Hitchhiker Guide Help

[Lionfish Lair]

I have over 200 pictures to add to the guide and I'm trying to figure out what's the best way to present them to be useful for peeps.

#1: This is the way the critters are presented now. Take for example "Asterinas"... You click to it from the main page and are presented with the text right away. To see more photo you have to click on the photo tabs and scroll down through full size images.

#2: The pictures are on the first page on the bottom, so you don't have to click a second time to see more photos. This could be important if you still haven't ID'd your critter and are manuvering around the site looking for examples.

#3: If you like the fact the photos are in their own tab, would you rather the pictures we full size right away or would you rather thumbnails?

Any opinions would be appreciated.

 

[Mike N]

I like having the pictures on the page without the extra click. IMO thumbnails are best, especially when you will have tons of pictures there.
FYI I'm a web developer by trade. If you have any questions, or want to make it more advanced, lemme know ;)

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Mike, I agree with you. My eyeballs like the photo tab and my OCD likes the neatness of it and the organizational logic of it... but we're not a 2-click kind of world anymore. It's really not about how my eyes like to see it because after all, as it's not really for me. Someone put up a page link of mine a bit ago and gave instructions for the person to click on the photo tab to see more pictures. That whole process should be more intrinsic, especially if the pictures are really the whole point. I figured I didn't have it set up correctly if instructions were needed, so here I am. :-)

You're dangling a carrot in front of me with that offer. If you have suggestions at all, OMG, I would love to hear them. You will in no way hurt my feelings on any point.

Thank you!

 

[Mike N]

I was thinking something like this: It would be slick if you had an image placeholder to the right of the list of species. When you hover/or click a particular name, the corresponding image would show on the image placeholder.

For example:

Or if you have any other ideas I don't mind helping. ;)

 

[Lionfish Lair]

That would be super cool... except I don't know how to ID those that specifically.

I would love for the thumbnails to enlarge with a hover. I just starting playing with this gallery plugin, so I don't know its capabilities yet.

 

[Mike N]

That would be super cool... except I don't know how to ID those that specifically.

Ah ok. That would make that idea difficult to implement hah.
I'm not too familiar with wordpress, I do all my websites from scratch. Are you able to insert actual code? Or just plugins?

 

[Lionfish Lair]

You can do custom CSS but it's risky business unless you know exactly what you're up to (which I don't). I switched to wordpress a year ago from an HTML coded static site. So, I made my wordpress site with some custom code thrown it because I knew how... holy moly, what a mess come a big update of the theme.

This hitchhikers guide is a beast, but there's a point when the amount of information within will dampen the usefulness by slowing it down. I just looked at how many pictures I have to add.... over 350! I just wanna share everything, like all of the links and resources and PDFs I've saved over the years.... but it's too much.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

You can do custom CSS but it's risky business unless you know exactly what you're up to (which I don't). I switched to wordpress a year ago from an HTML coded static site. So, I made my wordpress site with some custom code thrown it because I knew how... holy moly, what a mess come a big update of the theme.

This hitchhikers guide is a beast, but there's a point when the amount of information within will dampen the usefulness by slowing it down. I just looked at how many pictures I have to add.... over 350! I just wanna share everything, like all of the links and resources and PDFs I've saved over the years.... but it's too much.

Wow, that's really bad grammar on my part.

 

[Bradley Crocker]

I've told you this before, but for the record, your hitchhiker guide is a true and genuine service to our little community. Anything you can do to improve this already amazing collection will be welcomed with warm arms. Thank you for your dedication.

I like option #2. Also, I like the motile and sessile quick links you already have. Maybe you could expand on those? I think it would be cool if you could do so by phylum (echinoderms) and maybe class (asteroids) with links at the top for each. That way if I know what I'm looking for is a star (asterina, brittle, or other) I can jump right to that class and see all the different families. Some groups will be easier to breakdown than others, so how indepth you go will likely vary from group to group.

I agree that the species level is just not attainable with most of these critters, a lot of times even the genus or family is difficult (ex family Xanthidae, or class Polychaeta). You could possibly use external links to images and articles at this point to minimize the loads on your server.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Thank you Bradley. That's super nice for you to say.

I like option #2. Also, I like the motile and sessile quick links you already have. Maybe you could expand on those? I think it would be cool if you could do so by phylum (echinoderms) and maybe class (asteroids) with links at the top for each. That way if I know what I'm looking for is a star (asterina, brittle, or other) I can jump right to that class and see all the different families. Some groups will be easier to breakdown than others, so how indepth you go will likely vary from group to group.

I agree that the species level is just not attainable with most of these critters, a lot of times even the genus or family is difficult (ex family Xanthidae, or class Polychaeta). You could possibly use external links to images and articles at this point to minimize the loads on your server.

Funny you should mention that.... after I get the pictures part figured out, I'm going to be working on different ways to search the site through the use of tags. I'm currently taking a course on how to use those properly.

 

[Bradley Crocker]

Thank you Bradley. That's super nice for you to say.



Funny you should mention that.... after I get the pictures part figured out, I'm going to be working on different ways to search the site through the use of tags. I'm currently taking a course on how to use those properly.

I wish I knew more about web design, beyond browsing of course. I do know a good store of information when I see one though, and yours has a great foundation.

I will admit, I'm already on pins and needles waiting for the "new and improved" guide. Good luck!

 

[Lionfish Lair]

@Mike N maybe I should use a secondary menu bar or buttons to link to another page for the sections of "videos", "links", etc. That way the single page doesn't have to load ALL of that. Especially if someone is trying to click in and out of sections to figure out what they have, they want to be able to do it quickly.

 

[Mike N]

@Mike N maybe I should use a secondary menu bar or buttons to link to another page for the sections of "videos", "links", etc. That way the single page doesn't have to load ALL of that. Especially if someone is trying to click in and out of sections to figure out what they have, they want to be able to do it quickly.

Here's an option to cut WAY down on load time without creating a separate page:
Create a smaller version of each image and only have the page load the smaller versions until the user clicks on a thumbnail. Only then will the the full size image will be loaded. That would cut down 90% of the image processing load of the page and reduce load times significantly.
Granted, its a lot of work to create a new set of images, but im almost positive there is a something out there to automate the process.

Also: Does wordpress allow you to use javascript code?

 

[AdamPhe]

#3. Love it!

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Also: Does wordpress allow you to use javascript code?

Yes, it does.

 

[Mike N]

Yes, it does.

Excellent.
Did you understand what I said about the thumbnails? Your current images are all over 100k, thumbnails would be 5-10k. Let me know if you want to implement that and i'll find a way to automate it.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Huh! I must have missed your last response. Yes, I understand what you mean. I actually fixed a very big issue and you should get a chuckle out of this. I was looking at the different files that loaded with the pages when I ran across one that I uploaded last April when I first converted my static site to Wordpress.

Turns out is was my favicon that was at its original size which was 1530 x 1530px @ a resolution of 1530. Every single page for the past year has been loading this picture. LOL! Check out the drop in the size of one of the pages!! OOPS!!!!!

 

[Mike N]

Turns out is was my favicon that was at its original size which was 1530 x 1530px @ a resolution of 1530. Every single page for the past year has been loading this picture. LOL! Check out the drop in the size of one of the pages!! OOPS!!!!!

Wow lol. Thats a first :)

 

[Mike N]

@Lionfish Lair I have a couple ideas for your website. Would you prefer that I post them here or PM you?

 

[Lionfish Lair]

I'm cool with either!