steamlocomotive.info

This website is written in a truly superb web development language called Coldfusion from Adobe. We've installed a developmental version of the newest release of this language on one of our servers (Coldfusion MX 9.0) and are preparing a set of new features and capabilities for the website which we'll implement when and if management lets us have enough money to pay for the upgrade on our production servers.

Here's what we're working on:

1. A completely new administration system that'll hopefully allow our editors a much easier time in editing and maintaining the database that underlies this site.
2. A video contribution system using Coldfusion 9's ability to spawn a fully featured video player with playback controls, and a Linux open-source tool called ffmpeg which allows us to convert a contributed video from its native format to FLV on the fly. This code, of course, necessitates changes to the administrative tools so that editors can approve submitted videos.
3. Right now, when you contribute a photo to the system we assume the most restrictive of all licensing; that is: Copyright © Your Name. We also assume your permission to use the image as you contributed it through a clearly marked screen. There are other possible licensing modes: Public Domain, CCAS and the Gnu Free Documentation License. The image submission software will be modified to permit you to select any one of these licenses for your image. The parts of the website that currently display Copyright &copy Whoever will be modified to properly display the licensing mode you've selected.
4. There currently exists no convenient way for a user to submit additional photos for a locomotive, for its photo album, if the locomotive already has a primary image. Plans are afoot to add the capability to submit additional photos for a locomotive beyond its primary photo, and to submit additional photos for inclusion in an existing photo album.

More changes are planned, but that's what's actively being worked on. I'll let y'all know when and if we decide on other features.