Guides, comparisons and the glossary: what the long reads are
The Guides page, one guide, the comparisons with other tour software, the glossary and the feed: how they differ from the Help Center and what each holds.
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Guides, comparisons and the glossary are the long reads of the website. A guide teaches how to make a 360° tour in general (how to take the photos, hide the tripod, publish on Google), a comparison puts Panoramr beside another tour maker, and the glossary defines the words. The Help Center is different: it explains the Panoramr app screen by screen.
Who sees them. Everybody, without an account. Nothing on them needs a plan. A guide that is still a draft is shown only to a TourHQ administrator, and does not exist for anyone else.
Where they are written. Guides are Markdown files checked when the site is built, like the Help Center's guides. A comparison and the glossary are content files of the website's landing pages. Each has the same address with .md added for readers that do not run a page, which www.panoramr.com/llms.txt lists.
The pages
Guides page
The list of every published guide.
Where: Guides. Default: Newest first; every category. What it does: Shows a card for each guide with its picture, category, title, one sentence, reading time and the date it was last updated. Until the first guide is published the page asks search engines not to index it. What visitors see: A grid of cards under the heading "Guides to making a virtual tour". Related: All guides.
All guides
Buttons that show one category at a time.
Where: Guides, a row of buttons above the cards: All guides, then one for each category that has a guide (Getting started, Photography, Publishing and sharing, By industry). The row is shown only when guides exist in more than one category. Default: All guides. What it does: Shows only the cards of the chosen category, with no new page load. What visitors see: A shorter list. Related: the Guides page.
A guide
One guide.
Where: www.panoramr.com/guides/<name>, from a card.
Default: Always shown.
What it does: Shows the title, a sentence, the author's name and role, the date it was updated and how long it takes to read, a picture, a short answer, the headings, the text, a note about the author, a list headed "How to do it in Panoramr" with the Help Center pages it relies on, and "Read next" with related guides. A button in the panel at the foot opens Create Tour while the Try page is on or you are signed in, and the sign-up page otherwise. The guide's questions and answers, author and dates are also told to search engines.
What visitors see: The article. A draft shows "Draft: only TourHQ admins see this page".
Related: In short.
In short
The answer first, in a box at the top of a guide.
Where: A guide, under the picture. Default: Written by the author for each guide; 120 to 520 characters. What it does: Gives the whole answer in a few sentences for a reader in a hurry. What visitors see: A highlighted box headed "In short". Related: In this guide.
In this guide
A list of the guide's headings.
Where: A guide, under In short. Default: Built from the guide's main headings; left out when a guide has only two or fewer. What it does: Each line jumps to that heading. What visitors see: A short list of links. Related: a guide.
Comparisons
Panoramr beside other virtual tour software.
Where: Compare, and a page for each: Matterport, Kuula, 3DVista, CloudPano, Panoee, RICOH360 Tours and EyeSpy360.
Default: Always shown.
What it does: The overview says what kinds of tour software there are and how to choose. Each comparison has a side-by-side table, when each one fits, questions, and a list of the pages every fact about the other product came from, with the day they were checked. A comparison is rechecked at least every 180 days; a test fails once a check is older. These pages describe the other products as they were on that day and say nothing about what they will do.
What visitors see: A table and short sections. Each comparison also has a Markdown copy at its address with .md added.
Related: Features pages.
Glossary
The words of 360° photography and virtual tours.
Where: Glossary.
Default: Always shown.
What it does: Defines terms such as equirectangular, nadir, stitching, HDR, hotspot and cube faces in plain English. Each term has an address of its own. A term that a Help Center section explains has In the help: and that section's name under it.
What visitors see: A list of terms, questions and a start button.
Related: Photo requirements.
Guides feed
An RSS feed for readers that follow new articles.
Where: www.panoramr.com/guides/feed.xml.
Default: Always on.
What it does: Lists the published guides, newest first, with title, link, date and description.
What visitors see: An XML file; a feed reader shows the guides.
Related: the Guides page.
Troubleshooting
A guide is missing from the list. It is a draft or has a mistake the site build reports; only published guides without a problem are served.
A comparison looks out of date. Each lists the day its facts were checked. Tell us through the contact page if something is wrong.
Next steps
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