wwp@yahoogroups.com:
Re: new promotional possibility - Fullscreen QTVR site
Markus Altendorff 2006-Jul-19 16:04:00
G. Donald Bain wrote:
> VRWay designer Marco Luethi (Shen), who is also a three-time WWP
> participant, has come up with a prototype of how the WWP could be
> featured on the FullScreenQTVR site. Have a look:
>
> http://www.fullscre enqtvr.com/ index_test. html
> <http://www.fullscreenqtvr.com/index_test.html>
>
[...]
> Secondly, this partnership could be the first step toward a
> European co-hosting of the WWP image files, using the VRWay servers.
> This is just in the talking stages now, but I think it offers much
> promise.
I guess this is along the lines of "a second hard-disk in a
RAID system" or a load-balancing or a "backup" - like
"wwp.some-backup-server.de/wwpXYZ/" - putting an identical
copy on another machine to spread the load across the world.
(think "Visitors from european IP ranges get e.g. a server
in Paris, while American visitors are directed to Berkeley"
- keeping the number of network hops between server and
client as small as possible).
> Please let me know what you think, either by posting to this list, or
> to me personally.
>
> Don
OK, i've followed the argument for some time now, but wasn't
quite sure what to make of it. I'd like to offer an idea (i
always need some time to let my brain process the input in
the background ;)
NOTE:
- The views expressed below, and the "thought process"
behind them, are mine, and thus may significantly differ
from yours. Please bear with me ;)
- Numbers are "sort of" how my thoughts went. Not a ranking
or something.
- Tongue-in-cheek and attempted irony will be marked with ";)"
- The rest is meant serious. Even if quoted as "voice in my
head". Honestly.
Alright:
1) Starting at the initial page:
http://www.fullscreenqtvr.com/index_test.html
"Wow, great. All the events in one list, descriptions and
stuff. Well done!" *clicky*
2) The "thumbnail graveyard" that follows, e.g.
http://www.fullscreenqtvr.com/wwp905/test/
doesn't motivate me to click any one of the images. Sorry.
It causes me to switch to "Argh! Input overload" mode and
leave, and not through any of the icon/page links. I mean,
come on? 17 pages of thumbnails with no discernible order?
No good for me.
3) After reading some complaints about the icons: I
partially agree, some are not that nice-looking. But I *do*
like the "slideshow" thing on top of the page. Maybe we
could offer some checkbox on the WWP pano edit page, saying
"yes, you may make this my pano into a WWP banner" (default
OFF, photographer can switch it ON).
4) Then, doing some thinking: "Why do we need a one-to-one
list and linkage between fullscreenqtvr.com and the WWP? The
main page, with the list, looks fine and may help in
cross-linking. I'm OK with that." (Yes, i see that many,
many cross-links are to Google like honey to bee...)
5) Sort-of-suggestion from me:
- do NOT create the thumbnail overkill pages. Simply "cut"
the event index pages, e.g.
http://www.fullscreenqtvr.com/wwp604/test/
right above the line "click on a thumbnail to open
fullscreen QTVR" and have the slideshow and links point to
the WWP event index page instead! For the slideshow, we
could easily provide a list of those that said "OK" at item
3) above.
It seems like a sensible compromise between
"too-deep"-linking ;) and maintaining the group identity of
the WWP.
OK, this was my "inner contemplation", so of course it is
perfectly plain and obvious and right and sensible - to *me*
;) ... but what's your opinion on this idea?
I won't go into the debate about creating revenue from pages
- because i simply do not know enough about that...
-Markus