Author Topic: NSF 2017: Article Presentation Improvements - done and being programmed  (Read 23119 times)

Offline Chris Bergin

Re: NSF 2017: Article Presentation Improvements
« Reply #20 on: 08/15/2016 08:36 pm »
I will agree with other posters that, given the existing article formatting width, the default image sizes should not change. For images that users can zoom, they should do as overlays or new pages, they should not expand inline and change layout. For L2 images that you're concerned about other sites borrowing without credit, watermarks or limiting the max resolution are options. When you post an FPIP in an article, full resolution would be very nice ;)
Thank you for seeking our feedback.

Could be a good call as I wonder if this zoom option will also help the different browsers and devices, from desktop to iPhones.

So for my test article, I should look at original layout, but with captions and for the images to zoom to large size if reader clicks on the image?
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Online Eagandale4114

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Re: NSF 2017: Article Presentation Improvements
« Reply #21 on: 08/15/2016 09:00 pm »
I will agree with other posters that, given the existing article formatting width, the default image sizes should not change. For images that users can zoom, they should do as overlays or new pages, they should not expand inline and change layout. For L2 images that you're concerned about other sites borrowing without credit, watermarks or limiting the max resolution are options. When you post an FPIP in an article, full resolution would be very nice ;)
Thank you for seeking our feedback.

Could be a good call as I wonder if this zoom option will also help the different browsers and devices, from desktop to iPhones.

So for my test article, I should look at original layout, but with captions and for the images to zoom to large size if reader clicks on the image?

Could we get a bit more info on the version of wordpress you are working with?

I agree that with the other posters that the ratio between text and images seems to be good as is, however for higher resolution devices, the pixel density is a little low. Something like this for wordpress 4.4 would be a good starting point.

Offline Chris Bergin

Re: NSF 2017: Article Presentation Improvements
« Reply #22 on: 08/15/2016 09:35 pm »
We're on Wordpress 4.5 - and will be going to 4.5.3, Eagan.
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Online Eagandale4114

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Re: NSF 2017: Article Presentation Improvements
« Reply #23 on: 08/15/2016 10:35 pm »
One possible implementation of this HiDPI/retina setup that works with the version of wordpress used is WP Retina 2x plugin. It handles the generation and delivery of the right sized images for the end users device. It will keep the displayed size of the images the same, but for devices that can support it, it will send a crisper image to be displayed. (If that was confusing, the site has a somewhat better explanation)

This should benefit all users with higher res displays not just apple. (Retina is apples marketing term for its implementation of HiDPI)

« Last Edit: 08/16/2016 01:57 am by Eagandale4114 »

Offline Tea Party Space Czar

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Re: NSF 2017: Article Presentation Improvements
« Reply #24 on: 08/15/2016 10:36 pm »
Chris - one thing I try to do on my page is just have smaller images (where I can) and when you click on it it pops up in a new tab. 

Frankly - I really appreciate the pics but also like how small they are.  I wish sometimes I could blow them up to review data better but the format in and unto itself is pretty good.

The one thing you have to worry about when you start posting links to the full image is bandwidth and outside linking to your images w/o accreditation.  It never bothers me personally but I am a small fry.  I know a friend who has a most popular website has had to block outside linking to images.

Just some things to consider Sir.

Respectfully,
Andrew Gasser

Offline Eric Hedman

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Re: NSF 2017: Article Presentation Improvements
« Reply #25 on: 08/15/2016 11:03 pm »
Chris: So can you have all these suggestions implemented by tomorrow? ;D :) 8) :D :o

Offline jiv

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Re: NSF 2017: Article Presentation Improvements
« Reply #26 on: 08/21/2016 08:17 pm »
Finally, somewhere I think I can contribute!  :D

This may seem crazy, but I'm going to disagree with the common refrain here about the inline images being sized appropriately. I find that they are both:

(1) Too small to be properly appreciated (I think this is where many people are coming from with the "click to zoom in or make it bigger" message), and
(2) Too large to mesh well with the text. I find the disparity in column widths to be quite jarring and think it really makes the feature articles here look less professional than they could.

I would like to propose two different classes of image: full-width feature images which "sell" the story--particularly the lead image showing a launch, satellite, or other concept, but other key photos throughout the article could be featured as well--and much smaller inline images which help the content flow by illustrating concepts and breaking up the wall of text. It would be great if all of these images could be clicked to cause them to expand into a floating shadowbox.

I agree with many others that captions would be extremely helpful, especially for the full-width feature images. I think NaN really hit the nail on the head in stating the usefulness of such captions. They are nice with inline images as well, but less important there as the image's purpose is less to illustrate a specific concept than to add some color and excitement to the article--perhaps these captions should only be shown where these images are expanded?

I also think some minor treatments to the margins around the images and a general adjustment to line-height are helpful in improving readability.

To illustrate these concepts, I have attached a few mock-ups prepared by lightly editing a recent article's CSS and content using Firefox's developer console. I hope these help illustrate these concepts and at least one possible implementation of the captions people are proposing.

(edited to remove accidental multiple copies of attachments)
« Last Edit: 08/21/2016 08:18 pm by jiv »

Offline Chris Bergin

Re: NSF 2017: Article Presentation Improvements
« Reply #27 on: 08/22/2016 11:29 am »
Interesting! And thanks for showing an actual example of what captions look like....(I was trying to get my head around that). Does look nice and doesn't impact on the body of the article text (which was a concern).

The lead image should be workable, as that will be the same dimensions as the lead image from the front www.nasaspaceflight.com of site page (630x250).
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Offline enzo

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Re: NSF 2017: Article Presentation Improvements
« Reply #28 on: 08/23/2016 09:43 am »
NSF is currently using Arial which was designed in 1982. Suggest moving the site (not forum though) to a space age font.

Google Fonts API is free and convenient.
https://developers.google.com/fonts/docs/getting_started

A more recent sans serif would work well and add vibrancy to the subject matter of NSF.
https://fonts.google.com/?category=Sans+Serif

Predictably, Spaceflight Now is using Open Sans with the Google API. Space News is using a slab for headlines from Google API, and Georgia for articles, which is traditional for news, but it's boring and there's no reason to follow tradition.

Offline IRobot

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Re: NSF 2017: Article Presentation Improvements
« Reply #29 on: 08/23/2016 12:11 pm »

I'm not familiar with WordPress so I don't know all the constraints that authors have to work with, I think both issues can be solved if the paragraph that refers to the embedded image also incorporates a sentence that says something like:

"higher resolution image available in L2 at http....."

This way it is possible to use L2 membership to prevent non L2 members gaining access to the higher res images which Chris wanted to prevent.
I think we could avoid the paragraph with the URL.
The user should be able to click on the image and get a L2/non L2 size

As it is probably complicated to integrate L2 validation on the editor, here are a couple of options:

1) user clicks on the image and is redirected (new tab?) to a page which checks the L2 subscription and either loads a small or a large image and also has a text stating "higher resolution available for L2 members.
Sign up today!"

2) two versions of the page exist (maybe auto generated). One page is only accessible to L2 members and clicking on images leads to a larger image. On the other page, clicking on an image opens a popup stating "higher resolution available for L2 members. Sign up today!"

« Last Edit: 08/23/2016 12:12 pm by IRobot »

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