OBSOLETE - Drafts Feature

[Matthew Schenker]

Everyone,
I've just installed a "Drafts" feature, which allows you to save working versions of your messages until you are ready to post them.

This feature is particularly useful for tool reviews or posts that involve details that develop over time, posts with a lot of photos, or posts where you want to put some thoughts down but take some time to consider what you say before making it public. With this new feature, you will notice a new button under the posting area called "Save as Draft" as shown below:

All your drafts are neatly stored in your user profile, and you can open any of them any time and work on the details until you're ready to post them.

Please report back here about this feature!

Stay in touch,
Matthew

 

[Bill Wyko]

Hi Mathew. Nice job here. I have a question, when building a post this way, how can I add pictures to a given paragraph and how many pics can be added along the way? Is it done as one long post or can I break it down into individual repitious posts with the pics added to each one? I think this is going to be great. I've already got a little start.

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Bill,
Glad you are making use of the Drafts feature!  It should be a very useful tool for people who want to put a longer post together, or those who just want to consider carefully what they are posting!

Creating documents like the one you are proposing is one of the most crucial elements of this forum, and I have built a number of tools to help people do it.  So I'm glad to answer your questions, as it gives me an opportunity to show off some of the forum features I'm most proud of!

To do what you're asking, use a combination of three forum tools:
1. "Drafts" to build the document as you go along.
2. "Inline Image" to put photos anywhere you want in the document.
3. "Gallery" to upload your photos that will be used in your post.

The three of these together allow members to put together the most impressive posts!

Use the "Drafts" feature to save your work in progress over the course of as many days as it takes for you to complete it.

To add photos in a paragraph, use the "Inline Image" feature, which I installed and customized for us a while back!  For complete instructions about this, click here.

Your document can be one long post, or a series of shorter posts.  That's up to you, and people have done it both ways.  For example, Roger Savatteri created his review of the Jointmaker Pro as a series (click here), and I've done reviews with all photos in one post (click here).

Whichever method you choose, you can either attach photos or use the Gallery to upload all your photos then just post links to those photos.  If you just want to attach photos, remember the file size limits:
Each attachment: 125 KB; Maximum size of all attachments: 500 KB;  Maximum number of attachments: 10

However, there are no limits if you use the FOG Gallery to upload your photos and and make links to them.  Using the gallery is easy and kind of fun.  I just created an album for you, which you can find by clicking here.

There is s section of this forum dedicated to the Gallery.  In that board, I've written up complete instructions on how to use the Gallery to insert photos in your posts, which you can find by clicking here.

It might sound like a lot of detail, but when you dive in and use these features, it all works easily and it makes intuitive sense.

If you have more questions, please post them and I'll be glad to help.

Looking forward to seeing your work.

Stay in touch,
Matthew

 

[Bill Wyko]

I'm having trouble.  :-[ I made my gallery with all my text with the pictures. I copy them but they don't stay in my draft. I think I should have made my text on a draft then linked to the picture. I'm 10 hours and counting into this. Can an individual pic in my gallery be made into an individual draft? Or a few pics and their text be made into a post? I think there's about 100 pics in my gallery, each with a description in text. I still have about 10 or 20 pics of the finished project I still need to attach on Saturday. Help PLEASE ;D Where's my 18 year old daughter when I need her? ( Six Flags Magic Mountain);D She could have done this in an hour. :-\

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Good Afternoon,
The Drafts feature has been installed now for about two months, and I was just wondering how it's going for those of you who use it.  The Drafts feature allows members to save working versions of their material until they are ready to post.  It's especially useful for tool reviews and projects, where you want to work out all the details and get all the photos in place before posting.

For those of you who have access to drafts...
- Do you think this is a useful feature?
- How often do you use it?
- Are you experiencing any problems with it?
- Do you have any suggestions for this feature?

Thanks,
Matthew

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Good Morning,
Is anyone using the "Drafts" feature?
Maybe it's such a great feature, nothing needs to be said!
Matthew

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Good Evening,
It's been a few months, so I just thought I would check again on this.

Has anyone used the "drafts" feature?  If so, what do you think about it?

Thanks,
Matthew

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Good Morning,
OK, I wanted to check one last time to see if anyone is using the "Drafts" feature.

Should I keep it installed, or uninstall it?  Anyone want to comment on this feature -- good or bad experiences?  Questions?

Thanks,
Matthew

 

[Dave Ronyak]

Matthew, I believe that I used it, but only once.  That is not at all intended to indicate it is not a useful feature.  It is simply a reflection of the fact that I have not had any major posts to create since completing my Entertainment Center project description.  And that I have been focused on other matters.

Dave R.

 

[nickao]

I always have and use the drafts. At one time I had over 20, right now maybe 5 or so.

 

[Forrest Anderson]

OK, I wanted to check one last time to see if anyone is using the "Drafts" feature.

Should I keep it installed, or uninstall it?  Anyone want to comment on this feature -- good or bad experiences?  Questions?

I have lost quite a few messages by accidentally clicking the back button in my browser, or clicking on a link which takes me elsewhere, and when I get back to the "Post Reply" screen, my message has gone.

So when I remember, I now use the "Save Drafts" feature when I'm writing a long message. I certainly don't use it every time, but I think it's nice to have.

Forrest

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Good Morning,
Thank you Dave, Nick, and Forrest.

After I installed this feature, I had no way of figuring out whether people were saving drafts or not, and if so, whether they find the function useful.

I think this feature is especially useful if you are composing long posts, of course.  But it's also good if you are trying to collect photos for a product review of project post.

Also, I can edit how it works in certain ways, if necessary.  So I'd like to hear from others on their use of this.

Thanks again,
Matthew

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

All forum members should now have the ability to take advantages of the Drafts feature of the forum.

 

[Bob D.]

Is the Gallery feature that Matt spoke of in post #2 still available?

I followed the link in his post and got an error message saying not available.

I was not aware there was a drafts or a gallery feature. I came looking
after I lost about 20 minutes of work creating a lengthy post with multiple
photos this morning. If there is a save as draft function does it not autosave
at some increment say every 5 or 10 minutes.

 

[AlexThePalex]

Is the Gallery feature that Matt spoke of in post #2 still available?

I was not aware there was a drafts or a gallery feature. I came looking
after I lost about 20 minutes of work creating a lengthy post with multiple
photos this morning. If there is a save as draft function does it not autosave
at some increment say every 5 or 10 minutes.

The gallery feature is not available anymore, it is not necessary now. In the past you needed that gallery to post pictures here, in an indirect way, but with an update you can now post them directly.

The draft feature is still there, when you compose a post there is a button in your right corner that says "Save as Draft".

The draft feature does not work well with attached images, so do not attach them before all your text is done or it will mess things up.

 

[Bob D.]

Thanks Alex.