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Depending on where you deploy your kiosk, you may not want all the
default xscreensaver images to appear. For our Hands-On
Biodiversity Gallery we wanted to display only the animated
fractal images that suggested life science themes.
After testing out several screensaver images, we decided that we to
select randomly between two choices: coral and
forest.
To limit xscreensaver to displaying these two, we created the file
.xscreensaver in the filesystem root (/) with the following options:
/.xscreensaver
programs: \
coral -root \n\
forest -root \n
Our kiosk machine contains a Sound Blaster AWE64 card with attached
speakers. We chose this card specifically because it works well with
Linux sound drivers.
The MySQL database that drives our Biodiversity Gallery kiosk points
to a collection of sound files that a visitor may listen to, including
a ``bird song quiz.'' The downside of using Linux Netscape for a kiosk
is that some of the multimedia aspects are primitive, compared to
Windows and Macintosh.
To enable sound, we implemented a Unix Netscape plugin called Xswallow
written by Caolan McNamara (
http://skynet.csn.ul.ie/~caolan/docs/XSwallow.html). All the
sound plugins we tested create a separate web page as the sound is
being played (unless the sound file is embedded). Of the programs we
tested, Xswallow worked the best and had the cleanest display page.
Although the extra page is inconvenient, we decided that having the
stability of Linux was more important than the extra click required to
return to the previous screen.
An additional problem is that when a sound is selected, the Xswallow
page displays ``Click to Abort Swallow of type audio/basic''. Clicking
merely returns a blank page. I made a slight change to the author's
source code for UnixShell.c, changing
char *text2 = "Click to Abort Swallow";
to read
char *text2 = "Click BACK Button to return from playing file";
The phrase ``of type audio/basic'' appears to come directly from
Netscape rather than Xswallow.
After recompiling, I added the plugin to Netscape.
A last note about sound files: the original set of files we received
were a mix of .au and .wav files. Our experience was that the .au
files worked the most reliably in Linux and we converted all sound
files to .au format.
Not having the funding for a touchscreen display, we opted for a
trackball (and no keyboard) for our kiosk navigation. Our colleague,
Andy Rauer at the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto, tipped us off to
using ``industry-strength'' trackball components from Happ Conrols
Inc., Elk Grove Village, Illinois
http://www.happcontrols.com/ (check under their Interactives
section).
One of the things we needed to do was disable any right-mouse button
click equivalents from being used in Netscape Navigator because
right-click events invoke user dialogs.
By building our own trackball, we were able to wire it any way we
wanted. We wired in two push-button controls, both with a left-mouse
button equivalent. The buttons are arranged on either side of the
trackball, allowing ease of use from right-handed and left-handed
visitors. Our gallery designers then took the trackball parts and
built them into the gallery's kiosk enclosure.
For our kiosk we purchased the following components for building a
heavy-duty trackball designed to withstand visitor use (and abuse):
- A 2 1/4-inch Atari Trackball Assembly (we selected red)
- Trackball Interface Kit for IBM (Microsoft serial mouse
compatible)
- Illuminated Push Buttons (red)
From a local electronics vendor, we purchased a Hammond Manufacturing
plastic handy case (Cat no. 1591ABK) for housing the electronics board
for the trackball.
Anticipating additional kiosks, and potential part failure, we ordered
four sets of each of the above for spare parts and testing.
In the best of all possible worlds, you will have the opporunity to
design your kiosk pages from scratch. Bearing in mind that using a
kiosk is a different experience from sitting at a desk browsing the
web from a personal workstation, the following guidelines are useful
design principles:
- Keep text passages very short and use large fonts.
- Avoid screens that require scrolling.
- Use colorful, large, eye-catching images on every page
- Create embedded navigation if possible, e.g., return to previous
page, go to next page, go to kiosk menu, etc., should all be designed
right into the pages themselves.
- Avoid anything that requires a keyboard. Design for clicking.
- If you use sound files, keep the duration short. Embed them into
the page if possible.
- Make everything punchy and snappy. Design for short attention
spans and pass-through traffic. Save your theses and exegeses for
elsewhere.
Unforunately you will sometimes inherit pages that were designed for
web browsing rather than kiosk browsing. In these cases it may be too
time-consuming or too difficult to redesign them as kiosk pages. When
implementing standard web pages for a kiosk display:
- Remove all external A HREF's, including MAILTO's.
- Remove all unnecessary verbiage, logos, etc. from the pages.
- Check font sizes and increase if necessary.
- Remove any animated GIF's that don't pertain directly
to the pages being viewed.
- Actually, remove any animated GIF's, period.
- Do anything else you can to simplify the page design.
- Check into using server-side includes to add some fundamental
navigation or a consistent graphic to tie the pages together.
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