Project

Plex.tv

A complex, self-hosted, web-based, media library and player built in React

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plex.tv

In Brief

Plex started life as a fork from the XBMC (now known as Kodi) project: a client-server media system. This enables users to stream their collections of video, audio and photographs, as well as access other online services.

My Role

A key part of the Plex offering is their cross-platform web application, via which users are able to manage, organise and play their media from anywhere. Under the 'Plex Labs' rubric I was involved in the development and optimisation of this interface, primarily in React.

Originally built in Handlebars with Backbone, in 2016 the dispersed development team behind Plex (including remote freelancers like me) began to introduce React into the mix.

This began with simple but subtle UI enhancements: introducing nice pieces of animation and features such as zoom for media grids. By the end of the following year the platform had undergone a comprehensive and completed reworking, discarding Handlebars altogether and introducing some of the meatier pieces of work we undertook, including an all-new media player handling both audio and video from a single component.

“ John is the best front end developer I've worked with. His knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript is impeccable and he's always happy to help out and share his knowledge when his expertise is required.

John's a great guy to work with and I have and will continue to recommend him to people who need someone who really knows what they are doing. ”