v6 Web Interface Feature Requests

paul2020

Hi Ben,

I really like the new web interface and can't wait to see it evolve over time. Here are some of my ideas on what I'd like to see supported in the future please.

• A web-based version of SecuritySpy's Browser window to give us the ability to view multiple camera feeds that are synced to the same time. This would include a scrollable timeline that can be dragged with a finger to find interesting points in the video feeds. The timeline would have markers for when motion was detected on each camera, such as a person icon, human or animals.
• Touch/mouse friendly interface that doesn't rely on keyboard shortcuts, like the ability to (de)select all cameras, buttons that give you x2, x4, x8, etc playback speeds, multiple buttons to skip forward 5, 10, 30, 60 seconds, 5 mins, etc
• A grid and list view of playback thumbnails that is customisable - ability to increase or decrease thumbnail size (perhaps with a slider), define the number of columns/rows, dynamically increase the column count as the screen width is increased.
• Live camera view presets so that I can select a preset that shows front or rear cameras, wildlife cams, etc

Many thanks,

Paul.

Ben

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your suggestions. The Browser functionality is going to be very difficult to replicate in a web environment. Perhaps this is more appropriate for the iOS app, which we still plan to continue to maintain and improve.

I understand your comment about buttons rather than keyboard shortcuts, but I worry about cluttering the interface. At the moment, select all/none can be done with Alt-click (Option-click) in one of the checkboxes, and playback speed can be done by "JKL" control on the keyboard. Yes, this won't work on iOS, but the web interface is designed primarily for desktop. Currently no options to skip forward/backwards, but this is a good idea. We'll consider how best to do this.

Grid view - yes, this will come in some form. Making is customisable to some extent is a good idea I think.

If I am understanding your comment about camera view presets, this can already be achieved with groups, which can be set up under Settings > Display. Each group contains a defined number of cameras, the selection of which is remembered in the web interface on a per-group basis for both the Live and Captures page.

mgd

Hello again Ben.

Perhaps less demanding than paul2020's wish-list.

If it doesn't already exist, I would like some way to place cover-note/disclaimer/caution/whatever HTML on the Web login page, perhaps below the "Welcome to SecuritySpy" text. Something like

<u>Fred Nurk's SECAM</u><br><b>Authorised Access Only</b><br>

Thanks, Mark.

paul2020

Hi Ben,

Thank you for covering each request, your reasonings do indeed make sense.

If you are able to put the Browser window features into the iOS/iPad app for multi-camera playback, that would be very useful indeed (plus the much desired forward/backward skip buttons greater than 5 seconds!).

Looking forward to grid view and if you have chance later the ability to have different sized thumbnails / customisation.

Thanks for pointing out the camera view groups, this is indeed what I was after and is very useful.

Ben

Hi @mgd we would like to offer a certain amount of customisation, but this isn't so easy. We can't just allow users to customise versions of SecuritySpy's HTML pages - these will evolve over time, and since there is a complex interplay between HTML, JavaScript and backend to make everything work, custom changes to HTML pages are liable to cause problems with future updates. Instead, if we are going to allow any kind of customisation, it will have to be in a controlled way, with only certain limited customisation options. This will require careful planning and significant implementation work, so it's unlikely to happen anytime soon, since we already have a bunch of features we plan to add to the web interface in the coming months.

mgd

Having some experience with such technologies I understand the complexities.

It was really just to provide T & C around a limited access residential property camera.

I ended up going with a wrapper page containing a couple of <iframe>s.

BTW: although not in my original thinking the v6 web interface alone has made the cost of upgrade an investment.

Thanks.

Ben

Great to hear that @mgd !