Index Problem
Bug Reports
This is actually a bigger problem than I thought - still working on it.
Forum Activity for @admin
Member Image
Feedback
This is now sorted, both on the home page, and the members page. Still some design bits to do, but most importantly, you're back!
Additional functionality for societies and organisations
General Support
Societies and organisations - for example local history societies - may have additional requirements when uploading images to allow them to keep track of their uploads, and to allow site users to cross-reference the images with physical collections.
To that end, we have created a new user class for organisations, which you can choose to be in when you sign up. Users in this class will see a couple of additional fields when editing the details of images:
The 'Archive Name' field allows you to add a collection name to the image, which would be the name of the archive that the image comes from, e.g. 'Member Submissions'. The second field, 'Archive Reference' can be used for the specific reference number of the piece, and can take any format.
The form then continues as it would for all other users, including the 'Specific Copyright' fields, which can be used to add the name of the copyright holder (this could be your organisation, or perhaps a contributor to your society), followed by a relevant link if required to link back to your website.
This data is then presented like this when someone views the image:
If you represent a society, group, association or club, and think that there should be more/fewer fields, or additional data gathered, please let us lknow by replying to this post, and we'll see what we can do...
Adding images to Our Town Story
General Support
You add images to Our Town Story from your profile page, and your photos will always 'live' here, in galleries. To see your photos, and to start uploading, click the 'Gallery' tab in your profile, seen here at the bottom of the picture...
You'll now see a map, followed by a list of any images you've uploaded to date. If you would like to add one (or more) photographs, click the '+' icon on the right-hand side of the Gallery title bar:
Your photos are grouped together in galleries, and it is good practice to group the images loosely by topic - e.g. Kent Miscellaneous, or Dad's Old Pictures. A window will have opened, asking you to name your new Gallery, and give it a short description. You can then choose the images from your computer/tablet. Once you have selected them all, click or tap 'Create Gallery'.
You'll now be taken to the Gallery containing your images. As yet, none have titles, descriptions, or locations, and don't appear anywhere on Our Town Story other than in your Gallery. It is really important that you now go through your images and do this - or no-one else will ever see them!
To do this, click the 'View detail' link by the photo:
You'll see thumbnails of all the images in that gallery - click 'details' on the one you want to add details to. You will now see a form allowing you to enter all the crucial photo information. The map is first - start typing a location or postcode near the subject of the photo, e.g. 'High Street, Sittingbourne', and click it once the right one appears. You can then drag the map pin marker to the exact location (or as near as you know it) that the photo was taken.
Then add a title, and a description that will be of use to visitors, and maybe even start a conversation or debate, like "Does anyone know who owned the corner shop?", etc. It's helpful if titles follow the format 'Subject, Town, Date', e.g. 'The Square, Wimborne, c. 1932'.
If you are posting on behalf of someone else (or an organisation), you can complete a specific copyright section - this shows in the description on the published image, and can link back to your organisation's website.
Lastly, tick any category boxes that apply - in the future, you will be able to sort images by category, but this needs to be filled in in anticipation.
Once you hit 'Save Changes', they will be applied - and crucially, your image will now appear in the Images for the profile(s) closes to where the map pin was positioned - that's it!
updated by @admin: 16 Aug 2017 18:57:40
Your Gallery - layout update
Updates
We've been having a general tidy up of the whole site (and continue to do so!), but some work we did yesterday has particularly changed a fundamental view to bring it in line with other views.
Your Gallery page, where all your uploaded images 'live' is now laid out in the same way as all other image lists. Each list starts with a map of the image locations, followed by a list of images, each one featuring title, owner, when added, number of views and a link to the gallery of yours that holds the picture.
An important note: the 'edit image details' icon has changed from a cog to a pen; this seems to be more in line with normal standards. The bin is still the 'delete' icon!
Hopefully this will be a positive change that, along with many other tidyup activities, will improve the look, feel, and usability of the site.
Questions? Just reply to this post!
updated by @admin: 23 Jul 2017 09:48:39
Image Watermarking
Updates
We've had a few images posted without titles, which confuses the system a little bit, and can look a bit unpleasant if anyone shares the photos on Facebook/Twitter (as they pull the image title across, and if it hasn't been changed it often looks something like 'IMG_00005' or similar).
To help avoid this, the image title is now a mandatory field when editing a photo's detail. We try to use the format 'Subject, Place, Year', e.g. 'War Memorial, Wimborne Minster, c. 1930'.
Let us know if you encounter any problems, but should be fairly self-explanatory!
updated by @admin: 16 Mar 2017 07:44:26
Image Watermarking
Updates
You will see that as of midnight, all images have had a watermark applied to them, so as to try and deter casual users from pinching them. We didn't really want to have to do it, but there was a certain inevitability to it. We've tried to keep it out of the way as much as is practical , but we welcome comments on its position and size.....
Email notifications not working
Bug Reports
This should now be fixed, and you should receive notifications based on site activity, such as replies to comments, mentions, etc.
Email notifications not working
Bug Reports
At the moment, automatic system notifications are not sending out emails. This is being investigated.
updated by @admin: 08 Jun 2016 22:54:49