A help guide to registering and posting

[Forumadmin]

Well if you can download this you probably do not need it. But you might like to print it or email it to someone who is 'technically challenged'.

JowettTalk Posting.pdf

(1.43 MiB) Downloaded 86 times

Since some smart phones do not display pdfs here are the pages fromTOPIC the JowettGallery.

[Forumadmin]

This guide will help you upload pictures and documents to attach to your posts.

Note there are limits on the size of files that can be uploaded, so please size and compress the files sensibly. Some help on resizing is available here. JowettGallery can store larger items if this is necessary to maintain quality. JowettGallery also stores items in both a compressed and original form making it ideal for referencing items in the forum AND using them as reference documents or archive material.

Read this post to see how to use the preferred method of attaching images and referencing documents using the JowettGallery so that files can be easily referenced by others and reorganised to act as a reference archive.

Only 3 files can be attached to one post.

Look at these images from the JowettGallery on how to attach files to a JowettTalk post
1. Click 'upload attachment' tab to upload an attachment
2. Hit the 'Browse' or 'choose file' button to choose the file you want to upload. Rather than ‘browse’ it may say ‘choose file’, depending on your operating system.
3. Depending on operating system, an ‘Explorer’ dialog is displayed. Navigate around to find your file and hit ‘open’ or ‘done’ button
4. Once you have selected the file from the file system on your computer, the filename you selected will display in the box, then click ‘add file’.
5. The ‘Posted attachments box will then be displayed, so move your cursor to where you want the attachment to appear and click ‘Place in Line’.
6. The 'attachment code' line is added when you place the attachment in line where the cursor is placed.

You can preview the post by hitting the 'Preview' button.
Note that images may be displayed in a compressed form. By clicking the image a larger image may be displayed. You can (and should) add text to caption the item.
Click 'Submit' once happy with your post.

[TimKelly]

Is there a way to upload a Table from a word document?
Kind regards
Tim Kelly

[Keith Clements]

Hi Tim.
The problem is that PHPBB software which is used for the forum strips any code or blank space . These means that even if you space the columns in a table with spaces or tabs the forum removes them. You can use ......... instead though.

There is this topicwhich explains the use of the column BBCODE. But this is cumbersome.

I did some experiments adding BBCODE for tables which worked but that meant I would have to support it.


The alternative is to put the table into an attachment such as a pdf or Word doc or an Excel sheet, or even to create a snapshot and display as an image. Use print screen and paint and then crop the table you want.

[Jack]

Is there a way to upload a Table from a word document?
Kind regards
Tim Kelly

Hi Tim,

I'd use the snipping tool if you are on Windows, and then upload the image (or a link to the image) and it should display.

You can upload the word doc to the Gallery, but it wouldn't display in a post other than a link to the file.

Jack.

[p.p.]

Hi Paul look at the parts book references I gave.
Where torsion bar enters suspension arm.

20170915_163358.jpeg

Peter,
Thanks for the picture but even you should be able to upload the picture as an attachment! See snip below. Click on the picture to see the detail.

uploadattachment.PNG

When editing a forum post, click on the 'Upload Attachment' Tab.
Click 'Browse' or 'Choose File' (this depends on whether you are on a PC or Smartphone)
Find the file you want and click 'Open'
Click 'Add File'
Then put your cursor in the post where you want the picture to appear and click 'Place In Line'

As your screen is in German below the instructions in that language. This may differ as my PC operating system is in English and you may have chosen a different German dialect for JowettTalk.

uploadattachmentGerman.PNG

Wenn Sie einen Forumspost bearbeiten, klicken Sie auf die Registerkarte 'Dateianhang Hochlagen'.
Klicken Sie auf 'Durchsuchen' oder 'Datei auswählen' (dies hängt davon ab, ob Sie auf einem PC oder Smartphone sind)
Finden Sie die gewünschte Datei und klicken Sie auf 'Öffnen'
Klicken Sie auf 'Datei hinzufügen'
Dann legst du den Cursor in die Post, wo du das Bild erscheinen möchtest und auf 'Im Betreig Anzeigen'

uploadattachmentGerman2.PNG

iam not abel to get the dam pic smaller....sorry just not working...sorry!!!!saething wrong with my computer....

[Tony Fearn]

Perhaps the error message in red -- "Maximum allowed size 3 MiB" has something to do with it when you just want to upload a photo you've taken.
Tony.
P.S. What's a MiB? It used to be 'pixels x pixels' didn't it.

[Keith Clements]

Peter,
Thanks for the picture but even you should be able to upload the picture as an attachment! See snip below. Click on the picture to see the detail.

When editing a forum post, click on the 'Upload Attachment' Tab.
Click 'Browse' or 'Choose File' (this depends on whether you are on a PC or Smartphone)
Find the file you want and click 'Open'
Click 'Add File'
Then put your cursor in the post where you want the picture to appear and click 'Place In Line'

As your screen is in German below the instructions in that language. This may differ as my PC operating system is in English and you may have chosen a different German dialect for JowettTalk.

Wenn Sie einen Forumspost bearbeiten, klicken Sie auf die Registerkarte 'Dateianhang Hochlagen'.
Klicken Sie auf 'Durchsuchen' oder 'Datei auswählen' (dies hängt davon ab, ob Sie auf einem PC oder Smartphone sind)
Finden Sie die gewünschte Datei und klicken Sie auf 'Öffnen'
Klicken Sie auf 'Datei hinzufügen'
Dann legst du den Cursor in die Post, wo du das Bild erscheinen möchtest und auf 'Im Betreig Anzeigen'

[Keith Clements]

The 'B' stands for BYTE which is 8 bits of memory that can be either set true (1) or false (0). A BIT is the smallest unit of storage. A pixel is a position within a picture frame which if it is a black and white picture is equivalent to BIT. But if the picture is colour or is Grayscale then additional bits are required to store the information about the PIXEL.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel

A BYTE used be what was required to store a language character encoded in something like ASCII. But now with the need to store international characters a single BYTE is not enough.

The 'Mi' stands for Mebi (1048576 bytes ) SEE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megabyte

Regarding pictures. Although Peter's phone may have stored the picture in RAW mode and thus taken up over 3 Million Bytes of his phone's precious memory whose capacity may be over 64000MB (64GB). Normally pictures are compressed and stored in a png or jpg file which results in them being a few magnitudes smaller.
Also software in his phone would compress the picture further to send it by email which is what he did to me. The picture I received was only 89000 BYTES (89kB).
This is what I attached and it is of quite acceptable quality.

Most phones and cameras have the capability of saying how pictures are stored whether RAW or COMPRESSED and by how much they are compressed. Pictures under 1MB give excellent quality and even less should be acceptable unless you are professional photographer.

I hope you realise that storing pictures on the website costs and is charged by the 100MB. Thus, unless you are storing something for the archive, compressing it just above the unacceptable quality is preferred.

There are many ways of compressing pictures. Smartphones will compress pictures before sending them by email or Facebook etc. . So send yourself an email and then download the picture you sent in the email and then attach that to your JowettTalk post. As explained in the help sections of JowettGallery an APP called Gallery REMOTE is available and will upload to the JowettGallery. It is available for Android and Windows (PC, Tablet or Phone). Also explained in the Help is the method of automatically compressing pictures using Gallery Remote. This is a little more complex to set up as it is Operating System dependent.

I am looking into ways of more easily interacting with the Gallery but technology moves very quickly and requires a lot of maintenance. Users' devices also change every year and accommodating people with the latest Smartphone or a 20 year old PC is not feasible. Updating Jowett.org to Jowett.net was an attempt to do this. Another upgrade may well take place and use CLOUD services to improve the experience BUT such a move LOCKS you into that company's Terms and Conditions which, as we have seen with PhotoBucket, can have serious consequences when the service changes. Although I have used such proprietary services for the Members' Map, my philosophy has been to use OPEN and FREE software and easily moveable hosting services. This not only reduces risk that we will not be held to ransom but also makes maintenance less onerous. Any comment welcome but in a different topic!

Technology can be frustrating (especially Jowetts) but with a little patience, doing a few Google searches to find out what to do, and some experimentation you can get a rewarding experience of winning against the technology and make life a whole lot easier. Honest!

[p.p.]

i did it send the pic to my e-mail adress and try to get it on the forum....to big!!! made it smaller, still to big.... reduced to a real small size, still to big....
maybe has to do with my computer....
so i send it to jowett family, maybe there are better as me....

iam still very frustrated....hope i will have a good indiansummer...
peter

[Chris Spencer]

Going to jump in here and add my thoughts - Keith will probably disagree - but has a forum user of several forums and not just the one - the platform that Jowett Talk is hosted upon is over complex - there are many forums out there that do not require the complexity of resizing images - they just take a little longer to upload that's all - the log on process for JT is also overly complex and I think it's time that a review by the users was taken into account (not the webmaster) JT is by the far the most complex to use out the forums that I subscribe to and is one the reasons that you don't find me on here that often and why I tend to post my restoration work elsewhere - goes against the grain really but some of us still have day jobs / other things to do and don't have several hours to resize / upload images along with a overly complex log procedure.

If a easy to use platform was utilised I am of the strong belief that it would attract more users hence be more active - just because our talented webmaster understands it / finds it easy does not mean that every other user / member finds it that user friendly

[Forumadmin]

I do not want to quell any discussion and welcome it. So if you know of forums that have the facility please put the link to them in your reply.
I realise that Facebook and YouTube have the facility and so too will most picture hosting sites. But I am interested in Forums that offer the facility. Most forums provide the ability to link to pictures stored on third party sites (as does JT) BUT you are then at the mercy of those sites continuing to provide the facility. Any PhotoBucket users will know only too well what has happened to their pictures. See the BBC newshere. Also, as reported a couple of years ago on JT, some other picture hosting sites had the ability to spread viruses and JT puts up a warning message to that effect.

Another thought is that the resizing is a compute intensive task and should be done on the user's device (not the server) . Sending a 3 MB picture also costs you in network bandwidth and cost when all you need is to send something 30 times smaller. Now these costs (compute time, storage time and network time) are all charged by hosting providers unless they are paid for by intrusive advertising.

Anyhow keep your ideas coming.

[Keith Clements]

I have done some research on the forum that Chris was using which seems to offer the ability to add pictures (although it was not available to me after I registered!) The site is hosted by Proboards who in the years that they have been offering the service have allowed links to other sites that host user's pictures. They are now on the fourth iteration going from Tinypic, ImageShack, Photobucket and are now on Imgur. The previous third party now demands $400 to continue viewing from third party sites.
Back in 2005/6 when I was designing the JowettTalk service I rejected such facilities since I was aware of the risks. At the time the forum did not have an attachment facility but you could store your pictures in your Gallery Album and link to them. I then added the attachment facility which stores the pictures on Jowett.net so that we never lose them. JT has always had the ability to link to external images which is what Proboards has as standard. But I make sure I download any such links if I see them since otherwise they will eventually produce boxes with crosses in them! This is not something I relish doing .
JowettGallery does resize images when you upload them but it also keeps the original size. You can reference either in your JowettTalk post.
I realise that there may be too many steps for some to add a picture to a post they have already started. I will look at how to reduce the number of steps. But have a look at the g2Img button described below that takes two clicks if the picture is in YOUR ALBUM.

When you login to JT you are taken to YOUR ALBUM page. So if you have some pictures you want to share why not click on add items and put them into your album? You only have to browse for the file and then two clicks and your file is uploaded and resized.
I realise there is not a SHARE button on your smartphone to do this when you are in camera mode, but there is on mine because I have added the Regal Android App just like when you added the Facebook or Twitter App to your phone.
With this it only takes the one click to add to my Gallery Album. If you have more than one album you can choose the destination to upload it into.
So it really IS EASY to add pictures to your Gallery Album.

Now to add a picture from your Gallery Album into your post. Click on the g2img button in the strip above your posting and choose the image (or images) you want to include and click SUBMIT
.

That is it. DONE.

Another way to use these in a JT post, is to click on the + below the picture in the Gallery or choose GET ITEM URLS in the menu .
You now have a choice of how to include your picture in your post. (Yes I could make it so you do not have to choose. Is that what you want?)
The choices give you a lot of flexibility in how to display and thus can help form a good narrative.


TOPIC Get Item Links procedure

I have said it many times before but storing your pictures in the Gallery means they can be referenced from anywhere by anyone. Not the case with attachments in JT or in the Proboards storage method. Gallery pictures can also be reorganised by a curator WITHOUT loosing the references to them. This is an important feature helping us build a useful archive.

I may well find time to reorganise the Attachment system and put them into the appropriate member's album. This is not a trivial task but might be worth it.
I may also find time to incorporate any suggestions forthcoming from this discussion.

[Forumadmin]

I have just tried this method for resizing a whole folder of images. Note I modified the batch file to put resized images in a new folder as the one in this mail changes the originals. So worth copying all the files before using that script.
https://www.howtogeek.com/tips/how-to-c ... n-windows/

The imagemagick software is also used by Gallery remote which allows a drag and drop facility and does auto resizing. Of course, only applies to Windows users.

Code: Select all

@echo off
Mkdir rs
for %%f IN (*.jpg) DO convert -quality 70 "%%f" "rs\%%f"