Judy-A
Posts: 525
Location: Edmonton, Canada
Registered: 20 Jan 2010
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Loading indicators in pano tours
Posted: 12 Jan 2011 at 22:01 GMT
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In a pano tour, is it advisable to have a loading bar display while each new pano is loading? Do viewers prefer to see spinners, bars, animations, ‘percentage loaded’, ‘Kb loaded of total Kb’ or nothing at all?
My panos are in the range of 3 MB to 6 MB each. I like a large splash screen/loading bar that loads with the first pano, but don’t want to use this to load subsequent panos. So far, all the panos within my tours are about the same size as the opening pano.
Here are a couple of tours with custom skins that I recently made. I did include a loading bar which displays only when a new pano is called. (The tour interfaces are new but the panos are from the previous summer season.)
www.judyarndt.ca/pano-sept2010/badlands_tour/badl...
www.judyarndt.ca/pano-may2010/pyramid_tour/pyrami...
I’m just learning how to make skins, so comments or advice on the function of these skins would be much appreciated. Feel free to rate them on the tackiness/elegance scale. 
Judy
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Tactus 360
Posts: 1245
Location: Tynset, Norway
Registered: 2 Sep 2010
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Re: Loading indicators in pano tours
Posted: 12 Jan 2011 at 23:14 GMT
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As internet speeds get faster, I think it is less and less important. I think also that, when we use such gimmicks as the fade transition in Pano2vr, the loading bar actually makes things more cluttered.
But I remember another discussion when you mentioned broadband speeds in Canada, and Doug talks about dial-up internet, so perhaps in those situations a loading bar at least provides the user with the knowledge that something is happening.
I have a very fast internet connexion, but I have to admit that I am sure many people, even in Europe, do not think this terribly important and, for economic reasons, plum for something slower. If a panorama seems not to be loading, then the need for that indicator is terribly important. Better still would be that Thomas starts to program a background loading of all panoramas in a tour, so that a loader is only important for the first pano.
Please let's have a worldwide eRevolution, rather than restricting it to the tops of mountains and Mumbai (where all Barclays Bank's call centres seem to be located).
Jon
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Judy-A
Posts: 525
Location: Edmonton, Canada
Registered: 20 Jan 2010
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Re: Loading indicators in pano tours
Posted: 12 Jan 2011 at 23:42 GMT
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Preloading may not be the best option for a tour that is non-linear. In the case of my landscape panos, the user may only want to view a few scenes out of a 5 or 10 pano tour.
In Canada, many of the internet providers are also cable TV providers. Online downloading of movies obviously cuts into their TV-on-demand offerings, so they’re threatening to raise prices for internet bandwidth. If bandwidth is rationed, pano tour viewers may ration their panorama viewing. 
www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2011/01/07/internet-exp...
“Surfing and downloading from the internet is about to get more expensive for many Canadians as internet companies Shaw and Primus have announced plans to impose new fees and caps on internet usage.”
I’m currently a Shaw subscriber, so I’m not happy with this development.
Judy
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Tactus 360
Posts: 1245
Location: Tynset, Norway
Registered: 2 Sep 2010
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Re: Loading indicators in pano tours
Posted: 12 Jan 2011 at 23:52 GMT
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I see the problem and think it is sad that the customers have not the choice that we spoiled people have in Europe. As a matter of interest, I watch all tv and get all my telephone calls for free through bb, so there is no need for anything else. The cost is a little over 75 USD per month. It is a shame that it seems to be a monopoly for just a couple of providers in Canada. It will - should - MUST get better though. We are as sparesly populated as you, the only difference being, I suppose, that Norway has more local examples (ie Sweden and Denmark and their spheres of influence) to make the people unhappy and want more.
Jon
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Peter Farrington
Posts: 113
Location: Lowestoft, United Kingdom
Registered: 3 Jun 2010
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Re: Loading indicators in pano tours
Posted: 13 Jan 2011 at 9:56 GMT
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Not strictly 'on-thread', but I just couldn't pass without commenting on how fantastic your skin for 'Pyramid Island' is! I'm starting off now with skins and this has blown me away!
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mhc1
Posts: 245
Location: Hamburg, Germany
Registered: 29 Dec 2005
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Re: Loading indicators in pano tours
Posted: 13 Jan 2011 at 10:55 GMT
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I also must admit that your skins really are great!
I personally don´t take that amount of energy to create a skin - I´m a little more technical bound though.
For the internet speed: we do have areas in Germany where Internet is not that fast !
Some regions don´t even have DSL- still ISDN (64 KB !!!) paid by minutes.
Also DSL is not that fast- my area just has 1 MBit- even you pay for 4 MBit, it´s not supplied.
So I see some panos with 3 and more MB, they really take a while to show up.
Personally I try to keep them between 1.4 to 2.5 MB, which then is a tribute to resolution of course.
Loading indicators are a nice help to inform the user that there is still something alive.
Also can he decide to interrupt, if the download is to slow.
ciao
mike
www.360de.de
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Judy-A
Posts: 525
Location: Edmonton, Canada
Registered: 20 Jan 2010
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Re: Loading indicators in pano tours
Posted: 13 Jan 2011 at 19:01 GMT
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Jon, the trend in Canada is towards fewer government-owned utilities and less regulation, so I’m not hopeful.
Peter, thanks for your compliments. Glad you liked the skin. 
After admiring tours with interactive maps, directional radar and thumbnail navigation, I wanted to learn how it’s done. These are my self-assigned student projects.
Mike, thanks for the kind comments.
I guess there must be at least some viewers who will want to know how a download is proceeding.
The challenge is inform the viewer of download progress while keeping the distraction factor to a minimum. I dislike the krpano spinner that pops up in the center of screen. For me, it’s about as welcome as a swarm of wasps at a picnic.
Judy
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vn2009
Posts: 263
Location: duluth mn, United States
Registered: 24 Sep 2009
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Re: Loading indicators in pano tours
Posted: 13 Jan 2011 at 21:14 GMT
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krpano's spinning circle can be disabled very easily most users just dont know it can be done. It can also be swapped out for a linear bar that can be set at whatever width, height and color the designer preferes. you can also add your own custom load indicators also.
I like some sort of progress bar. It lets the users know how close they are to being ready. I would hate to have a user get impatient and click to close the pano when they were only 10% away from the experience.
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DennisS
Posts: 1292
Location: Los Anglels, United States
Registered: 1 Sep 2007
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Re: Loading indicators in pano tours
Posted: 14 Jan 2011 at 0:25 GMT
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My 2 cents worth.
I write software for a living. I go to great lengths to provide some sort of progress indicator that does not interfear with the user experience. The spinning circle of KRPano has got to be the most annoying indicator I have ever seen. My personal preference is to have a small progress bar at the bottom of the screen.
You do not want the user bailing from your tour thinking it is locked up. Whatever progress indicator you use, it needs to be "invisible" but functional.
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Doug Aurand
Posts: 3282
Location: Albuquerque, NM, United States
Registered: 2 Jan 2008
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Re: Loading indicators in pano tours
Posted: 14 Jan 2011 at 1:54 GMT
updated: 14 Jan 2011 at 1:55 GMT
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Wouldn't an "invisible" indicator be....useless? 
Doug Aurand
Albuquerque, NM
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DennisS
Posts: 1292
Location: Los Anglels, United States
Registered: 1 Sep 2007
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Re: Loading indicators in pano tours
Posted: 14 Jan 2011 at 6:04 GMT
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"invisible" describes an indicator that is on the screen but does not dominate the screen or distract from the loading panorama or tour.
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Paul Thomas
Posts: 133
Location: Sunny South East UK, United Kingdom
Registered: 7 Nov 2007
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Re: Loading indicators in pano tours
Posted: 14 Jan 2011 at 14:46 GMT
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Hi Judy,
I'm another fan of your tour and the skin you have running. The images are clear and detailed with no over-toning in the HDR process.
Love the swing down option for the maps and the thumbnails. Is that something easily done or require a lot of coding?
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Doug Aurand
Posts: 3282
Location: Albuquerque, NM, United States
Registered: 2 Jan 2008
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Re: Loading indicators in pano tours
Posted: 14 Jan 2011 at 15:52 GMT
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So you used the word "invisible" but didn't mean invisible?
How "clever" of you
Doug Aurand
Albuquerque, NM
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DennisS
Posts: 1292
Location: Los Anglels, United States
Registered: 1 Sep 2007
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Re: Loading indicators in pano tours
Posted: 14 Jan 2011 at 16:27 GMT
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Doug,
If you did anything professionally for a living and worked as a memeber of a team, you would know that there are words used by various industries to describe different things. "Invisible" describes something that is there, but does not distract from the user's experience. It is not clever, but the proper use of a trade word.
Dennis
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Judy-A
Posts: 525
Location: Edmonton, Canada
Registered: 20 Jan 2010
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Re: Loading indicators in pano tours
Posted: 14 Jan 2011 at 16:47 GMT
updated: 14 Jan 2011 at 16:55 GMT
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Peace!
Perhaps for the purposes of this forum on non-programmers, ‘unobtrusive’ or ‘inconspicuous’ would be more accurate descriptions of the favored type of loading indicator. I do agree that barely visible is desirable. If the viewer is enjoying the photography, a loading bar shouldn’t be a distraction.
Judy
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