Topic: xFlow!

Hi all,

I would appreciate your peer reviews for my application: xFlow! : A Javascript and PHP based Coverflow style gallery

The main thread for the application can be found here: http://www.pwhitrow.com/blog/entries/2009/04/06/xflow-a-javascript-and-php-based-coverflow-style-gallery/

All comments appreciated.

Best regards,

Paul

www.gr0w.com

For some reason the URL is borked up there. It should be:

http://www.pwhitrow.com/blog/entries/2009/04/06/xflow-a-javascript-and-php-based-coverflow-style-gallery/

At least I think that's what it should be, because I get an internal server error (500) on the page after a long delay.



[Edit: I take that back... it seems to be working now.

I didn't read everything on that page, but just scrolled down to the link to the actual gallery so I could check it out. At first glance, it looks pretty nifty. But then I clicked on the photo in the foreground, and it took me to a blank page with a spinning timer. That was over a minute ago, and nothing seems to be happening. Hmm.

OK... went back to the beginning and tried it again, and now it seems to work--it gives me the larger pic. Cool.

Right, so, some constructive criticism. For starters, the navigation bar bugs me. The arrows work fine, but the button(?) in the middle seems to exhibit some weird behavior. As an indicator of where you are in the gallery I have no problem with it, but once you try to use it to navigate, things get funky. My first instinct was to grab the button and drag it, but it doesn't move and the cursor turns into that "not movable" icon (the circle with the slash through it). But once you let go of the mouse button the navigation button jumps to where your cursor is, and then it stays "stuck" to your cursor, so if you move your mouse back and forth and the button moves. You have to click to get it to let go.

After seeing this behavior, I thought, "Oh, so I have to click on the button to activate it, and then click again to deactivate it." But it doesn't work that way either--clicking on the button does nothing. Then I thought that maybe if you clicked on the navigation bar the button would jump to that point. But that doesn't work either. So your only option is to drag the button and then let go of the mouse button to get control. It's not really that intuitive, and it feels weird.

I guess what it comes down to, for me at least, is that you have what looks like a very familiar navigation bar, yet the only parts of it that act like a traditional navigation system are the arrows on either end--the middle is (or feels) busted.

Also, in the large photo view, there is a link on the bottom that says "View full image." When I read that I thought, "Oh, so the original must be even larger." But it's not--it just displays the image by itself on a blank page. I have no idea why you would even want to do this in the first place, but I suppose if for some reason you would want to, the link should say something other than "view full image"--because you're already viewing the full image.

I guess that's it for now. The actual flipping through the gallery without the navigation bar is pretty cool, I must say. Overall, I like it, but the nav bar went completely counter to my expectations.


___________________________
Suho: www.liminality.org | Cell 270 | Sig Rotator | the Fellowship of Sup

(Edited by Suho1004 on 04-08-2009 14:27)

(Edited by Suho1004 on 04-08-2009 14:30)

Nice review,

Thanks Suho.

You are quite right about the navigation issue and it's something I'm battling with at the moment. May have to change it if I can't get it fixed. Can I ask what browser / version you were using?

As for the 'View full Image' link, I had someone ask if it could go in there as he said he got confused and didn't know the image displayed was the 'actual' image. It's for image downloaders more than anything else.

www.pwhitrow.com

quote:

---

pwhitrow said:

Can I ask what browser / version you were using?

---

Oops. I was going to include my browser info but forgot. It's FF 3.0.8. for Windows.

quote:

---

As for the 'View full Image' link, I had someone ask if it could go in there as he said he got confused and didn't know the image displayed was the 'actual' image. It's for image downloaders more than anything else.

---

Ah, OK. I still think it's a bit misleading, as you're already viewing the full image. Maybe you could put a note at the bottom indicating this? Or, if you really must have a link to the image along, maybe you could call it something else. But I really think the way to go would be to somehow communicate to people that this is the image at its full size.

Just my opinion, of course.


___________________________
Suho: www.liminality.org | Cell 270 | Sig Rotator | the Fellowship of Sup

Overall I think it is very nice. It looks almost as good as the original Apple CoverFlower. I just got one complain. When you click on the photo in front and you see the fill size picture the background color changes a little lighter it doesn't look that good. It would be better if there wasn't any background behind the full size picture so you would skim the cover behind.

I saw the page and closed the tab.

Hi all,

I've just completed a major overhaul of xFlow!, both front and and back end, so would be grateful for any further feedback.

xflow.pwhitrow.com

Best regards,

Paul

www.pwhitrow.com

Not Found

The requested URL /"http://xflow.pwhitrow.com" was not found on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

___________________________________________________________________________
?Privatize the Profits - Socialize the Losses.? Randi Rhodes

I can't get anywhere with it at all. :S

strange that the url didn't form properly in here, anyway...

http://xflow.pwhitrow.com

(Edited by pwhitrow on 12-11-2009 09:48)

Hi all,

xFlow!, my take on a Coverflow style Image and Video gallery, has gone through many changes since I last posted, and felt it was time to share it again.

Please go to http://xflow.pwhitrow.com if you want to get this latest version. Feature set now is:


Main features:

* Creates all thumbnails in PHP to reduce overall Javascript memory requirement (other galleries use Javascript image reflection scripts)
* Items are aligned in a curved plain to aid perspective affect
* Items psuedo fade as they move back out of focus
* Galleries are housed in their own directories for SEO enhancement
* Each gallery is controlled by an XML file in RSS format to enable linking and following of individual galleries by RSS subscription (example)
* Import Flickr photo streams
* Import YouTube video streams
* A 'sitemap' file is produced (example) using the recognised sitemaps.org protocol for enhanced SEO purposes
* Images can be watermarked during upload process to make image theft more difficult, and to promote your own work
* Apply image effects (Sepia, Greyscale) to images
* Images can be resized during upload
* Images can be rotated during upload
* Images or videos can be uploaded from a local source (your machine/device) or a remote location (another website)
* Other galleries can be displayed as tiny thumbnails or standard links at the bottom
* Automatically creates a unique favicon for each gallery
* Built in custom image viewer (NOT Lightbox!)

* Display items in first to last or last to first order
* Mouse wheel support in gallery and viewer
* Lazy loading (preloading) of main images in the background for slick image browsing
* Individual titles and descriptions for all items
* Items can be shifted around until you get the order you want
* Fully customisable gallery options per individual gallery
* Automaticalley create a gallery from an uploaded ZIP archive of images & videos
* Automaticalley create a gallery from a directory of images or videos, or a combination of both
* Language support
* Easy to re-style with a single style sheet
* Supports GIF, JPEG and PNG image formats
* Supports Flash Video (FLV) video format

Bonus features:

* xFlow! validates to XHTML 1.0 STRICT
* xFlow! is compatible with the latest browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Chrome, Safari)
* xFlow! is built to the latest W3C standards


Hope you like it,

Paul

www.pwhitrow.com