Tactus 360
Posts: 1245
Location: Tynset, Norway
Registered: 2 Sep 2010
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Hotspots
Posted: 14 Dec 2009 at 16:25 GMT
updated: 2 Sep 2010 at 20:27 GMT
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New topic, I hope, for intense debate!
Hotspots - my business partner wants them. I find them intrusive, especially when it is quite possible to have an interactive map.
What do users think about them and, if we use them, what do people think is the best way of seamlessly integrating them into the vista?
Jon
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Tactus 360
Posts: 1245
Location: Tynset, Norway
Registered: 2 Sep 2010
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Re: Hotspots
Posted: 16 Dec 2009 at 18:42 GMT
updated: 2 Sep 2010 at 20:27 GMT
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Not a single response!
Sad, that!
Jon
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Jorgen Poulsen
Posts: 227
Location: France
Registered: 30 Apr 2008
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Re: Hotspots
Posted: 16 Dec 2009 at 19:15 GMT
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Sorry but it's not about what you or your business partner want. It's about what the customer wants.
If it's just between you and your business partner then I suggest you flip a coin, bribe him, blackmail him or use any other leverage you have 
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Hans Nyberg
Posts: 2791
Location: Denmark
Registered: 28 Aug 2005
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Re: Hotspots
Posted: 16 Dec 2009 at 19:21 GMT
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I hate hotspots, Have done since early QTVR. You get lost, You go back to the same pano as you came from.
It is an idiotic way of navigating a tour through a complex rplace.
I only used it 2 times.
The first was this tour which is only done for the architect to use at a special presentation. By using invisible hotspots he could go through the building.
www.panoramas.dk/Orestad-Gymnasium
The second is this
gl-estrup.360-foto.dk/
3 navigation types. Map-Numbers and arrows in pano. The arrows goes one way only so that you do not get lost.
Hans
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Hans Nyberg
Posts: 2791
Location: Denmark
Registered: 28 Aug 2005
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Re: Hotspots
Posted: 16 Dec 2009 at 19:36 GMT
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Actually it is not much problem. Just tell him all the extra work it is to code the hotspots and give him a prize of $200 per hotspot.
Thats what has been done by a lot of companies.
Virtually anywhere is one of the best ones in US. Here is the pricelist.
www.virtually-anywhere.com/pricing/
His prices are actually very reasonable. He has been my inspiration since 10 years .
Ok they only charge $125 but I added some to make it compatible with Norwegian prices.
Hans
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Guest
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Re: Hotspots
Posted: 16 Dec 2009 at 19:40 GMT
updated: 14 Mar 2011 at 16:13 GMT
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Well, you said "intense".... that probably made people tense and insecure.
Anyways... if you are ready for my rant, here you have it:
I find hotspots helpful, intrusive, ugly, nice, good, bad... the whole spectrum.
For me, it completely depends on the layout, colours, behaviour etc.
In my opinion, a good hotspot inside a pano, is not glowing/bouncing/jumping/resizing over and over and over again when I am not trying to interact with it. I find most (not all) swf animated hotspots terribly stressing to watch... just like I find the KRPano loader horribly stressing... going on full speed, slowing down, speeding up again etc. etc. etc. for endless periods of time, while loading tiles. Such features should be kept as invisible as possible.
A good hotspot should appear as a logical addition to the pano, become one with it, and not stick out like a sore thumb.
Maps/floorplans with hotspots are very useful, but can also become too intrusive... if one has to open/close these every time one needs to move to a new location. The way you have done it (at least a couple of times I have noticed), with a map/floorplan that expands with mouseOver function, the annoying extra clicking is solved... in my opinion.
Some people like "more action" in their panos, and that's fine... but when the "action" is in the form of terrorist-hotspots and endlessly loading loaders, I prefer more "dead" panos.
How to find that balance of usability and aesthetic look ... that is seemingly not an easy task to accomplish, and has not been done by many until now.
I would like the following model... and will try to have my programmer to make something along those lines:
A map with hotspots, showing current location hotspot (whatever colour/image), not visited location(s) hotspot(s) (a second colour/image) and finally already visited location(s) (third colour/image).
If there are hotspots (arrows or other types of hotspots in the pano, once the location has been selected once, the hotspot in the pano and remaining panos in the tour, should be removed, simply to avoid going back to already visited location.... which is rather bothersome... to say it mildly.
But I am sure that even that method would be regarded as less than good enough by many... this is probably one of those issues that will never gain 100% support by all... but who knows... maybe one day....
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Guest
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Re: Hotspots
Posted: 16 Dec 2009 at 20:43 GMT
updated: 14 Mar 2011 at 16:13 GMT
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Jorgen Poulsen said: Sorry but it's not about what you or your business partner want. It's about what the customer wants.
If it's just between you and your business partner then I suggest you flip a coin, bribe him, blackmail him or use any other leverage you have
I prefer to disagree.
If the client wants this or that etc... where you know better (after all this is an environment in which you live)... you should make sure that your name and reputation is NOT associated with something that is turned into trash, just because your client wants it this or that way.
Consider a "similar" scenario: You are a brain surgeon, a patient (client) comes to your hospital and starts telling you what and how you should conduct your operation... where to cut, what to remove etc.
Is that the way things are to be? Let the NON-professionals decide what is right to do?
What you can do in order to keep things simple, and still with several choices for your clients, is to make a pricelist for each item... or offer example panos with several combinations... all of which made in the spirit YOU like to provide things in.
"The customer is always right", does not apply when YOUR NAME and reputation can be damaged, due to the choices made by the customer. Just as a doctor will not let his/her client (patient) dictate what and how to do.
A while back, one of my clients wanted limited view on a couple of panos... to block out the floor and ceiling (nothing wrong with the floor at all), and I told him that I could do that, not a problem, but the limitation would be automatic on every single pano in the project. He "saw the error of his ways" and accepted my dictated way.
Of course one could potentially lose a client... but rather lose a client, than losing your reputation due to a client with a trashy layout wish.
Putting a price on each button, is also a good solution if you don't like too many hotspots, as Hans pointed out. My price list lists a price of every button (modest price in western terms, but it is considered "high" down here... even in my own eyes).
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discocandy
Posts: 45
Location: Netherlands
Registered: 26 May 2007
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