I posted a suggestion on dev.Caedes pertaining to the possibility of a Homepage Image Marquee (hence the title) and I'd appreciate a few opinions on the idea. Click here if you're interested, and feel free to post responses both here or there. Thanks...
Sorry, I should clarify exactly where it would go...
I pictured this marquee (a marquee is a continually scrolling message that can display either text or images) where the homepage currently features six images. Although the current "featured" section randomizes its images, there are really only two primary visits the homepage receives from users - when they log in and when they log out. The purpose of a marquee as opposed to a small "featured" section (I know that's not really what it's called anymore) is that a marquee improves each image's chances of being seen by increasing the total amount of images seen by each user. I hope that helps to distinguish a difference between the two...
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." Bertrand Russell
In regards to likelihood of an image being seen - maybe my thinking is a little faulty. This is how I see it... currently, the images on the homepage don't refresh themselves - so no matter how long a member is on the homepage, only six different images are seen. With a marquee, a member can be on the page for 30 seconds and see 15 or 20 thumbnails scroll by. The faster the cycle is able to repeat - the more each image is seen.
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." Bertrand Russell
(The "IMAGE" thumbnails do not currently link anywhere, but they can easily be set to do so. Also, you may have to click the "Edit the text and click me" button twice for the marquee images to load correctly.)
Didn't really work for me... I just got a row of boxes with "Image" written in them. I probably did something wrong... but anyway, I get the idea. Agree about the bandwidth being a potential prob, other than that I like it.
i think it'd be pretty cool.. other than any technical problems that were mentioned, i think it would add a little something to the homepage.. might be too abstract of an idea to be practical for this site, but i know i'd enjoy it
Thanks for your input Sam and Andy. In response to your comment, Sam - in order to get thumbnails of actual images, I would have had to upload them to an image host, which I didn't do because I didn't want any image hosts to publicly post my images on their sites. Instead, I just created and uploaded blanks with "IMAGE" written on them -- (I didn't care if they were posted on their sites) -- to at least give a general idea of what the marquee would look like.