Templot Club Archive 2007-2020
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posted: 23 May 2016 14:16 from: Martin Wynne
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Dear all, After years of iffing and butting, I have yet again made a start on an updated user guide for Templot.  I'm trying to adopt a more chatty style, and find a common starting point for all new Templot users. As yet the barest of beginnings, but comments welcome on whether I'm hitting the right style and tone. I don't think I have enough lifetime left for any more false starts.  See: http://templot.com/companion/ Does anyone prefer the desktop version? I thought I did, but I'm changing my mind. I don't want the extra work of doing both versions if no-one uses it. On Firefox especially, you may need to right-click and reload each frame to see the latest desktop version. The mobile version should always be up to date and is working well on my Android tablet. regards, Martin. |
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posted: 23 May 2016 15:24 from: Charles Orr
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Hi Martin, Personally I prefer the mobile one. It looks fine on my tablet and my big extra wide screen  .Regards Charles |
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posted: 23 May 2016 15:59 from: John Lewis
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Hi Martin, Personally I do not have a tablet and so far I have not used my 'phone for the internet - I have a "pay as you go" tariff. Best wishes John |
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posted: 23 May 2016 16:23 from: Martin Wynne
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John Lewis wrote: Personally I do not have a tablet and so far I have not used my 'phone for the internet - I have a "pay as you go" tariff.Hi John, If you have a wifi wireless router for your broadband, you should be able to set your phone to use the wifi from the router, instead of using any of your pay-as-you-go tariff. This works only while your phone is in wifi range of course. But it's fine if you want to use your phone for the internet alongside your computer while running Templot. regards, Martin. |
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posted: 23 May 2016 17:37 from: Paul Boyd
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Hi Martin! I think I prefer the mobile version. I used to use my laptop next to my desktop if I was trying to watch a tutorial video, for instance, but using a tablet is much more convenient. I have an iPad Mini 4, and it's all working fine. In fact, my laptop hasn't been switched on for months! Hopefully with a decent user guide you'll feel able to start charging for Templot again, which will discourage those who want instant results then complain loudly elsewhere when they don't get them! Cheers |
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posted: 24 May 2016 08:20 from: Graham Idle
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Mobile for me. Regards, Graham |
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posted: 24 May 2016 17:32 from: Bill Eaton
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I will be the odd one out (so far) and say that for viewing on the computer I prefer the desktop version. But if there was only one version and it could be viewed perfectly well on a Windows computer (I use Chrome) then that would be fine. I use a computer, a tablet and a smartphone for web browsing but much prefer the larger screen on the computer and choose to use that when at home. | ||
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posted: 25 May 2016 00:28 from: Martin Wynne
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Bill Eaton wrote: I will be the odd one out (so far) and say that for viewing on the computer I prefer the desktop version.Thanks for all the comments. Tim and Alexander at EC-Software have this week released a software upgrade which makes the embedded EXE option much more useful and flexible. It will now be possible to update the content frequently, in a similar way to the FBR videos on the watch a video > menu. I'm quite excited about this, because it means the FBR videos can be linked directly, and other helper executables and interactive tutorials. It's not possible to do that in a browser, the videos must be in the smudgy MP4 format, streamed from the server, to be reliable in all browsers and formats. It's not possible to rely on Flash being installed/available on all systems. Another big headache with the present Desktop version is browser caching, in Chrome and Firefox especially. These browsers appear not to honour reliably the no-cache settings when content is loaded in an iframe. That's not a problem with the Mobile version which uses a different page scheme. So I'm minded to transfer the Desktop version to the EXE option, accessible directly from within Templot rather than in your browser. This would leave the Mobile version as the browser option for those wanting to use tablets and smartphones. I've attached a demo of the EXE Desktop format below. From here it is necessary to download and run it (ignoring the usual security warnings) -- but none of that will be necessary when it is embedded within Templot. It is Windows only, so it won't work on Android tablets and smartphones, it is intended for desktop viewing only. The viewer window can be resized or maximized in the usual way. The text can be zoomed using the usual web site shortcuts (Ctrl+Plus, Ctrl+Minus, Ctrl+mouse wheel). The content is unfinished demo, so it will expire in a month's time. regards, Martin. |
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posted: 25 May 2016 02:33 from: DerekStuart
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Hello Martin The desktop version isn't working on my laptop- tried in google, firefox and explorer. However the mobile version works well on laptop and tablet (not tried on 'phone). Having tried (and failed) to help with the wiki page idea I know it isn't easy, but if there's anything we can do to try and help... |
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posted: 25 May 2016 18:06 from: Tony W
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Hi Martin. Both versions seem to work equally well on my laptop (don't have a smart phone), but in terms of overall presentation I think the mobile version looks more professional. Regards Tony. |
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posted: 25 May 2016 18:24 from: Martin Wynne
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Tony W wrote:Both versions seem to work equally well on my laptop (don't have a smart phone), but in terms of overall presentation I think the mobile version looks more professional.Hi Tony, Hmm. I'm not sure I want it to look too "professional" -- it raises too many expectations! One difference you may have noticed is in the ease of accessing the A-Z Index. I very much prefer the desktop version for that, where the entire index list is available for scrolling through. On the Mobile version it is necessary to click each letter heading to see just that section of the index. So browsing the entire index is impossible, you need to know exactly what you are looking for. The reason for that is because in time the index is likely to get very long, and loading it all in one go can bring smartphones to a halt if they are on the 4G mobile signal. While they are using WiFi there is no problem -- which will normally be the case if being used alongside a desktop computer running Templot. I have asked Tim to look at this, and he is working on it. I assume most smartphones have a WiFi option nowadays. Obviously tablets use WiFi. regards, Martin. |
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posted: 25 May 2016 19:35 from: kellyh
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I tend to use Templot on a desktop with dual monitors, so having the companion/videos open in the second window works much better I find than using a tablet/phone, where the only real use is for looking something up when away from the computer. The mobile version however looks fine, the desktop one is made to look somewhat clunky by comparison. When I was at university it was always suggested that cleaner/simpler was always best with website design, so clean and clear seperation of colours of background/text is best etc, the mobile version seems to fit that a little better it seems. As for videos, no point bothering with flash, as you're soon going to find people complaining if they use Chrome as Google are going to stop supporting it in the browser over the next year, with only big name sites such as Facebook likely to retain limited support for Flash. It is about time Flash died the horrible death it deserves! Perhaps one way with the A-Z option is for a given letter show a small selection of the most requested pages? (you should be able to work this out from your website/server logs). I really should get back to getting my design working how I want it in Templot, have been meaning to for a while, but injuring my wrist curtailed that somewhat! |
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posted: 25 May 2016 19:58 from: Martin Wynne
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kellyh wrote: It is about time Flash died the horrible death it deserves!Hi Kelly, I keep reading this, but I disagree strongly. It may indeed be poor for real-world photographic moving video. That's because it was never originally designed for such applications. But for line graphics and animations, the things Shockwave Flash was actually designed for, it is great. And most importantly, using run-length encoding, it is lossless. This makes it infinitely superior to the utterly awful HTML5 video jpeg compression when applied to line graphics such as Templot screenshots. It is all moot, because I have long since accepted that there is no point my kicking against the inevitable end of Flash support. That's why I was so pleased to find the lossless FBR videos which I'm now using directly embedded in Templot (see the help > watch a video > menu items.) But of course FBR videos don't work on web pages, so there is no real choice on there but to accept the awful HTML5 video format. That's why I'm much pleased with the latest upgrade to the embedded EXE option, which can contain direct links to open the FBR videos. regards, Martin. |
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posted: 25 May 2016 21:32 from: kellyh
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My point about it tbh, more stems from a security point, it is heavily bloated and bug ridden these days, to the point it almost seems Adobe don't care about it much. I guess really, streaming video is always going to be lossless to some extent. Hosted/downloadable videos are the better option if they have to be lossless rather than relying on flash. |
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posted: 26 May 2016 05:32 from: Martin Wynne
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kellyh wrote: My point about it tbh, more stems from a security point, it is heavily bloated and bug ridden these days, to the point it almost seems Adobe don't care about it much.Hi Kelly, Well yes, but that is an argument against the Adobe player for Flash, not the actual Shockwave Flash video format. It's possible to create a secure and reliable player for Flash files. The same applies to the Adobe PDF format, where Adobe Reader for PDF files is clearly the worst of the bunch, but there are several other reader programs for PDF files which do a much better job. However, such arguments are a bit of a distraction here and not getting Templot any further forward. regards, Martin. |
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posted: 27 May 2016 21:13 from: Martin Wynne
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I have now added the first video clip to the Templot Explained tutorial, see: http://templot.com/companion/4_where_do_i_start.php I'm intending to add a lot more similar short videos. I think the shorter videos within text and static screenshots is probably the better way to go. With the recent changes to the EXE format this can now all be done from within Templot without all the different browser hassles. But we still need the mobile version for those who want to access it on tablets and smartphones. Trying to do everything within the video as I originally intended makes a large unwieldy video file which takes too long to run (and many days work to prepare). As for example the single slip video. As always, getting this new video visible by everyone and in the best image quality has been a battle of wits. On Android mobile devices, you probably need to access the site in Google Chrome and not the native Android browser, otherwise the video may not pause for you to read the notes. You may get better results by tapping this link to view the video in a separate page. If you are viewing this on the computer where you have Templot, this video is available in much better image quality by clicking this link for the FBR version: http://templot.com/sk5/templot_explained___first_off.sk5 Or if you have Templot running, you can watch the FBR video directly in Templot. Simply click the help > watch a video > Templot Explained first off menu item. If it is not showing in the menu, restart Templot or click the help > obtain video list menu item, and try again. On the web site, the only HTML5 streaming service which preserves the interactive pauses in the video, is the FlashBackConnect service (using the JW Player API, not Flash, it's a confusing service name). This is still experimental, and I found much better image quality on their native FlashBackConnect page than their official embedded page, so for the present I have embedded the native page (which looks a bit odd as a result). I could get involved in using the JW Player myself, but at present I have too many other things on the go (and the sun is shining ).regards, Martin. |
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posted: 27 May 2016 23:08 from: Rob Manchester
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Hi Martin, Thanks for adding the first video tutorial. I like the format, easy to view and for beginners to follow I should think. I look forward to seeing how future ones turn out. Guess we need a wet summer ...! Rob |
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posted: 29 May 2016 08:07 from: David Higgs
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Bill Eaton wrote: I will be the odd one out (so far) and say that for viewing on the computer I prefer the desktop version. But if there was only one version and it could be viewed perfectly well on a Windows computer (I use Chrome) then that would be fine. I use a computer, a tablet and a smartphone for web browsing but much prefer the larger screen on the computer and choose to use that when at home.I'm in full agreement with Bill. |
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