September 15, 2007
feedshow (feedpresenter) - Shortcut URL Splash Screen
Having just been tipped off by Clever Clogs about snipr, a TinyURL-like service with a simple API, I thought I'd start to integrate it into feedshow (feedshow launcher), my updated feed powered presenter tool.
So here's what's new - if you fire up a Master feedshow control panel (from http://ouseful.open.ac.uk/feedshow/feedshowMaster.php) you'll get a new button: Splash.
(To pipe your own feed into the presenter, just add a ?url= argument to the feedshow URL, pointing to your feed URL.)
Clicking on the Splash button will recover a tiny Snipd URL for the current feedShow and display it in the main presentation frame.
Audience members can simply enter this URL and reach the presentation (without the Splash button). They can then navigate through the presented links at their own speed.
The displayed URL is also a link, that loads into the top frame of the window. If you click on it, it will load the 'normal' client feedshow presentation (i.e. the same one that the audience will load), not the "Master" controller, and you will lose access to the Splash button.
The Splash button can be clicked at any time during a presentation to show latecomers the feedshow URL; clicking on <Current> will then return you to the current presentation webpage.
[UPDATE: to make it easier to launch a feedshow, I've added a feedshow launcher.
There may be one or teething troubles with the sniprURL/client launcher if feed URLs are long and complex, but I'll patch the escapes if, as, and when I find they're not working!.]
One thing I've been considering is to provide a 'synching client' that will load the same page as the one the presenter is currently displaying. I think that the statex - Global Variables for the Web app might be suitable for this, so if I get a spare couple of hours over the next week or two, I'll try and have a bit of a play... :-)
Posted by ajh59 at September 15, 2007 11:44 PM