Forum Gallery - Yes or No?

[Matthew Schenker]

I installed a "Gallery" feature in the forum.  This gives members an area for posting photo albums.  It seems like something a lot of people would enjoy using.  But I'm wondering whether we need this, since we can post photosas attachments in our messages.

So, yes or no to the gallery?

[Dan Clark]

Matthew,

My only issue with a gallery is that we have topic categories for almost every topic, and you can post both pics and text.   A gallery is a place to post only photos.   

If you have a project that you want to brag about, there's "User Projects".   "How to..." covers processes.   "Off Topic" covers most anything else.   

I guess I don't see the point of posting photos in the gallery.    It's not really conducive to discussion and they are out of context.  My primary issue with a Gallery is that it's just like the Yahoo forum "Photos".  I disliked that tremendously - difficult to navigate and not much info once you found the pic.

What I find interesting is that when you asked for suggestions, there were only three:
- Festool Finished Projects
- Festool shop made jigs
- Tool upgrades and mods

These are already covered by "Jigs, Inventions, & Tool Enhancements" and "User Projects"!!! 

I want to ask questions about jigs and enhancements.  I want to complement someone when the make a great project!   I won't even bother looking at Gallery pics like these because there's no way to discuss them!!!   

IMO, if the current suggested categories indicate the only use of the Gallery, then the Gallery is a BIG step backwards!!!

Dan.

[Dan Lyke]

I don't think it'll hurt, but while a picture may be worth a thousand words, pictures without context aren't terribly interesting. I'd much rather people post 'em with their messages so that we can get some explanation of what we're seeing.

[T. Michael]

I say yes to the gallery idea; with the three topics mentioned. 

Why?  well, yes we can easily include photo's with text in each folder and topic, and that's great.  But those folders, even with sub-topics tend to be stream of consciousness sorting; so one would have to hunt and peck, for instance, to find all the relevant jigs and fixtures. 

Where as, if the best photos were culled out and in one place, browsing and searching would be easier and faster; at least for me.

My .02
Mike Ward
Portola Valley, Ca

[Dan Clark]

I guess I still don't understand why I would want to browse pics.  If this were a photo site, I'd understand.  On a photo site, you're looking more for art.   The pic itself is the end result and satisfying in it's own right.

On this site, I'm looking for ideas, inspiration, and how-to.   If I see something interesting in a Gallery, there is no follow-on.  It's just a pic.  No context.  For me, it has limited value.   I can't ask questions like, "How'd you do that?" or "Please explain further."

Utimately my biggest issue with a gallery is that people will use this site like the old Yahoo site.   I.e., instead of learning how to use the forum to it's fullest, they will just fall back on their old habits. 

We've already had some posts complaining about the lack of certain features.   It turns out that in most cases, they just didn't look in the right place.   

I do think that a gallery will hurt more than it will help.

Dan.

[Corwin]

I think the photo gallery allows one another way to research.

On a boating forum I frequent, they will set up a photo album for each member and also have albums for several of the more specific categories.  That might work well for us.  Any member could have their own area for photos.  Additionally, many of the categories on the Index page could have an associated area for photos.  In use one would upload a photo into the desired album first, then one could copy the photo from that location to include it within the text of a post.  May provide the best of both...

Corwin

[bill-e]

Matthew,

In my opinion a gallery is a feature that allows users without web space to post their photos and display their work and shops.  If your intent is to be a nice guy and offer this feature then I say go for it.  But I don't believe that it would actually enhance the content of the message board if that's what your after.

[Frank Pellow]

I prefer to see pictures in context, that is embedded in regular posts in threads.

[Dave Ronyak]

I'm ambivalent about having a forum gallery.  I much prefer seeing the photos together with related text.  But I also browse photo galleries looking for ideas I might use as they are, or adapt to my intended purposes, whether for shop organization, jigs, Festool mods, furniture or other project ideas.  I'd be interested in a gallery that is linked to text and drawings describing in more detail how a project was made together with any notes about critical details or what the author would do differently if he/she did a similar project again.

[Brian 57]

Photos to illustrate concepts or pieces. A wealth of information and ideas was lost on the yahoo site, IMHO, because the photos were so hard to tie up with the relevant text.

[Dan Clark]

While working on the first Photo Tutorial, I realized that there might be a very good reason to have a gallery...   

You see, sometimes when you want to clearly describe a process it's better to place the image in the text flow rather than at the end.   If you've hosted your images on another server, you can use the img tags (middle row, second button from left in the editor) to link to your images. 

Unfortunately, this "img" approach has problems.  Obviously you have to have your pics on an image hosting service or on your website.   That might not a big deal for guys named "John" and "Jerry", but it is for many folks.   And, if you cancel your web-host contract (I've done that) or modify your website, the link breaks and you're toast.   However...

If you uploaded the images here and then used the "img" tags to point to the gallery images here in FOG, it would theoretically reduce or remove the issues, and allow you better control.   And, you could upload once and then use the same image in multiple posts with no server disk space impact. 

That said, Matthew probably has people bugging him for new features with a higher priority.  The gallery feature may need to wait awhile.

Regards,

Dan.
Dan.

[Ned]

Hi Dan Dan 

Funny you should mention this.  Just today I was thinking that the integrity of the posts that include external links for images is pretty shaky.  Problems at a poster's image host (like closing the account?) affect the usefulness of the post.

Attachments are already stored on the FOG host.  What we need is a way to store the more flexible imgs there.  Like maybe an FTPable directory?

Ned

[Matthew Schenker]

Dan,
Your recent post expresses the ideas I had when I first thought of installing the gallery feature.  I like the idea of having photos there when people want to browse, and then also be able to easily link to those photos in our posts.  That was my original thinking.

So, maybe we are turning a corner on the gallery idea!

I can re-install the gallery feature if people do decide they want it.

Matthew

[Lou Miller]

Matt,

I don't think its something the board "needs", but it would be kind of cool.

[Les Spencer]

Matthew,

After all the trouble I had to go through to link an image,  :(I vote to add the gallery.

[Corwin]

While the old saying 'a picture is worth a thousand words' is not lost by anyone on this new board, our photos are sure to become lost amongst the wealth of information that is ever increasing here.  We have logical categories to help organize our numerous posts and the search feature to locate specific text.  If our photos are so valuable, should they not also have a degree of organization?

One method of organizing a 'gallery' would be where each member had their own photo album where one would upload photos.  Each member could create separate albums within their own album to further organize their stuff.  When adding a photo to a post you would link (or whatever) to a photo within your album. 

The 'Shop Tour' and 'Jigs...' categories (and maybe some others) could also be organized with either their own photo albums, or where each member album includes 'static' sub-albums for these categories.  The latter might work well if others could view a 'Jigs...' album that contained links to the individual member 'Jig' photos...

Just my input on the subject,
Corwin

[Matthew Schenker]

Everyone,
I like the idea of crating a gallery for each member.  That would make it easier for us to find our own photos when linking them in a message.  There may be other possibilities for folders, but to start out I think we should do member-specific folders.

I'll get the gallery feature installed a little later today!

Thanks everyone,
Matthew

[Dan Clark]

Matthew,

I think Galleries by member is an excellent idea.  I.e., people-based categories.  It keeps our own images where they can be accessed or referenced.  At the same time, they can be referenced in our project or shop descriptions, adhoc discussions, and tutorials, which are topic-based.   Looks like a good combo.

Dan.

[Jim Dailey]

Matthew, & Dan,

Granted individual members Gallery would be nice... but wouldn't this take a lot of disk space?

jim

[Dan Clark]

Jim,

I can't speak for Matthew, but I think it might save space.   IMO, many people who want to include a photo with a post will simply attach it.  For shorter tutorial, shop, or project posts, it'll the same - attach it.  However...

Sometimes you want to repost the same image over and over.   For example, there's a pic of my MFT and one of my C12 that I reference multiple times.   If they were in a in a gallery, I could reference the image using the img tags (second button, second row of buttons, above).   I can include a reference to these images 10 times in 10 posts but not use any additional space. 

Regards,

Dan.

[John Langevin]

I just visited http://www.canadianwoodworking.com/forum/vbpicgallery.phpand they have a new gallery setup with individual galleries. I think it is worth checking out to get an idea how it may work. One thing I think is very important in any photo gallery is the ease of accessing the individual images. I prefer to step through the images with a "Next" or "Previous" button rather than going back to the index of images, picking an image and then opening it. If the index was always visible then you would be able to skip to the desired image if you wish. If the images can be saved as .JPG files this is also very nice; it saves having to save the entire HTML page to your computer and then having to strip out all of the associated images of ads, buttons etc. If you do visit the website take a look at the bar made by hammeritharder, very nice work; Per I would find your critique of the bar informative.

[Dan Clark]

John,

That link doesn't work.

Dan.

[John Langevin]

Dan this is my first time trying to add a link and I obviously don't have it right. I typed in the web address: canadianwoodworking.com/index.php then highlighted it and clicked the "add a link button". Could you take a look at it and then post or e-mail me the correct text?

[Frank Pellow]

Dan this is my first time trying to add a link and I obviously don't have it right. I typed in the web address: canadianwoodworking.com/index.php then highlighted it and clicked the "add a link button". Could you take a look at it and then post or e-mail me the correct text?

I think that this link should work: http://www.canadianwoodworking.com/forum/vbpicgallery.php?

[Ned]

I typed in the web address: canadianwoodworking.com/index.php then highlighted it and clicked the "add a link button". Could you take a look at it and then post or e-mail me the correct text?

Hi John,

Canadian Woodworking Forum

I generally avoid typing web addresses into these posts--it's more reliable to copy them from my browser when I'm looking at the page I want. 

The code to add a link manually is simple.  If you Quote this message as if you were going to reply, I think you'll be able to see the "url" tags that make the magic happen.

HTH,
Ned

[Matthew Schenker]

Granted individual members Gallery would be nice... but wouldn't this take a lot of disk space?

Well, I want people to have the space to post photos as they see fit.  Of course, we should be wise about our use of space.  In my experience, you can get high-quality photos for online viewing at about 110Kb or under.

As a general rule, it would be good for members to try to resize their photos to be as small as possible, without compromising quality.

Dan has done a lot of work on a photo tutorial, and he addresses this issue.  Thank you to Dan!

Matthew

[Art Frank]

Dan has done a lot of work on a photo tutorial, and he addresses this issue.

Is this available?

[Dan Clark]

The draft version of the first one should be available shortly.

Dan.

[John Langevin]

Ned and Frank thanks for the correction, it works properly now. I forgot to credit Frank Pellow for initally posting the link to the Canadian gallery.