Okay folks, here's an opportunity to make comments & post suggestions.
First part - comments about this year's cam, feel free to make them. If the cam isn't working for you, if you like some parts of the design but not others, what it looks like/how it operates on your desktop, laptop, tablet or mobile device, you get the idea ...
Second part - send me your suggestions ... little preamble first though. Technology means we are able to do things we couldn't do before at some of our nestsites and we plan to keep improving our ability to a) monitor the peregrines at their nestsites and b) when and where possible, have a live FalconCam online to share with you all. In the past, the technology was prohibitively expensive for us to go it alone so we have always had partners - and that is no different this year. Despite some major changes in their corporate structure, Shaw TV, now Shaw Spotlight, was still committed to being our partner this year. The biggest change for us was being able to host the FalconCam webpage on the Project's website - and we are still learning what we need to do and when, but so far, (knock on wood) so good.
So while EyeSpy and the folks at Shaw were up to their wizardry, it fell to me to try and figure out how and what to include on the FalconCam's webpage. I've always liked the look of the Cornell Bird Cams so I stole a couple of ideas and tweaked them so it fit with the design of the rest of our website. The primary idea being, that I didn't want folks to have to scroll down to get to the FalcomCam image - you go to the page and you can see the video frame first thing (I hope). Twitter too, I wanted updates to be easily visible at the same time. The rest was some background and updates so folks could catch up no matter when they visit the cam.
What else would I like to do? Include a way to either view or at least a link to the appropriate board on the Forum, and a donation button (sorry, necessary evil for a small non-profit like ours). I do plan to add some photos to the background and updates section this year, but I want to keep the whole thing looking clean and simple on as many platforms (desktops, laptops, tablets and mobile devices) as I can. I already don't like how the font in the blurb in the grey box gets much smaller than it should on mobile devices. Haven't figured out why it does that (does that as well with the Forum and that is definitely beyond my ability to solve!). None of this is essential for right now, but I want to at least look into them if not for this year - for next year. And if we should ever manage to have a second or third cam running, I want to have a consistent design - makes it easier to maintain and we want to present our peregrines in the best possible fashion online.
And this is where I'd be interested in opinions/suggestions from everyone here on the Forum. Most if not everyone here visits other cams, so if there are things you do or don't like, please let me know - and include a link or a reference to which site you are using as an example so I can check it out.
Caveat, I will seriously consider all the suggestions and opinions, but the final decision is mine.
Oh, and no rush, this board will stay open so folks can add comments months from now when they (potentially) have more time to consider what worked best and what they liked least on all the cams they view. And if you prefer not to post your suggestion here on the board, yes, you can always send me a PM.
Thanks everyone!
TPC
