January 27, 2010

JavaScript Panoramas from Rio

Filed Under Cllents, Photography, Web | Leave a Comment

I have taken many panorama photos over the last ten years and used Flash scripting to put them on the web. (See Italia) But since 2008 I have limited using Flash for websites. Friend, colleague and mentor Uzi Halimun first alerted me, saying “Steve Jobs has it in for Flash.” (Do a search and you will see.) Once I saw that Flash did not run on my iPod Touch (or the iPhone), I knew Flash would not be in my future until that changed. Mobile computing is the future. This week I did stumble upon this usabilitypost.com post that addresses just that. Many of the features that make Flash so flashy can now be done with javascript and that is where I am going to develop my skillz.

I am very pleased with this example. I miss Rio de Janeiro and my family and friends there. But this being late January, I miss the sun, the beach and especially the Aterro where I would go almost every day to draw and play basketball. I love this panorama. Does it seem a little jerky? It is a big file.

I just looked. It does run on my iPod Touch. Maravilhosa!! I have set it to scroll automatically upon loading but there are controls that can be set to scroll left, right and pause. This went fairly fast. Good, because I have clients waiting.

UPDATES 2.10.10: Remy Sharp’s HTML vs Flash is another in depth post about the limitations of Flash and the future web standards.
2.19.10: It has been widely reported that Steve Jobs told the editors of the Wall Street Journal to forget Flash. Handsome Phil Elmer-DeWitt gives his expert opinion as to why Jobs is so obsessed with Flash. And Flash creator Jeremy Allaire explains that this is a battle for the future of web content.

November 7, 2008

Galleries, NextGen Solution

Filed Under Blogging, Photography, Web, painting | 1 Comment

I have been working on a new site for Margaret Roach that will be known as The Sister Project. It has greatly expanded my belief in blogging as the new publishing and WordPress as the leading software. I will be writing more about The Sister Project (TSP) after we launch in late November.

One of the five TSP blogs is Galleries where we will display curated submissions of poetry, prose, photography and art. The Galleries need software to organize and present the art and photography. There are many WP gallery plugins available but our research led us to NextGen Gallery. It offers a variety of options and seems to be well maintained–many plugins are not. As with many Open Source programs, the instructions and tutorials could be more thorough. After spending many hours “under the hood,” I think I know how NextGen runs but some things are still not clear. That is why I am doing this test post using paintings I made almost twenty years ago. I want my clients to be aware of this solution and it gives me a chance to post some paintings from one of my favorite series.

Below and in the sidebar are thumbnails of my Field Report art. Almost all of the drawings and paintings are based on one avocado plant that I grew in my apartment. Other works based on the direct observation of nature are also included as part of this series. This last week I went to the Morandi exhibit at the Met. I suppose Field Report is my “Morandi” statement.

[View with PicLens]