'Car Show Poster' for the 17" Screen

[Footbag]

Rather than/in addition to a poster to have on display when showing the car at car shows or the like, I figured why not put the center screen to good use (since it gets lots of attention anyway). So I came up with a web site that runs through a slideshow of sorts.

I really wanted video to display on the screen... which we know isn't really permitted, so I used animated GIFs as an alternative.

I bring this up full screen on the browser (works well on LTE, but is quite slow on 3G, I would recommend tethering to a cell phone to get the initial load completed).

I then leave a door ajar, so the screen stays on (for a good while anyway, does eventually turn off... a quick tap of the brake will get it going again).
You may want to ensure stereo and climate control are both turned off (or not, suit yourself!).
In my Model S, I tend to lower half my back seat, and have the trunk open, as people get a good view of the screen that way, while walking around the car (in addition to peering through windows).

I have two versions:
USA (imperial)
Canada (metric - not really Canada specific otherwise).

As a trial, I have put an ad on the top/bottom of the page, but you can scroll to the middle of the page to hide the ads and have the presentation take up the entire screen.

Any feedback is appreciated.

 

[Swissmoneychf]

I'm sorry but it doesn't look good.

Images resolutions are too low, writes are too big and the font isn't really suitable for this purpose.

It's a good concept but the form has to be done better (in my opinion).

 

[Footbag]

I'm sorry but it doesn't look good.

Images resolutions are too low, writes are too big and the font isn't really suitable for this purpose.

It's a good concept but the form has to be done better (in my opinion).

And I appreciate the feedback. Please keep the intended use case in mind... people looking at this on the 17" screen while they walk around outside the car. They aren't close up (unlike if you viewed it on your PC). Image resolution needs to be quite low for load time in the car... I spent more time trying to find ways to optimize loading (especially the animations, which I am quite fond of). I'm actually glad that I started building this while I was on 3G still, forced extreme optimization. I got it where it would typically load first or seocnd try (without wifi teathering). Now that I have LTE, it loads SOOO much better.

The font... its actually a hold over from an earlier iteration of this where I had a red theme to everything. I'm certainly open to suggestions in that regard!

 

[habanero69]

Other than the font and/or color, I think it's OK. If they are viewing from afar as you say, the clarity won't be as rough as what we see for your demo. I don't have any great suggestions for the font, but it seems too much in your face; maybe it's size, maybe it's color, maybe it's both. But I personally would tone that down a bit, and then I think it would server its purpose. I would be able to tell those that may ask/wonder, that the actual resolution is MUCH better for the actual real life images. Perhaps have one image that is exactly what one would see in real time... My $.02.

 

[EdA]

My big issue is that it is ad driven and the ads displayed so far are for ICE car manufacturers.
This is a "show stopper" for me.

I don't see the ads when on my PC, only in the car.

 

[Footbag]

My big issue is that it is ad driven and the ads displayed so far are for ICE car manufacturers.
This is a "show stopper" for me.

I don't see the ads when on my PC, only in the car.

Google, not I, pick the ads (at least, I do not know a way to limit the ads, maybe there is a way). On some of my tests, I was seeing wireless charging for the Tesla, pretty appropriate lol.
As stated, the ads are an experiment, and obviously can be easily removed if I change my mind.

Ads aside, any comments on the content itself?

I have zero graphical skills (in case it wasn't obvious enough), I just wanted something that would put that screen to use when showing the car at various events, and help get information out about the car.

 

[Swissmoneychf]

The problem with theses ads is if noone clicks on them you'll earn nothing. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[EdA]

I am happy with the content although the usual car show posters show a table with things like battery size, 0-60 time, range, cost. Which is a constantly moving target with Tesla!

 

[Gwgan]

Maybe use a PDF. It’s static but you can change it up as often as you like
http://teslapdf.com/
I tried this one (now out of date) http://teslapdf.com/pbpre100d

 

[Footbag]

I am happy with the content although the usual car show posters show a table with things like battery size, 0-60 time, range, cost. Which is a constantly moving target with Tesla!

The moving target is exactly why I like it being on the 17" screen and highly editable vs a poster. For instance, this was quickly updated to the new 2.5s 0-60 time (and I noticed I forgot to lower the Model X time, will do so tonight). Don't get me wrong, I think a poster also would be great, and it could be geared to explain other facets that don't tend to change so quickly.

 

[Footbag]

Maybe use a PDF. It’s static but you can change it up as often as you like
http://teslapdf.com/

Ooh... new resource, thanks for sharing. This could be interesting in a number of situations. However, I still like the dynamic nature of the slide show and 'video' of this website for the purpose of a car show.. static images don't gather quite the attention (tried that), plus can get a lot more info presented with the various screens vs a single PDF.

 

[Footbag]

The problem with theses ads is if noone clicks on them you'll earn nothing. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm far from certain, but I think you can get paid (pennies/next to nothing, but still something) if they are displayed often enough. This whole thing is a bit of a learning exercise.

 

[aesculus]

Just a WAG. Is there anyway to feed content over the USB port and a memory stick to avoid the latency of the network?

 

[roblab]

I put it up on the 17". I liked it. I watched it up close, and it looked fine. It didn't seem to take long, scrolled through the statements, showed the clips. Didn't seem anything other than a display ad showing things about Tesla. I plan to use it for Drive Electric Day. Thanks a bunch.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

Your graphics quality is suffering because of the GIF format. GIF limits the color table to 8 bit (256 maximum colors in the image).

Use JPGs that are carefully optimized for web use (Photoshop, Save for Web and Devices), use hidden DIV elements in the HTML to pre-load all the graphics up front, and Javascript to then hide/show the DIVs to form the slide show.

 

[Footbag]

Your graphics quality is suffering because of the GIF format. GIF limits the color table to 8 bit (256 maximum colors in the image).

Use JPGs that are carefully optimized for web use (Photoshop, Save for Web and Devices), use hidden DIV elements in the HTML to pre-load all the graphics up front, and Javascript to then hide/show the DIVs to form the slide show.

Only the 'video' portion are gif's. The rest are PNG files, and I indeed do carefully optimize them, purposely forgoing some quality for size.

While I'm not doing the DIV/preload element myself, I'm using a wordpress plugin that evidently is doing something similar, as the top/bottom portion are loaded up front, and then there is no data usage after that (but the con of such is that the poor Tesla web browser has to contend with a 30MB site it needs to download and process..

Thanks for the advice!

 

[Footbag]

I put it up on the 17". I liked it. I watched it up close, and it looked fine. It didn't seem to take long, scrolled through the statements, showed the clips. Didn't seem anything other than a display ad showing things about Tesla. I plan to use it for Drive Electric Day. Thanks a bunch.

Great! With National Drive Electric Week forthcoming, that is partially what prompted me to finally share the site, hoping others can make use of it. Is it fair to assume you have LTE (or wifi)?

Either before or after you use it for the public, if there are elements that are missing or could be tweaked, please let me know, and I'd be happy to see what I can do. I am purposely avoiding pricing, aside from the Model 3. My default answer these days when someone asks "how much" is "at the end of next year, you can get into a Tesla for $35k" which usually is met with surprise and joy, seldom do people push further for the Model S/X price.

 

[Footbag]

Just a WAG. Is there anyway to feed content over the USB port and a memory stick to avoid the latency of the network?

Not that I know of. It might have been a vendor on here, but I recently saw an app that you pay for, where you can put images up on your phone and the car displays them. Aside from the cost aspect, that is a neat approach, but I don't know if it would handle the gifs for pseudo video.

 

[artsci]

Thanks for doing this. Much appreciated.

I uploaded it. The screen resolution for most of the images is fine especially given the intended purpose. The graphics can be improved but you are aware of that. I'll using this at events where the public sees the interior of the car, as you intended.

 

[int32_t]

Nice! I appreciate that the images have to be low-res for download purposes, and like you say, people aren't going to have their noses on the screen anyways. Fine as-is until you can get a direct fibre link at charging stations.

The X animation especially is so cool! Falcon wing doors are something you can't appreciate unless they move.

Do you find the red text clear and easy to read on the car's screen? Typically I find red really hard to read on digital screens outdoors especially. I think a light blue on a sans-serif, maybe bold, and otherwise featureless font might show up better. I'd suggest Trebuchet, just so you aren't using Arial or Helvetica.

As always I have nitpicks about the text, like the lack of an apostrophe in world's greatest car. And the stretched images, unless they're fine on the Tesla screen.

Oh, and the ads ... yeah, I get PCB CAD software ads. Big Brother knows what you've been looking at.
You there, complaining about ICE ads, maybe stop looking at ICEs online!