Date of completion: in progress
Project, URL: https://mindports.com
Description:
Mindports® is an ongoing project centered around building a fresh, new interface to allow rapid access to huge amounts of curated information.
- Drupal 6 was chosen to support the website with a nearly turnkey system for supporting content creators as well as Mindport users.
- The Mindports themselves are comprised of wholly custom PHP and JavaScript built within the Drupal CMS. This includes a custom Module to manage some of the content.
- jQuery is used extensively in the UI. One notable element of the design is the use of mouse hovers rather than clicks to manipulate the rings of the mindport. Mouse clicks still work, but are not necessary.
- Various jQuery TOOLS Overlays are used to support Rich Text content, YouTube videos and popup web content. They are also a fundamental element of web based editing environment we provide for authors.
- MySQL is used as the database engine. The database was designed to allow an entire mindport to be loaded at once. The lack of reloads contributes to a fluid user experience.
- JSON is used to move data between the tables and the UI.
- Our Android app also used JSON to get Mindport data.
- We were able to store large amounts of segment data using the Nirvanix SDK to provide extended cloud storage.
- Mindports may be used as overlays on Google Maps. This provides easy access to reams of content concerning points of interest. Additionally, any non-map image may be used. For example, we could place Mindports to highlight a new car’s features.
- In addition to the visual representation of a Mindport seen on the screen, a text-based version is produced so that Google has something to crawl.
The following images show how the interface was updated. The current version is inspired by our phone interface.
We use the extra real estate on a wide screen to display content along with the Mindport Navigator.
In the second image, note that the Mindport Navigator is much smaller. This was done because we can now show more than one navigator at a time. They can also be moved so as not to obscure the map.
The final two images show the Mindport Navigator on a phone. In this case, Rotating the phone displays the content.
More screenshots:
