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by sigmoid10 647 days ago
The OS desktop-y simulation is a nice idea, but it makes the site unusable on mobile. Even the video player seems unnecessarily complicated. So unless you have a full screen available to you all day, you're gonna miss out on a lot.
2 comments
dudefeliciano 647 days ago
I don't think this is intended to be used on mobile. From their intro/disclaimer: a multimedia experiment for teachers, with the purpose of helping their students truly understand and absorb the events of September 11, 2001.

Also, there were no smartphones on 9/11/2001, it helps with immersion :)

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sigmoid10 647 days ago
I get that, but even in schools you'd need a monitor at this at all times. Overall it means you limit the audience to a fraction of its potential for what is essentially a gimmick that is not part of the story to be taught (and it's clearly intended to teach). You could easily simulate TV screens on a static page, which is also how most people would have experienced this. I doubt the fraction of people following the news on a Mac was significant back then.
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Pawka 647 days ago
It also requires an internet connection. Which also limits the audience.

Obviously this material is not available for everyone. But I'm glad the author created it in a form as it is.

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robbiebyrd 646 days ago
Thanks Pawka, I appreciate the support! I am re-working the interface that the 911realtime.org uses to make it responsive and more modern; you can see it here: http://classicy.ing

We're hoping that by the 25th anniversary, we can have a brand-new experience with more features and stability.

If you, or any other engineers, teachers or computer-savvy volunteers would like to contribute, you can find me at http://keepinghistory.org

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sigmoid10 646 days ago
That's like saying not everyone has eyes, so why should anyone create visual content. It totally misses the reality of those numbers.
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robbiebyrd 646 days ago
You're absolutely right, there sure weren't any smartphones, or at least not the ones we think of today.

I have a sort of unlisted version of the site that has been used in classrooms and museum exhibits: http://tv.911realtime.org

You can use the keyboard to navigate, and you will probably have to hit the spacebar on first load to get the player to play.

L,S: Louder, Softer -,+: Change Channel M: Mute

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Dibby053 647 days ago
FWIW it works fine for me on mobile. The default layout is odd but it's possible to move and resize every window.
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