.
As you can see this kinda post becomes cumbersome when trying to get across ideas. It would be awesome to have such a JAMSYS type of connection for this endeavor. We can still post on the forum as general eye catcher stuff and for other to read non private group talk. We should bang our heads on this for a little while, there is no rush other than it sounds pretty exiting to me.
Groove On!!!
Yeah, those are some good ideas. And Yikes! Forgot my wedding pic was on my site! lol! I don't dress like that all the time... really. Though the sword was cool (can't see it in the pic).
In one of the last sessions we were 3 blokes in the room and sometimes it was rather difficult to read all these quick changing bubble contents (and typing your own messages at the same time!).
This morning I implemented a textmode area, so you can switch between avatar view and text view - to read again what's been said during your session.
Next feature will be an acoustic signal whenever a new message appears (like in Jamacast IM).
better put the avatar version in the upper part of the page and the text one in the lower part -> easier
Hats off to Asaguare, this Jamsys is coming along perfectly. It is there as far as I am concerned. Now it's just a matter of scheduling some meetings and getting this Prj II Idea rolling. I or Asa will be posting the first official meeting for this Prj II soon so keep your eyes peeled. There will be plenty of time for people to hop on to this project but as we start to get good at using this system and working out details it probably will start moving at a pretty good clip. No telling what kind of stuff we will be creating, I can only imagine ha can't wait. If your ideas are hot lets hear them and crank it up.
Groove On!!!
A new feature has been added in JAMSYS (version 1.10): Avatar selection.
Basically there's two types of avatar images, private and public:
PRIVATE
Real user image. Currently we got a single image for almost every member. Sometimes the source is an older photo, so you may wish to send me a newer one. Existing images don't have to be deleted - instead I'll just add any new ones to your private avatar list. This way you can choose your preferred user image.
PUBLIC
About 20 different images of all kinds (e.g. VIPs, characters or comics). These are actually just for fun and not meant for serious usage; at official meetings you should use a private avatar.
Selection pops up by clicking button [Avatar] on page 'home'.
Your private/public settings are stored between sessions; nevertheless, after login your private avatar is activated per default.
haha .. this is so awesome .. i like the avatars
Cool - I need to find some newer images of myself.