Storyteller Update #6: Testing, testing ...
This is the latest update on the development of Storyteller, our longform theme for Newscoop. In previous installments, we introduced the project, talked about slideshows, ambient sound, content blocks and video integration.
Oh, hello. You appear to have caught me with my holiday hat on as I was leaving for the airport.
This week we started testing Storyteller in earnest. I have no doubts that I will have a list of tasks as long as my arm when I come back from Greece. But I know I can go away safe in the knowledge that, although it's not perfect, it is slowly leaving the development studio.
This week was a whirlwind of activity and changes as we attempted to finally quash a bug in Chrome which was eating all the available web sockets in the browser until no media would load. Another where, again, Chrome wouldn't honour the setting of media times via JavaScript. Whilst the first is fixed, and we think we've got a workable solution for the latter, we managed to remove video functionality in pretty much every other browser available. Oh, how we laughed. Inwardly. In private.
We extended the capabilities of ambient audio functionality and it is now possible to have a theme for the whole Storyteller. It makes for some interesting possibilities to add tension with some subtle and easily achievable effects. For example, imagine having a quiet theme at the main article level, which then leads into a long fullscreen slideshow of images and video, only to finish on a dramatic flourish in the final slide and return to your main theme. An exciting prospect.
The first draft of the documentation was handed over this Friday and will no doubt be poured over by our diligent project managers during the weekend as they follow the instructions to create their own Storyteller articles.
So with that, I pick up my battered old suitcase, leave a note to the milkman to come back in two weeks, put my brolly under my arm, and head off for a summer vacation.
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