Gallery change and site downtime

[Janet H]

We have some changes coming to the gallery and I wanted to make sure you are all in the loop.

Our gallery is an add on piece of software that is sort of prickly and hard to keep running. Several versions ago of vBulletin (our forum software) Picture albums became available and we enabled them. Many members are using these albums now and they are much easier to navigate. They are also less prone to breaking. But now we have images in two places; the Gallery and Member Albums.

We are going to migrate all the gallery images into member albums but retain the gallery categories. Members will now be able to manage their images all in one place. They can add new albums as well and when they do, they can choose to have that new album be in one of the categories or not. They can also make an album private.

The site will be offline for a brief period very early on Wednesday morning (Nov 2, 2011) to make this change.

We will also be adding a rotating image display of member pics at the top of the forum. Food pics are always great inspiration and I am looking forward to this very much.

You will be able to edit your albums, move images from one album to another and edit the names of you albums. You'll also be able to edit images more easily. One final thought... Since albums allow you to leave long comments, you can add recipes and anything else you think might be interesting right there with the image. Here's an example: coconut cake

Here's a screen shot of what's coming and I think you will find it a huge improvement:

[CWS4322]

Will there be a way to turn off the pictures (thinking of those who might not have the bandwidth or when I'm using my pay-as-you-go device).

[Janet H]

Originally Posted by CWS4322

Will there be a way to turn off the pictures (thinking of those who might not have the bandwidth or when I'm using my pay-as-you-go device).

This new feature won't use much more band width unless you click on one of the rotating thumbnails to view the full image.
If you are concerned about speeds and data rates you should be aware that there is a setting in your account options to view the site without many images and features (like avatars, signatures, etc). While the site look a bit barren this way, it's a nice feature for those on dail-up.

[Janet H]

The gallery changes have been made. Please post if you have questions.

[Zhizara]

I don't see the changes. I closed and restarted Firefox, but nothing.

It may be that my ad blocker is working.

[Zhizara]

Nope, it's not ad blocker.

[Alix]

Have you got them yet? Try marking all posts read, then see if they pop up for you. If not, try clearing your cache.

[Zhizara]

It's okay. I've had enough problems with my computer this morning. I don't need it.

[Alix]

You can only see them on the home page Zhizara. So if you're accessing the site with New Posts or anything you won't see them. I think there are only a few anyway. I seem to have run the gamut and am getting repeats already.

[pacanis]

Originally Posted by Janet H

The gallery changes have been made. Please post if you have questions.

I have some questions.
First I'd like to say that the pics are not rotating for me, but I like it that way. Nice job on the pics. It's a pretty cool feature.

But, what (or who) actually chooses the pics? Some of those members, 99% that I've viewed the pic, haven't posted here in years... A couple pics belonged to people who have never posted here. At least that is what their profile said. 0 posts. And one pic I just tried viewing, to see who it belonged to, the forum said I did not have access to that page Pic from a banned member maybe?
So I guess I am just curious as to how the forum chooses the pics that it does.

[pacanis]

Originally Posted by Alix

You can only see them on the home page Zhizara. So if you're accessing the site with New Posts or anything you won't see them. I think there are only a few anyway. I seem to have run the gamut and am getting repeats already.

Not the home page, the Forums page. At least for me.

[Janet H]

Originally Posted by pacanis

I have some questions.
First I'd like to say that the pics are not rotating for me, but I like it that way. Nice job on the pics. It's a pretty cool feature.

But, what (or who) actually chooses the pics? Some of those members, 99% that I've viewed the pic, haven't posted here in years... A couple pics belonged to people who have never posted here. At least that is what their profile said. 0 posts. And one pic I just tried viewing, to see who it belonged to, the forum said I did not have access to that page Pic from a banned member maybe?
So I guess I am just curious as to how the forum chooses the pics that it does.

Th images are pulled randomly from albums. If a member has marked an album private they will not appear in the rotation. All these images (almost 1000) were in our old gallery which was publicly available. As you have pointed out a few images belong to accounts that are no longer active (we don't delete accounts but years ago I believe that some were) and this is why you receive that message.

The images rotate periodically when you change pages and then return to the main forums page. The rotation rate can be adjusted as we get a feel for what seems right.

[pacanis]

Thanks Janet.

So the software can differentiate between a food pic and an album that might have pics from someone's vacation? Apparently. Pretty slick.

[Janet H]

When you make an album, you are offered the option to select a category for that album. (Cooking, Where we live, etc). We may expand these categories.

We can direct the software to pull images from specific categories.

[pacanis]

Originally Posted by Janet H

When you make an album, you are offered the option to select a category for that album. (Cooking, Where we live, etc). We may expand these categories.

We can direct the software to pull images from specific categories.

I may have to make a bacon album to counteract all those delicious looking desserts

Representation!

[Alix]

Originally Posted by pacanis

Not the home page, the Forums page. At least for me.

Oops. That's what I meant. I don't visit the home page. Sorry!

[Zhizara]

Originally Posted by Alix

You can only see them on the home page Zhizara. So if you're accessing the site with New Posts or anything you won't see them. I think there are only a few anyway. I seem to have run the gamut and am getting repeats already.

Thanks, Alix. I usually use New Posts. I did check home and don't see anything, but it really not a big deal.

[Alix]

Originally Posted by Zhizara

Thanks, Alix. I usually use New Posts. I did check home and don't see anything, but it really not a big deal.

My bad Z...not home page, All Forums. Sorry! This one.

[Zhizara]

Yep. I see 'em. We can't scroll through when looking for inspiration?

[pacanis]

A physical scroll feature would be cool.