New Apollo17.org is live in time for the 43rd anniversary of the mission

[bfeist]

Hi all,
I'm happy to announce that after years of archival and software development work, http://apollo17.org is live.
You may recall that I launch a prototype of the site this past spring, well now the real deal is up.

The site concept is to give the general public the chance to experience NASA's last Apollo mission in real-time.
If you visit during the anniversary (starting this Sunday evening, Dec 6) you can join the mission in-progress as it happened exactly 43 years ago to the second.

I hope you all enjoy it. Comments and suggestions welcomed.
Please spread the word if you're so inclined. I'm hoping many people try it. https://twitter.com/BenFeist/status/671922964170870784

Ben

[Ishkabibble]

Awesomesauce!

[onebigmonkey]

It is absolutely incredible - a huge piece of superbness. I could (and have) sit and watch it for hours.

How on Earth do you follow that ~cough~ Hadley Rille ~cough cough~

My only teensy weensy quibble is that I've found the slider thing at the top is a little bit twitchy - accidentally flipping between surface days, for example, when I've been trying to find stuff. That said I hadn't seen that the Guided Tour was also a good way of sipping between segments.

[bfeist]

Glad you're enjoying it! The top navigator was a challenge to design. I had to draw the line between making it apparent to people to move their mouses there, and making it utilitarian. If you accidentally roll your mouse between tiers, you'll make a big jump. I'm not quiet sure how to solve the issue while still making it apparent that you can use it.

[bknight]

I'm Twitter challenged.  What slider?  All I see is an image of Jack running toward the LRV.

[bfeist]

That graphic at the top of the screen is an interactive way to navigate to various parts of the mission. The top bar is the whole 13 day mission, the 2nd bar is about 15 hours, the 3rd bar is about 1.5 hours. Each level is a zoom in of the previous so it takes a minute or two to get the hang of how to use it. Roll across the top bar and you'll see the other two racing along to the time you're rolling over.

It's a complex idea that I'm hoping people can just get the hang of.

[bknight]

Sorry, but all I see is a tweet from you with all the normal icons in the Twitter tool bar.  In the middle is an image of the mission with a orange and blue rectangle in the upper right corner, but no way to select anything within the image.

[bfeist]

We must be talking about two different things. Go to http://apollo17.org on a desktop computer, prefereably using Google Chrome.

[bknight]

No this is where I was going:
https://twitter.com/BenFeist/status/671922964170870784

[onebigmonkey]

Glad you're enjoying it! The top navigator was a challenge to design. I had to draw the line between making it apparent to people to move their mouses there, and making it utilitarian. If you accidentally roll your mouse between tiers, you'll make a big jump. I'm not quiet sure how to solve the issue while still making it apparent that you can use it.

I wondered whether you could have sections blocked (eg for EVA's) that would lock in the second navigator bar underneath to that section when clicked on. Or whether I should just stop whining and get used to it

[bfeist]

Glad you're enjoying it! The top navigator was a challenge to design. I had to draw the line between making it apparent to people to move their mouses there, and making it utilitarian. If you accidentally roll your mouse between tiers, you'll make a big jump. I'm not quiet sure how to solve the issue while still making it apparent that you can use it.

I wondered whether you could have sections blocked (eg for EVA's) that would lock in the second navigator bar underneath to that section when clicked on. Or whether I should just stop whining and get used to it

That's an interesting approach! I'll have a go at it. Much appreciated!

[Kiwi]

Small typo: "blue marbel series" instead of the correct "marble".

It doesn't seem to work well with Internet Explorer 11 and it's a pity you recommend Google Chrome.  I looked at that when it first came out and quickly decided I wanted nothing to do with all the intrusive garbage Google seemed to want to force on me, but I don't remember the details now, thanks to old age! Has Google Chrome been improved since those days?

[bknight]

Small typo: "blue marbel series" instead of the correct "marble".

It doesn't seem to work well with Internet Explorer 11 and it's a pity you recommend Google Chrome.  I looked at that when it first came out and quickly decided I wanted nothing to do with all the intrusive garbage Google seemed to want to force on me, but I don't remember the details now, thanks to old age! Has Google Chrome been improved since those days?

Oh I agree 100% with your opinion of Chrome, not for me!

[bfeist]

Small typo: "blue marbel series" instead of the correct "marble".

It doesn't seem to work well with Internet Explorer 11 and it's a pity you recommend Google Chrome.  I looked at that when it first came out and quickly decided I wanted nothing to do with all the intrusive garbage Google seemed to want to force on me, but I don't remember the details now, thanks to old age! Has Google Chrome been improved since those days?

Thanks for the type-o call-out. Fixed.

Honestly, you can use Safari, Firefox, or Chrome for a fast Javascript engine. I have made the site 100% compatible with IE11, it's just that IE11 is as slow as molasses in January--the JS engine in IE is garbage. It's also less than 2% of the traffic to the site. It has been abandoned by almost everyone.

It's fundamental technical reasons that cause people to recommend other browsers to you, not a belief in google. Chrome is #1 because it is by far the fastest JS engine. But if you hate google, Firefox is a close second. If you have a mac, Safari isn't bad.

[bknight]

Thanks for the suggestion to watch with Firefox, it does work much better than IE