PosterBoard - GR4 - Computer Prototyping
Manasi Vartak, Tristan Naumann, Chidube Ezeozue
Platform Requirements
This prototype has been tested to work on Chrome 18 maximized window (1600x900 as tested) when opened from a local folder. Further this prototype is meant to be tested on a large (30''+ touch monitor). Understanding this to be a severely limiting hardware requirement, the GR4 snapshot should perform similarly on down to a 15'' screen. If using a mouse rather than touch, please note that some typically appealing effects (e.g. hover) are not necessary in a touch environment.
Step-by-step Instruction
Unlike a traditional website, this project is an application which relies on HTML/javascript for UI components and leverages a Python Django server underneath. Because the server/site combination is intended to be run locally at each SMART board instance, you will need to download the project and run it locally as follows.
- Download http://web.mit.edu/tjn/Public/PosterBoard.zip.
- Unzip the package.
- Nagivate to PosterBoard/PosterBoardApp/templates/.
- Open index.html in Chrome 18.
If you prefer to take a look at the most recent development code instead, the project can be downloaded as a zip file from https://github.com/tnaumann/PosterBoard.
Prototype Depth Comments
The backend of this project will consist of a Django server to manage content and very likely a secondary python server to relay non-standard device input to the frontend (e.g. from a RFID reader). The absence of a backend in this prototype means that several features are implemented in a relatively static manner, relying on canned responses or simply do not function as expected.
- Add a poster:
- Clicking the '+' will open a panel as expected, further preview and client-side filtering allowing only image files should work as expected.
- Dropdown selections are static for room and tags.
- Email will in the future be entered via the swipe of an RFID card; however, the complexities of this interaction prohibit it in this prototype.
- Actually hitting "Add Poster" will result in one of a number of errors, most likely an Internal Server Error (specific error depends to an extent on other things you might be running on your machine).
- Calendar view:
- Clicking dates on the calendar do not synchronize to the headers.
- The posters are static
- Opening a poster
- Similar events view:
- Some posters may appear in multiple categories.
- Categories and posters are static ad do not change or necessarily regroup predictably.
- Opening a poster
- Should result in a lightboxed view of the poster at front with several options.
- Clicking "like," "dislike," or "calendar reminder" do not do anything further.
- Scribbing on a poster is not saved.
Download
GR4 snapshot: http://web.mit.edu/tjn/Public/PosterBoard.zip
Development: https://github.com/tnaumann/PosterBoard