The idea behind this project was to augment video with additional material and to provide the viewer with a level of interaction without significantly distracting from the main content.
For the editor's convenience the content is pulled live from an online spreadsheet.
Ideas for future implementations include the use of word accurate hyperlinked transcripts, full support for mobile devices and second-screen synchronisation.
We're just experimenting. We'd love to hear your thoughts on what we have implemented so far and any ideas you may have to improve the experience as we iterate.
This project was created as part of the Knight-Mozilla Open News ↬ initiative. All code is free, open-source and suitably licensed.
This project built entirely of client-side code. That is to say code that runs in the browser. Which means less stress on the server but more importantly that you can deploy, run and alter simply on a server of your choice. The only tool required is a text editor.
We use HTML, JavaScript and CSS, with these three elements we can control design, function and behaviour in multiple browsers and on multiple devices.
Inspired by others - we use and build upon open libraries made freely available. Where possible, we contribute back to these projects in an attempt to keep the open and free eco-system thriving.
Libraries we used include jQuery, jPlayer, grab.js, Popcorn.js, Tabletop.js and add2home.js.
These are just demos, experimentation with new ideas and technologies - we're just gluing bits together and iterating as fast as we can. We'll do the optimisation later.
Ideas for future implementations include the use of word accurate hyperlinked transcripts, full support for mobile devices and second-screen synchronisation.
