PanoTools NG:
Re: new 360cities pano interface, was Re: Opera is annoying was: Re: "From a tower, without the tower"
Ken Warner 2009-Jan-07 13:31:31
Ok, well, here's another penny's worth.
A pano can be displayed without any visible controls and the
user -- if experienced -- can navigate around and through the
pano with just mouse clicks and key presses and not need to
click a particular, visible control.
But it really would help to have a standard set of gestures and
actions that support pano navigation. Such a standard is emerginent.
That is, there is a common set of mouse motions and key clicks
that we all are sort of centering on.
We click/drag the mouse the direction we want our view to move --
which is sort of opposite to the way a text editor works. In a
text editor the page moves with the mouse. Pano viewers have
a unique convention. Similarly, the use of SHIFT/CNTL/MOUSEWHEEL
to zoom. The direction or arrow keys have similar functions.
Now one gesture that is less familiar is how to turn hotspots ON/OFF.
I've used the space bar to toggle hotspots. I think other viewers
have also. I use F1/ESC to enter/exit fullscreen mode. I think
other viewers have also done this.
Pano viewers will eventually center on one common set of gestures
and actions for control of the viewing experience.
And as panos become more embedded in the common vernacular of web
use, these conventions will become more established and familiar
to more people. So eventually the idea of having visible controls
will become redundant and unnecessary because "everybody" will know
how to view a pano.
And we will figure out how to introduce the newbie to pano viewing.
Maybe a popup that appears after so many seconds of inactivity on
the part of the viewer -- I don't know.
But eventually, a convention will be established. This debate is
part of the process of establishing that convention.
Keith Martin wrote:
> Sometime around 7/1/09 (at 11:14 +0100) Jeffrey Martin said:
>
>
>>the VR world has to move past the "single
>>fullscreen image with no options" of 5 years ago.
>
>
> The absence of visible hotspots and other controls may well SEEM
> old-fashioned, but this is a perfectly legitimate approach to pano
> display. As is having everything visible, of course! I don't regard
> the absence of visible controls as dated, just more traditional.
>
> This is more of an aesthetic choice that is governed in part by the
> publisher's goal for the panos and the site. Most of the time when I
> show panos I intend them to be seen as single views with as few
> distractions as possible. However, the norm for a tour-oriented
> approach would - logically enough - have helpful buttons and other
> items on display.
>
> It is particularly important to note the terminology I just used:
> "distractions" and "helpful items" can refer to exactly the same
> thing, the only difference being the publisher's intent for the
> panoramas.
>
> ...Okay, also the end user's perception. But when someone wants to
> take a virtual tour they probably won't want to hunt for controls,
> whereas when they want to look at a single pano at a time, not as
> part of a spatially connected set, they probably won't want to have
> controls covering any part of the image.
>
> Thus, if the visitor's perception of the site and how they want to
> use it is the same as the publisher's, their preference for seeing or
> not seeing controls will probably be aligned.
>
> So no, the world doesn't have to move on - we just need to recognise
> that there are aesthetic requirements to consider.
>
> Having said all this, I do feel, personally, that the arrows are a
> little more obtrusive than I'd like. But defaulting to having them
> hidden would probably mean many people won't ever see them or take a
> virtual tour through a city.
>
> Would it be possible to have them much fainter initially but bring
> them up to their current opacity level after a certain length of time
> (such as 2 seconds) with no user interaction?
>
> k
>
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