Developing a New Report Format

[Papa-Bear-NYC]

Hobby to Hobby to Hobby

Like many of us, I came to this hobby from another and have now to a large extent integrated the two activities.

 

Hiking: After retirement, I went back to my old love of hiking and spent a great deal of time on it, eventually hiking much of the northern section of the Appalachian Trail. In a natural metamorphosis, this hobby turned into a related one called by its adherents "Peakbagging". This means someone who climbs peaks, a natural outgrowth of my hiking. But more than just climbing them, it generally means pursuing a list of them. Does this sound familiar?

 

Peakbagging: So I climbed the highest peaks in New England, and an assortment of other lists. Along the way I became aware of survey markers, at first because many peaks had such markers at their summits. Such was the transition to this hobby, Benchmark Hunting.

 

Benchmark hunting: Sooner or later I found this site, and lo and behold, here were lots of folks doing this and furthermore they seemed to have the same Obsessive Compulsive need to find the most in a county, the oldest, the furthest north, the highest, etc. Wow, just like Peakbagging (or bird watching, another hobby of mine)

 

But I digress, what about the reports as suggested by the title.

 

My Reports: In all my hiking and Peakbagging, I was (still am) a prolific report writer. My home pages has dozens, nay hundreds of such reports. They follow a similar format and have a narrative emphasis, in other words they tell a story about this hike or that mountain. Those who like them say "I enjoyed your such-and-such report. I felt like I was there" (well, some one might have said that ).

 

But this narrative, story telling format didn't seem appropriate for finding (or failing to find) survey markers. So I played with using maps and indexes and county lists, etc. but the result didn't excite me or my audience (which is a few loyal friends, my wife and maybe a few strangers ).

 

Now I'm trying to consolidate my reports for all my interests into a common report format. My target audience is 1) fellow benchmark hunters, 2) fellow hikers/peakbaggers, and 3) friends and the occasional stranger who might find them on my web site.

 

My design goals (subject to change) are

 

1) break long narratives into small sections, one for each peak, group of survey marks, etc.

2) consolidate the pictures and maps into an embedded "picture frame" in the story. generally one frame for each section.

3) introduce interactive Google maps, both mine and Google's driving directions in the frames.

4) provide means to leaf through the photos, make them bigger or smaller, start or stop a slide show, etc. - and do all this without disrupting the flow of the sections of the narrative.

5) provide links into the report so someone can link to a specific peak or specific survey marker form an external list I might provide.

 

I've taken an old report from 2006 and redone it using the above design goals. Consider this a prototype.

 

Here's the link: http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze2h6gy/..._NH_Border.html

 

Please bring it up, look at it, try to navigate through it, click on the photos, etc. etc.

 

1) is it obvious what you need to do to get through it?

2) are the methods for controlling the photos and maps clear?

3) are there any obvious glitches, typos, apparent errors?

4) would you rather things had been set up differently? how then?

 

A word on the content: it's basically an old report reformatted. When I put together future reports I would endeavor to make a clearer distinction between hiking aspects and benchmark hunting aspects, but hopefully in such a way so I don't disrupt the narrative. Who knows - I may get some hikers interested in survey marks or some benchmark hunters interested in hiking.

 

About links and indexes, here's a couple of sample links that illustrate that. Basically you are taken to a specific section of the report, and you can do what you like from there.

 

Link to a Peak: http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze2h6gy/...der.html#salmon

Link to a PID: http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze2h6gy/...der.html#QH0625

 

Check them out.

 

And in case anyone is interested, here's the old version of the report: Old version. You'll find it's not much different content-wise, but is just one long rambling narrative.

 

One more thing: the internet is not what it used to be. I used to put little thumb nail photos in and if you clicked on them you would get a bigger photo in another window. Now with the bandwidth available, I just put the photos in the way they look best (to me), or as someone once said "D*mn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!". But you can still make them larger or smaller - but no more tiny thumb nails.

 

P.S. If you have some scathing criticisms and are too kind to put them here before the public, please email them to me. But better still put them here. I have thick skin.

Edited September 2, 2009 by Papa-Bear-NYC

[monkeykat]

I need to do a little more reading and comparing between the two, but I should have a little more time for that this weekend. First thing I noticed is that I tend to put the Next section on the right side of the page, as if you are proceeding forwards, like a book, and the previous to the left of it, or even the left side of the page. It seemed un natural to click the left of the two options to go forwards.

 

I also stumbled for a second when I clicked a photo and nothing happened. Turned out the photo was already loaded, so it didn't need to refresh. It didn't even flicker, and I thought a javascript error or something occurred. But then I realized what happened. Also, since some of the photos are a different size and make the page expand, once I forgot which one I had clicked on, and then clicked it again and nothing happened. Maybe you could highlight something to show current photo selected.

 

I wish you had write ups for the Adirondack 46, as most information on those peaks is bottled up in trail guides that you must purchase. I tried to get my dad to write up his climbing experiences, since he is retired, but he is still very active living life, and not sitting in front of a computer screen for hours a day, like me. Whenever I go on a trip I love to research in detail all aspects of the hike, and the area, to make sure I don't miss anything (meaning benchmarks) and to make sure I get the maximum enjoyment of the trip. Your write up's are definitely helpful in that respect.

 

I kinda like the old way a little. Its all just placed out in front of me, and I can scroll wherever I want to.

[Papa-Bear-NYC]

Thanks for the comments.

First thing I noticed is that I tend to put the Next section on the right side of the page, as if you are proceeding forwards, like a book, and the previous to the left of it, or even the left side of the page. It seemed un natural to click the left of the two options to go forwards.

That's an idea I hadn't thought of. One reason to put both buttons on the far right of the window was so they could overlap the title of the section. But of course the two buttons could be reversed.

I also stumbled for a second when I clicked a photo and nothing happened. Turned out the photo was already loaded, so it didn't need to refresh. It didn't even flicker, and I thought a javascript error or something occurred. But then I realized what happened.

The picture not changing on the click is sometimes delayed (due to bandwidth or browser caching) but should always happen. It should never stay on the same picture. The caption will sometimes change before the picture. Not sure what to do about that since it may look kludgy. Maybe pre-fetch the next photo somehow.

 

HOWEVER, the little picture on the opening page (showing Tall Timbers Lodge) is not part of a list so clicking doesn't do anything (note the instruction about clicking under this one picture is different). All other photos are in lists. I may get rid of that small picture anyway since it's one-of-a-kind.

 

Was that the photo you noticed not changing? If it was another one, I'd like to know about it.

 

Repeated clicking should act just like a slideshow (with wrap-around) only manual.

Also, since some of the photos are a different size and make the page expand, once I forgot which one I had clicked on, and then clicked it again and nothing happened. Maybe you could highlight something to show current photo selected.

All pictures should be the same width, but some have different height (plus some are portrait mode). This may result in some text flow changing under the photo and associated links. This is intentional. I didn't want to waste space with a fixed sized table. The maps are also a different size which results in the same effect. I could always make the map <iframe> the same size as the picture but I was thinking about them separately and came up with a different "optimal" size. I could change this of course. It might look a little better.

 

Then there is RE-SIZING. What is unusual is the re-sizing is done with a RIGHT-CLICK (as well as the slide show option) which is not frequently used for anything (except for stealing the picture via the context menu). I wanted two functions: 1) go to next picture in the list and 2) re-size, and I didn't want extra buttons, so I used left and right click. I may reverse them since the resizing is more normal than the moving through a list.

 

The re-sizing is tricky. It's a toggle: small-to-large and next time large-to-small. Plus the slide show will go to large be default. I used to bring up a bigger picture in another window when you clicked. Now I bring it up in-line, which shifts the text around. This is intentional, although it may not be what people expect.

 

On this I wasn't afraid to break with convention, although others may prefer buttons rather than clicking on the photo. Maybe I'll change my mind if there is universal opprobrium and go with buttons.

Edited September 3, 2009 by Papa-Bear-NYC

[andylphoto]

The layout is nice--very well presented. I love the clicking on pictures for the slide show, and the right click to resize. I had no problems, except I kept trying to click on the Tall Timbers Lodge picture and expecting something to happen.

 

My one complaint (even before monkeykat said it) was that I kept wanting to hit the "previous" button to go forward. I wouldn't have any problem with them both being together like that, but "next" is generally on the right, while "previous" is on the left. Even at the bottom of search pages, like google, or multi-page indexes, like a list of benchmarks here.

 

The layout is very nice, and not having to click on links, view a picture, then navigate back to the narrative is a big plus if you want people to view your photos.

 

Well done! I only wish I had the skill, and the time, to do some of the things you do with your online maps and write-ups.

[Papa-Bear-NYC]

The layout is nice--very well presented. I love the clicking on pictures for the slide show, and the right click to resize. I had no problems, except I kept trying to click on the Tall Timbers Lodge picture and expecting something to happen.

 

My one complaint (even before monkeykat said it) was that I kept wanting to hit the "previous" button to go forward. I wouldn't have any problem with them both being together like that, but "next" is generally on the right, while "previous" is on the left. Even at the bottom of search pages, like google, or multi-page indexes, like a list of benchmarks here.

 

The layout is very nice, and not having to click on links, view a picture, then navigate back to the narrative is a big plus if you want people to view your photos.

 

Well done! I only wish I had the skill, and the time, to do some of the things you do with your online maps and write-ups.

I did a little work and I'll put up a new version.

 

1) I swapped the "Next" and "Previous" buttons.

2) I made the maps the same size as the pictures, for both small and large pictures. This is actually a much better way to do it. But I can't really do much about the fact that changing the picture to large size (or back to small size) changes the text flow, but now at least if you do, the map won't change it back.

3) I took out that picture of the lodge I stayed at. There a shot (a different shot) in the Thursday photos anyway.

 

I'm thinking about how to pre-fetch the pictures. With some browsers, their performance is not great (without naming names, it rhymes with "Nicrosoft" ) and the effect of moving through the photos, whether manually or in the slide show is not cool when the new caption pops up, but the picture takes a second or two to follow behind. The other thing I could do is wait for the photo to load before changing the caption, but since javascript is asynchronous, I don't know how to do that at the momment.

 

One thing that's nice (care of Google) is if you click on the Google logo on the lower left of the driving directions map, another widow will come up twith a big map and thye actual driving directions. So if someone wondered how to get to one of these places, it's all there.

 

Here's the new version New version

Edited September 3, 2009 by Papa-Bear-NYC

[Papa-Bear-NYC]

duplicate - deleted

Edited September 3, 2009 by Papa-Bear-NYC

[NGS Surveyor]

I like the "New Version" of the new format. Regarding PROS and SPECT, years ago in Alaska, some surveyors names marks around a bay with innocent sounding one-syllable names - innocent, that is, until you put all the syllables together!

 

GeorgeL

NGS

[Papa-Bear-NYC]

I just put up another version (same url).

 

I now pre-fetch the next picture in any of the lists to get it in the browser cache. Used to be (due to bandwidth of browser issues) that when you clicked on a photo to get the next one, there would be a lag. First the caption would change and then (sometimes a second or more later) the image would change. It seems much better now.

 

If you noticed this lag before, check now and see if it looks better. To test, clear your cache first.

 

Here's the link again New Improved version

Edited September 3, 2009 by Papa-Bear-NYC

[Wintertime]

Regarding PROS and SPECT, years ago in Alaska, some surveyors names marks around a bay with innocent sounding one-syllable names - innocent, that is, until you put all the syllables together!

George, you can't tease us like that without at least giving us a hint about where to look! Alaska has a lot of bays...

 

Patty

[andylphoto]

George, you can't tease us like that without at least giving us a hint about where to look! Alaska has a lot of bays...

Patty

 

I'd have asked if you didn't, Patty! I hadn't even caught the PROS & SPECT. That's really funny.

 

Papa Bear, thanks for changing the buttons--that's much more intuitive.

[+Black Dog Trackers]

Papa-Bear-NYC -

 

Beautiful pictures !!!

Excellent web story !!!

 

Here's a critique:

The init. page has the big picture which is nice, a list of days with a summary of each, a click-place called Next Section, and another site index on the bottom of the page.

1. It took some exploring to see what was going on - it wasn't clear at first. The big picture has 10 or so photos, but it's unknown how they relate to the days listed in the body of the page. Best pictures of the trip, I guess.
   
2. The "Next Section" button was mysterious. Next week? Next state? What would it be? It turned out to just be going to Thursday. There's already 2 other ways to get to Thursday on the page! By the way, I think perhaps all "Next Section" and "Previous Section" buttons might be better labeled like "Saturday" and "Friday".
   
3. I explored the click-jump called "Click here for a complete set of albums from these hikes". I did and found pictures that obviously would take me to ..... some dates. On the previous page were names of days of the week with no dates. Now, I'm needing to re-orient by date (with no days of the week labels)!
   
4. On the complete set of albums page was a map - light green with yellow writing - a bit of an eye test. This time labeled with dates and names. The yellow writing would be far better if it was another color or had a black-outline font. I never could make out the bottom place in yellow - it looks kinda like "Mayflower" (until I went back to the index and saw the name in black).
   
5. I click on the photo-jump for October 5. Excellent pics there too, of course! I click on a couple to make the picture big. Down on the lower right is a click-jump back to the main October 5 page. Uh-oh, now how do I get back to the 'Complete set of albums from these hikes" page with the map and the photo-jumps for the 5 days. No place to click to get back there and that's where I wanna go. So, I had to wade back through my exploration with the browser's back-arrow.
   
6. I go to one of the days pages and its narrative. Fun and easy to read - just like being there! But well maybe it could be a tiny bit better. I read the narrative and looked at the pictures, but they are not explicitly related. For instance, on Sunday, one of the pictures is called "Fairly easy going through mostly open woods". What would be cool is to have that exact same phrase highlighted in red or something in the narrative when that picture was taken! I didn't see that phrase in there, did I miss it? Anyway, that would be a cool way to make the site more dynamic.
   
7. For each day, I saw the topo Google maps, and the driving directions Google map, but no sketch drawing on either of where you walked. The narrative is mostly about the walk, and it would be nice to be able to relate it to one of the maps, preferably the topo of course!
   

All in all, an excellent travelogue website, and great pictures too! Thank you for sharing it!

[NGS Surveyor]

All, I don't know where in Alaska the bay was, sorry. And, even if I did, it was "X" rated so I couldn't tell you anyway!

 

GeorgeL

NGS

[Papa-Bear-NYC]

Thanks for the detailed points and thanks especially for taking the time to put them down. There are some good ideas here and some wouldn't be hard at all to implement.

 

I'll mention a few ideas, which is not to say I can't address the other points.

 

The init. page has the big picture which is nice, a list of days with a summary of each, a click-place called Next Section, and another site index on the bottom of the page.

 

It took some exploring to see what was going on - it wasn't clear at first. The big picture has 10 or so photos, but it's unknown how they relate to the days listed in the body of the page. Best pictures of the trip, I guess.

I'm thinking a quick fix would be to just put the day in front of the caption. so

"Columbia Covered Bridge & Monadnock" would become

"Thursday - Columbia Covered Bridge & Monadnock"

 

The "Next Section" button was mysterious. Next week? Next state? What would it be? It turned out to just be going to Thursday. There's already 2 other ways to get to Thursday on the page! By the way, I think perhaps all "Next Section" and "Previous Section" buttons might be better labeled like "Saturday" and "Friday".

I'll think about the best approach here. At a minimum I could put a small note at the bottom of the introduction section, something like

"This report is divided into this introduction and 5 sections. Use the table below to jump to any section or use the "Next" and "Previous" buttons at the top right and lower right of each section to move from one to the next"

 

Out side of this note, remeber you can also you the browser "back" and "forward" buttons to retrace any page you have visited.

I explored the click-jump called "Click here for a complete set of albums from these hikes". I did and found pictures that obviously would take me to ..... some dates. On the previous page were names of days of the week with no dates. Now, I'm needing to re-orient by date (with no days of the week labels)!

 

On the complete set of albums page was a map - light green with yellow writing - a bit of an eye test. This time labeled with dates and names. The yellow writing would be far better if it was another color or had a black-outline font. I never could make out the bottom place in yellow - it looks kinda like "Mayflower" (until I went back to the index and saw the name in black).

This is a link from the older version of the report and the layout of those photos have been set by the format of the photo site (not mine). I doubt I will change much about it since I mostly link to the images individually. The site does have complete functionality including 3 sizes of photos, slideshows, etc.

 

The maps were what I thought looked best at the time based on static screen shots of the maps. Now of course I use the live Google maps inside the photo frame and that's where I'm putting my efforts.

 

Since there are more pictures on that site (I just included the cream of the crop so to speak) I need to leave the links in.

I click on the photo-jump for October 5. Excellent pics there too, of course! I click on a couple to make the picture big. Down on the lower right is a click-jump back to the main October 5 page. Uh-oh, now how do I get back to the 'Complete set of albums from these hikes" page with the map and the photo-jumps for the 5 days. No place to click to get back there and that's where I wanna go. So, I had to wade back through my exploration with the browser's back-arrow.

Actually you can navigate on that site at the top of the page where there's a line on the right:

"Gallery: Backcountry.Net Gallery navigate up Album: Papa Bear in the Great North Woods of New Hampshire"

You click on the album title (after the word "Album" to go back. Also you could press the back button on the browser a zillion times

I go to one of the days pages and its narrative. Fun and easy to read - just like being there!

Thank you!

But well maybe it could be a tiny bit better. I read the narrative and looked at the pictures, but they are not explicitly related. For instance, on Sunday, one of the pictures is called "Fairly easy going through mostly open woods". What would be cool is to have that exact same phrase highlighted in red or something in the narrative when that picture was taken! I didn't see that phrase in there, did I miss it? Anyway, that would be a cool way to make the site more dynamic.

I have an idea here. 1) put links in the text which will bring up an appropriate photo from the list and 2) when a particular photo is showing, highlight the link in the text in some way. So a two way association. This will take a little though but it sound like a gretat idea.

For each day, I saw the topo Google maps, and the driving directions Google map, but no sketch drawing on either of where you walked. The narrative is mostly about the walk, and it would be nice to be able to relate it to one of the maps, preferably the topo of course!

I didn't keep track logs in 2006, but now I do. On future topo maps they will be there. Here's an example from last month's trip to Maine. Station Rye (one of the Eastern Oblique Arc stations) involved a walk on old woods roads and a bushwhack. Here's my topo for that. click on the "Show Track" button in the top center to see the track: RYE Map. After turning it on and off, switch the map type (selector at upper right) to "Sat" (Satellite) and you will see the woods roads clearly where I walked. Just a reality check. Actually those satellite shots were what I studied ahead of time to decide on my route.

All in all, an excellent travelogue website, and great pictures too! Thank you for sharing it!

Thank you again. I should be able to get a few of these ideas working in a day of so, so I post here when I do.

Edited September 4, 2009 by Papa-Bear-NYC