Image captions in sidecar

[erica_poisson]

Hi - 

We are using a sidecar to display a series of images. We'd like to add image captions, however can not determine how to do this. We could add a caption to the text of the sidecar, but this is not ideal. The "Attribution" text shows the 'info' icon, and this could also work but again is not ideal. 

Are we missing something? Any advice would be appreciated. 

Thank you,

[ScottBerard]

Hi Erica, curious what the ideal would be. The info icon and the text option below an image has worked in most of the StoryMaps I've looked at. I don't have much experience but again I'm curious what you'd like to see. 

[OwenGeo · Accepted solution]

Hi Erica -- We don't currently have plans to offer a dedicated caption area for sidecar media panels. Our feeling is that it's not necessary since there is ample space for text in the narrative panel to describe images or other media. Here are two examples of stories that include captions in sidecar narrative panels: Mapping Mount Everest (arcgis.com) and Urban Africa (arcgis.com). Often just having some visual separation between the panel's main content and the image caption can be helpful, like using italics for the caption or inserting a separator above it.

As you alluded to, I wouldn't recommend using the attribution for a caption since that field is meant to provide credits for the image rather than describe its contents.

Could you share some more information about why you feel adding a caption in the narrative panel isn't ideal? I can share your thoughts with our designers for future consideration. (The best way to share this would be to add a new idea to our ideas board with your thoughts about how this enhancement would be useful and why the current options aren't sufficient/ideal to accomplish the experience you are looking for.)

[erica_poisson]

Hi @OwenGeo  - 

I shared your message with the person who is making the Story we were trying to do this with and here is his response:

My intention with this story map is to tell a friendly, nontechnical story about the importance of Pollinators and, as is, the narrative reads very simply and nicely, free of scientific lingo.  However, while the images show examples of the narrative (pollinators and pollinator gardens, etc), the narrative does not explain what appears in the images.  While reviewing the draft, I realized that captioning the photos with common and scientific names of the flora and fauna would greatly enhance the educational value, for those readers interested in knowing more about pollinators (and gardens), without disrupting the flow of the narrative for those who wish to casually just read a nice story about pollinators.  It seems, a small strip or corner of the image where I could float an explanatory bit of 'Latin' (names, etc, of less than 8-10 words in total) would be ideal for this purpose. 

---

Please let me know what you think of this. If you think it's worthy of a dedicated Idea, let me know and I will create one. I think for now, we will use (or misuse) the Attribution option to store the common and scientific names of flora and fauna shown in the images of the sidecar. That way the narrative is not disrupted and curious people can click the info icon for more information. 

Thank you for your quick response! 

[OwenGeo]

Thanks @erica_poisson -- That's great feedback and perfect information to describe an idea.

The benefit of having it posted as an idea is that other members of the community can easily upvote ideas that they like or also would find valuable, and that's a great way for us to see how many people are interested in each idea so we can prioritize.

[erica_poisson]

I've posted a new idea here. 

[HannahFarrell]

This is exactly what I need. I have a series of photos associated with a single point, I would like a date and/or brief description for each photo.