New convert from Weather Display

[Alan Rowley]

Finally got the site how I want it. Still got a few alterations to make and new pages to add, but the site is now re-launched.

Please take a look and leave your comments, especially if you find something that's not right.

Thanks to everyone who has helped and who I've pinched ideas from. 

[Blicj11]

Looks good Alan - you've done a lot of work in a short period of time.

[Alan Rowley]

One of the joys of retirement, helped by the cold, wet days we've had recently.

[xairbusdriver]

First of all, Congratulations on getting things set up so fast and so well! Your skills are far superior to mine! If I were you, I'd skip reading this and just observe the real experts above and below this post!

OTOH, you asked for it!

Everything below is a quibble, not to be confused with anything published in <The Quibbler>! Nothing more than my opinions for which I am amply compensated by SWMBO*.

It may be a setting on my end, but the link to "enlarge" the video simply takes me back to the home/index page.

<a href="http://brackenhouse.no-ip.info/mjpg/video.mjpg" 
rel="lightbox" title="Click image to enlarge">

Maybe it's the "lightbox" function, or I'm blocking something.

I have my browser window usually set at 1200 pixels wide, so I end up with a horizontal scroll bar on your site. That's not unusual, really. I think that template sets the page width to 1200 pixels, but that may not include the side menu bar. I changed that width in my use of the 2.6 version of the template.

While I enjoy looking at your prize-winnings-property, I think many, if not most, here, will be expecting to see weather info on the initial/home/index page.

* SWMBO: Rumpole's wife <Rumpole of the Bailey>

[Alan Rowley]

Many thanks for your comments - they are much appreciated.

I've been wondering about the 'enlarge' link in the webcam, precipitation, lightning and clouds images. That's how the template was set-up. Even before I started tinkering, the links led back to the start page. I'll dig a little deeper later.

The template settings have the width at 1200 pixels. As the settings stated 'optimal for most screens and pages' I decided to leave it as is. Maybe I will change it if others find it a problem, but it looks fine on my Mac Pro, MacBook and iPad.

Instead of creating two sites, one for my home and one for the weather, I tried to incorporate them all into one site. The drawback to this is that there can be only one landing page if you type in www.brackenhouse.net. At the moment, when I type in the url, I go to the weather page, maybe you're seeing something different. If I set the site up to go to the weather page, the rest of the site will get overlooked.

I'll give that some thought.

ALAN.

[xairbusdriver]

The page size probably relates to my minimum font size setting in Safari (16 px). That causes most of the templates showing the count-down timer until refresh to chop off the leading digit! Unfortunately, most of these things are hidden deep within the php or even javascript. In this case it was the use of the 'canvas' system which is another way of creating a box to put thing into. I eventually found the exact one and edited the width a bit for my site. Everybody else probably wonders why my count-down timer box is so wide! Oh well...

I'm not not quite there yet with my new site, but I like 'fluid' pages that will stay usable at almost any screen width. The main site I created for a completely different reason can be viewed on an iPhone or a wide-screen monitor without requiring a separate 'mobile' version. And it still never shows a horizontal scroll bar! That's just one of my pet peeves, most of my older ones have gone on to that old Navigator site in the sky!

As for the 'landing' page, I think it's probably the index.php file in the template. I just used the 'link' in the 'globe' under your Profile next to your posts. <http://www.brackenhouse.net/weather27/> Even though there is no file named after the last "/", most browsers will default to a file named "index" or "home".

[Alan Rowley]

I see what you mean about your font size. Although your existing site is fine on my machine, the font is on the large size.

When I click on the globe in my profile, it takes me to the weather start page. However, first time visitors are directed to what I call the front page - the one with the images of the house.

ALAN.

[LesCimes]

Incredible web site. I'll have to wait until I retire to try and figure something like that out. Super work. Looks great, quite versatile! (I depend on Weather Underground, mostly, for my web design.  )

[elagache]

Congratulations Alan!

Very nice! 

Cheers, Edouard 

[Alan Rowley]

Thanks Les and Edouardo.

The congratulations should really go to the designer of the Leuven template. Although I struggled with it at first, not being very literate in PHP and HTML5, I am starting to get the hang of it now. I have tried to get as many features of my old site working with WeatherCat and Leuven, but some features I used regularly have had to go. I spent many hours trying to get some features working only to find that they would only work with other programs.

Still, I'm very pleased with the site and I'm especially glad to have finally rid my home of the dreaded Windows.

ALAN

[Blicj11]

Micro$oft Windoze and Exploder have crashed many a time on my computers over the years. I haven't seen the Blue Screen of Death for quite a while now. I still have a US$199 Acer netbook that runs XP in case I get a craving for torturing myself with Properties settings.

[Alan Rowley]

I moved over to Apple in 2008 and I now own a Mac Pro, Mac Mini (which runs WeatherCat), an iPad and an iPhone. My first Apple device, a 2008 MacBook Pro, finally died last week after almost seven years non-stop working.

I ran Weather Display for Windows on my MacBook Pro using Parallels emulation for six years. This slowed my computer down to a crawl and crashed frequently. Now I'm with WeatherCat, I don't have to put up with the regular Windows updates and the yearly Parallels updates, which were never free.

My life is frustration free again.

ALAN

[awilltx]

Nice job from a fellow Leuven template user!

Alan

[Steve]

Very nice results, Alan!

I still have Windows XP Pro running under Parallels. Since XP isn't being updated any more, there's no real need for the constant $49 Parallels updates for me. I only use Windows to occasionally run an old version of the CAD software I used when I was working, and to use Mike's excellent SebecTec image software with on old Olympus camera (which you probably saw referenced by several users on the other weather forums.) I only use that during the winter for my SnowCam.

If you do give EvoCam a try and it doesn't meet your needs, give version 3.7.5 a test, too. It had features that were removed or changed for the worse on version 4.X The only problem I have with it is that it quits twice a day like clockwork, based on using some bits that are no longer used in OS X 10.10. I have a simple AppleScript running to check to see if EvoCam is running, and if not, to launch it. With this problem, I no longer have 24 hour video, but if I wanted, I could splice the chunks together.

Steve

I ran Weather Display for Windows on my MacBook Pro using Parallels emulation for six years. This slowed my computer down to a crawl and crashed frequently. Now I'm with WeatherCat, I don't have to put up with the regular Windows updates and the yearly Parallels updates, which were never free.

[Alan Rowley]

I don't think I'll go with any external programs to create a time-lapse, I could use Weather Underground, or patch all the hourly videos together and create a daily time-lapse. It's time-consuming, but I can spare the time to do it.