New Publication Format

I am nurturing an idea for a “future state” THMS web publication. The literal big picture is video. I believe Internet bandwidth and present day hardware are fully capable of exploiting this content delivery method. Example: My last post contains video.

Since the beginning of the World Wide Web, but more so as it became commercial, the medium has been handicapped by the belief (and a self standard) we could not abandon the old obsolete tools and practices of the past. Some websites today are still being constructed to accommodate text only browsers. I am not trying to be a techno snob but, TEXT ONLY BROWSERS!! Give me a break.

The Amish value the “simple” life, so the horse and buggy make perfect sense. But just like the horse, text only browsing is not in my view a mission of the modern highway called the Internet. Yes, it can be accommodated over on the berm*, but it is truly out of place. (*Chiefly Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. the bank of a canal or the shoulder of a road.)

I am designing my future messages using the visual method of quality video presentation as well as continue my present standard of high quality photography. The video and new photo story pages will be in a new format section linked to the present THMS website. The present “frames” site and this blog will continue unchanged.

Blogs are the hot delivery medium, and I already have three. I decided not use the blog format for my new design. I won’t be looking for easy feedback, as blogs attract a huge assortment of low life and spammers because of that feature. I presently reject 99.9% of entered comments because of off topic abuse. In my opinion, spam is killing open blogging.

We will all see more and more use of video on the Internet. No doubt U-Tube is the force driving the popularity, but I am not enamored by its percentage of poor (amateur shot) video quality and ad filled presentation. To me it seems more like the “arm pit” of mass video storage. That said, it is still an “interesting” place to explore as a cultural experience.

The biggest problem to overcome and the solution that U-Tube provides, is a fixed standard for video presentation. That is the greatest asset of using the U-Tube venue, the single presentation standard. Shoot with anything and it converts to a viewable show.

Establishing my own technical standard is what I have decided. I want total control of picture quality, view size, audio quality and content… with no ads or spam.

I have tried and displayed just about every video format available and posted them in my web pages in one place or another. All have their fan-boy advocates and all do the job with reasonable success. I need to choose just one as a standard.

I am an Adobe user from the early days of their existence. I have acquired their complete suite of tools through the years. For example, I was forced into the Dreamweaver editor through acquisition and now (almost) can’t work without it.

I will be updated to Adobe CS5 Master as soon as it is delivered. Flash 10.1 is the current media of preference for the big sites and will be for mine. Although Flash is not officially blessed by Apple for its new toys, this is the way life is. Decisions must be made. My web content is not intended for hand held’s. I hope iPad, Slate and the other medium format displays, establish compatibility.

Change is coming. I am excited to play with new toys. I enjoy communication as much as shop work and would do this even if I had an audience of only one. Thank all of you that keep proving to me that single person audience isn’t true and that you are out there watching.