Changes under the Hood
I’ve made some changes to the breviary. Hopefully they won’t cause any disruption and will instead make things more convenient. Two main changes have occurred.
GET not POST
I’ve changed the way that the breviary as a web application does its work. In the past, I used a POST protocol as a way of transferring information around the site. The upside here is that the url is a lot cleaner, isn’t long , and doesn’t look messy. The downside is that it’s impossible to either bookmark or copy/paste the url of a particular office. If you want to refer someone else to it, you were out of luck.
When I coded the site for Forward Movement, Scott Gunn made sure that I used GET rather than POST because it could be hooked into social media offerings. I did, and have found it so much easier to work with and maintain, that I’ve moved the regular breviary over to it as well. The key advantage for you, the user, is that now you can visit the index page and make your selections, push the button and head into the office—or you can go directly there and bypass the index page altogether! this is the new static link for the breviary:
haligweorc.org/breviary/office.php
Now—you’ll not once you get there that it’ll add more material after the “.php” part. That automatically gives you the office based on the day and time you’re using it. If you want to bookmark the site, make sure that you add it just as you see it above and don’t add the “?d=…” or any of the other stuff after “.php” or your bookmark will always and only show you that day and office!
Index Page Options
If you do end up bypassing the index page, you’ll never notice my second upgrade which is a change in the index. I added a permanent link to the mobile version, but more importantly added back in the ability to select any of the “pre-set” options even if you have a cookie saved. I’ve received requests for this and have wished for it myself—so there it is.
These changes are available in both the desktop and mobile versions.
I tested these as thoroughly as I could in my test environment and was not able to break it. However, that doesn’t mean it’s impervious or guarantee that I accounted for everything. If you run into any problems, please let me know!
St. Bede's Breviary Blog 
Thanks once again for all your work, Derek. Your site is indispensable.
I tried to follow the URL and got the following message: Fatal error : Call to a member function free() on a non-object in /home/content/49/5261249/html/breviary/date_reckoning2_0.php on line 1377 Bill+
I haven’t been able to replicate this. Is it still occurring?
I tried again tonight and it worked, but since It was past your set time for Evensong I got thrown willy-nilly into Compline; not much help.
If the wrong office shows up, the easiest thing to do is modify the url. If you click into it, you change the part after “office=”
MP is morning NP is moon EP is evening CP is compline
Let me second that. This is remarkable work. Thank you.
Thanks for the note on changing the office. I actually have a much more annoying problem, though I delayed writing about it until I could explore further.
As it happens I got an automatic system update between my last use of the ‘old’ breviary and my first use of the ‘new’ one. This may or not be a factor, but since my wife got the same upgrade and does not have this problem, I think the issue lies elsewhere. Your program is simply selectively changing/ignoring my preferences. The problem is worse with EP but affects both offices; even immediately after I (re)select my options nor does it seem to make quite the same errors if I go back without changing the selections. I cannot eliminate the likelihood that I sometimes accidentally make the wrong selection myself but I don’t. I usually do get the versions (i.e. Psalter and Scripture texts) I request, but sometimes get the monthly psalter and sometimes the lectionary one (my preference); I sometimes get antiphons (selected) and sometimes not, and the same for opening sentences; I sometimes fail to get canticles at all.
It seems probable that I have a problem getting the cookie actually register and then retain my selections. I can try it in a different browse, but normally use Google Chrome (as does my wife — without these problems). No posted comments suggest that others are having these problems, so they are probably somewhere in my setup rather than yours; but if this suggests anything to you that might help I should be glad to hear of it.