PublicVR Forum

Writeup definitions of categories.

Writeup expeced website behavior.

Expand the definition of "Reconstruction" to include shots of
everybody and anybody's reconstructions, including ours.

Change "Historic Photos" to "Historic Images"
Change "Current Photos" to "Working Photos" or "

Decide on how to share files via FileMaker or whatever.

Have the photo resized on the fly to accomodate the view at the time.
Four sizes thumb, two-col, single-col, pop-up fullsize.
(see behavior at bakednyc.com)

We can target portions of a page reasonably easily, but portions of an image

? Can we put a "close this view" tab over the first window.

References should have web links, amazone referene lists (make a bit
of money)

In Unity-VR, how do we know where we are? Make objects clickable
and/or hover popups and/or an overlay and/or have the title of the
frame change automatically. Maybe an overlay could be triggered by a
button.

In the VR: have a title at the top of the window that looks like the
usual web title, maybe. Changes based on location & facing &
clicking. We need steve's gaze direction technique. Maybe use a
19th century dressed guide.

Put a full explanation of the categories of informaiton.

Put dates on everything

Within an article: Every data view can have links to anhother data
view, including itself. If you are in two-column, the destination
information always shows up in the other window. In single column
view its just typical web pages.

Maybe make the breadcrumb trail a history, instead.

Ask Derek about red-lighting the menu item for currently viewed
article. Each nav link could have an ID and each view could have
a corresponding ID method. For example, the link for the Triangular
Forum could be id="triangularforum" and related content could be named
id="triangularforum_x" where "x" is changed to the name of the view
such as id="triangularforum_text" or
id="triangularforum_historicphotos"
A script would identify that the id for the content type prior to the
underscore is the same as the name of the nav item, then that item
would be made red and bold.

Deal with the automatic navigation bolding for parent of current
article.

Create a non-scrolling region at the top of every list for the article
title and the pull-down list. Question: Can we have the title and
pull-down on the same line.

Close up a little of the open space up and down. Andrew check with
Susan on the *.css.

Windows should stay in the same mode when you navigate around, both
for the single and double column mode.

Use filemaker as our main file sharing repository.

Make sure there is a use and do not use toggle on the elements in
the FM database. We will access everything privately through FM
to make changes, though an FM-published web page.

Put a "?" button for two column view.

? Give the user a double option when clicking on a link, so that
the new content would open in column B OR the same window. Three ways
to do it.

we want to be able to lay elements of two different articles side by
side. Have a type of link that allows either the current column or
the other column to open a view of another article. All views of all
articles have the article title at the top. Once there, should the
user be able to change the view? Probably, but not sure. Editorial
care must be exercised to make sure the reaDER knows what they are
getting into. It might be confusing, so we have to play with it.

Use Susan's idea of a zoomable-by-popup map. click on an area to go
there. In the "map" view of an area, just have a one-line javascript
command in the frame which asks the map to be alreay zoomed onto the
particular area in question.

After we get a line-drawing map working, we play with other maps:
photo of a scale mode, areal photo, an illustration.

Lots and lots of stuff to respond to. I have quoted and then added my response.

1.
These are hard coded. I will make the change.

2.
I understand the concept, but see nothing like this at bakednyc.com. There are many tools out there for photo resizing, but am not sure I have ever seen "auto-sizing" that isn't part of the <a href>. Would love some clarification about where on the bakednyc.com website I would see this in action.

3.
Currently the javascript assumes that content1 is in the first column, and content2 is the second column. If the second column becomes the first, it will fail. This is a derek question. [I am keeping a list.]

4.
We can easily modify the links to include your amazon information. Just need to know the amazon information.

5.
Links that open a second column, or replace an existing column will mean a modification of our javascript file [with means derek.] Opening a new window for the links is easy, and can be done without any effort.

6.
Is this an actual request, or just a thought?

7.
Using javascript for this doesn't make much sense. We should continue to use the PHP and I will modify the includes. I will begin work on this tonight. The "automatic" bolding of the area is my PHP coding. Do you want me to remove this?

8.
I think so.... but will have to play around with this a little to see how this affects WHERE the article ends up.

9.
What is a window mode on the web?

10.
I need more information. What does the ? do?

11.
Double clicking on the web is a new one on me. Can you give me a URL with an example of double-clicking creating a different behavior than a single-click?

The rest of the notes assume I understand THESE notes! So I will stop now and wait for some responses.

Notes from conversation between susan and Jeff. 3/16/2009. Answer numbers correspond to numbers in the post before:

Window Behaviors:
2.
Request. Each photo would be uploaded in four resolutions, and the website would dynamically load the correct size based on the number of columns.
Response: will need to determine if this is possible. Once a column has loaded, adding a second column does not modify the first one. [derek]

3. This request is clear, and will require a javascript modification. [derek]

5. More window behaviors that will need to be reviewed/investigated. [derek]

6. To create a history breadcrumb, I believe we need to write to a cookie. Will investigate some more.

7. I will adjust the PHP code to make the navigation article name red.

8. Non-scrolling area requires an adjustment in the javascript, and will require that the name of the article be loaded from some source. Andrew thinks much of this can be done with the css.

9. Mode = type of view
This is another question for derek. The optSelect code is currently set to hard code the defaults.

11. This might be done with icons so that the user will decide what behavior they prefer. More thoughts will be given to this before changing how windows work here.

Other:

4. This request is clear, and just requires new links.

Notes from conversation between susan and Jeff. 3/31/2009. This post [and the ones to follow] include an email to derek, his answers, and then my response to him.

>> 1. User is at Triangular Forum:Marcellus Base, one column and has chosen
>> "resources" from the popup list. Now they select Exit to Theatre.
>> Can the default view be "resources?" And if there are two columns open, can
>> both of the views be maintained?
>>
>> So, can the popup choice in one article be maintained when traveling to a
>> different article?
>
> well, probably the easiest way I can think of to do this would be to pass
> a parameter to the next page, indicating what the view was. then the
> next page could load, and tell javascript what to display. and by
> next page
> I mean in a trip to the server, we'd include the view that was
> displayed.
> we could manage this by passing the view in the URL called to open
> the next page. all doable. then the next page reads that value and
> initializes the js to show that view when it opens.
>
> alternatively, and I don't know if this can actually be done, would be
> to read/set cookie values via js. I'd have to investigate this...

Let's try passing a parameter. Of course, the URL's already have PHP variables. Should I be adding another variable for PHP, or is it more efficient to have javascript read the parameter? Would you be willing to give me a sample URL, and sample header in the resulting screen so I can get my head around how this works in real life?

Notes from conversation between susan and Jeff. 3/31/2009.

>> 2. User has opened the second column and has two views open. Can
>> there be a
>> "close this view" over the first column? When this view is closed, the
>> second column would expand to cover the whole area.
>
> certainly. though I wonder if this is really necessary functionality.
> does
> a visitor really need to manage the columns at this level. i'd argue
> not.

Jeff doesn't consider this a priority, so let's table this idea for the moment.

>> 3. Create a breadcrumb trail that mirrors the user's view history.
>> Can this be done without a cookie? [I don't think so, but worth asking.]
>
> you need to save somewhere, in a cookie, or on the server in a DB,
> the links selected by each visitor.

I think we should look at the cookie. Again, which language should do this? PHP or javascript?

>> 4. Contextual Navigation Menus. The request has been made to make
>> the active
>> article display in the navigation menu with red [class =
>> "current".] Though
>> I can do this with PHP, with so many submenus this becomes a fairly
>> significant coding project. Is this type of behavior easier to
>> implement
>> with javascript?
>
> it is trivial to modify styles via javascript.

Let's add this to the .js file then, along with a real-life example for me to emulate. [Sorry that I need to see to understand.]

>> 5. The team has asked if the articles can load the images based on
>> whether
>> there is one or two columns. So, if there is one column on the
>> page, the
>> page should include img0001_small, but if there are two columns
>> then the
>> page should include img_0001_tiny. The photos in the existing
>> column should
>> reload when a second column is opened up, and reload if the second
>> column is
>> closed.
>>
>> [Can't wait to hear the answer on this one!]
>
> couple ideas. we could include in the request, when an item is selected
> from the menu, a parameter to the server indicating the column it is
> being
> loaded into (i.e. wide or narrow). then the resulting HTML could show
> the
> right image.
>
> but this would not solve the case when a column was added or removed...
> unless we either reloaded the original column, or used js to swap the
> images. the latter idea would be more efficient in terms of network load
> and lag time.
>
> another idea would be to manage it all via javascript. but this could
> be somewhat cumbersome. the page would load with no images,
> and after it loaded, the js would then insert them (based on some
> markup/list/code in the page itself). the js would know what column
> the page was being loaded into, so would use the appropriate image.
> this would require some mechanism to list images in HTML comments
> or JS in the page that is being loaded. then linking those images to
> inline references to images. the site's js code would put the two
> together and display the images at the right size in the right spot.
>
> wait a sec. just had an idea...
>
> question: is the motivation for the different sizes display size, or
> file xfer size related? if it's just to fit the content, the same
> image can
> be loaded in both cases, but a % width can specified that would
> change based on the width of the column in which the image was
> being displayed.
>
> i modified an old demo:
> http://clients.wahilacreative.com/publi ... index.html
>
> switch to article 2, then add a second column. you'll see the image
> resize. then remove the column. it resizes back.
>
> this might work, and it's a quick solution...

Let's start with the quick solution. If this slows things down too much, then Jeff will reconsider in the future. Is this just a matter of amending the .js, or will I also be adding something to the text include?

>> 6. Is it possible to have a static area above the article columns
>> with the
>> article title and the optSelect list. So the content scrolls, but
>> the titles
>> remain visible.
>
> certainly is. easiest way would be to add a second div in the HTML with
> overflow:auto turned on (which is what I think it does now).

So this is in Andrew's sphere. Will work with him to modify the css.

This is a re-tread of the to-do list since the version Drek posted at http://clients.wahilacreative.com/publi ... ndex.html# Susan, please elaborate on the status of each of these.

Set "width=x% in the html "img" statement to get images to display as a percentage of the column width. Trivial. NO javascript or PHP, please.

In two-column view, have links in one column be able to change the content in the other column. For example, click on a tiny thumbnail in the text to line up an image on the right, one of a list of images.

In the left-side nav menu, redlight the menu item currently on display.

Investigate making the breadcrumb trail show history rather than location. Probably use a cookie. This is NOT a top priority. Investigate and estimate.

Each "view" of an article can have four types of links:
A link within the article view, which simply changes the view to another place in the text/images/etc
A link to another view. In single column mode, it simply changes the view. In two-column mode, it puts the linked-to view in the second column.
A link to something external. Pop that up in a new window? Or just change the current window?

Create a non-scrolling region at the top of every list for the article to hold the title and the pull-down list. I think Andrew just did that, and Susan is integrating it. Naming problems?

I would like these items, or most of them, done as soon as is practical. Anne and I then need to do some writing, for a while, before we specify another round of changes, if we do. There are bound to be little bug fixes, though.