Thumbnails!

[deusex]

I've just converted all the posted pics to thumbnails.

One of the new features of the board is the ability to post mutliple pics per message. No one was using it. I just did a test post, and realized that with multiple pictures per message, they were coming up as links, which was kind of stupid.

I found a setting in the admin part of the baord to now make them thumbnails. This should not only make it more convenient, but should also help me cut down on bandwidth, as you can now tell if the picture is something you want to see or not.

I may be a little inconvenient if you want to see all the large pictures at once, but the large pics just eat up the bandwidth of the site. I think the thumbnails also make the forums work better, as large pictures don't break the formatting of the board.

If you want to see just how well this new system can work, just check out this thread with four posts by one of our new members:

http://usg-online.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1214

You can still see the large pictures, you just have to click on the thumbnails!

Hopefully this won't upset too many people (and hopefully will make some people happy!)

[Nick]

Hi John,

I know Bandwith is expensive :( The only problem, I am having is, I can't click anything on for pics.. I click on Thumbnails and etc and nothing happens? :( Unless maybe you are working on it now?

If the Thumbnails saves you money and Bandwith, go for it. :p

[deusex]

Ok,

I really need more opinions on this. I personally find the thumbnails quite pleasing.

When someone posts 8 pictures in a thread that are 800x600 pixels at about 100k each. Every time a person views that thread, all 8 large pictures load. We're getting 1000 visitors to the boards each day now, and my estimates are a least half of those people are viewing the latest threads.....so that's like 98 megabyte just for that one thread per day.

Don't get me wrong, I want everyone to be happy, but try to give the new system a chance. I'll post a poll and try to get a feeling for how everyone is feeling.

My other option is to start deleting pics as they get old (like after a month)

Nick,

I'm not sure what the problem is. You just click on the small picture in a post, and a larger picture will appear in a new window. The only reason I can see this not working is for some reason you have some program running that prevents new windows from opening. If you can't get it working, please email me and let me know more details about what is happenning when you try to click a small image. my email is john@usg-online.com - don't worry, we'll figure this out.

[briefsguy]

hey John

thanks again to take time to make this forum more pleasant each day...
Thumbnails are a good idea if you need to reduce the broadband, of course. I think it would be a pity to delete the old pics, and of course I don't think to mines...

[briefsguy]

yes John, I totally agree with Keen, make what you think is the better for us, this site is for me incredible of hot guys (hot friends could I say) and I'm totally OK to click on thumbnails if this allow us to keep the site growing up... (OMG... my english is really bad today... :eek: :D )

[skinnyboy]

i prefer the large pics , but this way its easier to post, its a great site so hey any new idea is worth a shot, love the new layout etc so thanks for the work you have done so us guys can have a great time

PJ

[Unregistered]

I think the new thumbnail system is better than the old system cos you can select the pics you want to take a closer look at, as opposed to havin to wait AGES for them ALL to enlarge whether you like them or not.

[mtc]

Hi John

For those of us who live in the boonies and are condemned to a so-slow 56k dial up, the thumbnails are real progress!
Thank You for making the site - which is a daily delight(^_^) - more accessible.

Malcolm
aka "mtc"

[Bruno]

The start of this topic shows 6 votes and a note stating I am not permitted to vote. Anyway, here's my input: thumbnails work great for me. I can quickly scan the oferrings and decide whether I want to see the full size.
Bruno

[deusex]

The start of this topic shows 6 votes and a note stating I am not permitted to vote. Anyway, here's my input: thumbnails work great for me. I can quickly scan the oferrings and decide whether I want to see the full size.
Bruno

Bruno,

Sorry about that. With the new upgrade, there are so many new options and places to change options. A user can have various title and reputation levels, each with different levels of permissions. Each forum can also have it's own permissions. It's all very confusing, and I'm still in a learning process.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I found a setting that prevented users from voting if they hadn't made at least 100 posts. I've changed this now, so you should be able to vote.

sorry about that,

[Nick]

Hi John

For those of us who live in the boonies and are condemned to a so-slow 56k dial up, the thumbnails are real progress!
Thank You for making the site - which is a daily delight(^_^) - more accessible.

Malcolm
aka "mtc"


Hi Malcom,

I am too stuck with dail up.. and like the thumbnails. Makes for faster loading and to skip pix you don't want to see. :moon

[deusex]

Nick,

I see you found the new smilies I added yesterday. Thought some of them would be cute to have on the board.

[Nick]

Hi John..

Have any dirty ones? LOL!! :bath :rolleyes:

[iluvundies]

Being stuck with dial-up access, I too prefer the thumbnails. Even if I had high speed, I always prefer to see the thumbnail image before looking at the larger one. :hump

[NHundielover]

even though i don't have dial up, i think they're a good thing (for the reasons people already mentioned above)

[stevempls]

Thanks for switching to thumbnails! Frankly, under the full-size system I stopped looking at the pic posts because of the time involved. It's great how you continue to improve the site.

[mtc]

Guys
I thought I was one of the few people in the Wn World stuck with dial-up . . reading these posts has cheered me a great deal!

Malcolm

[nutnuzzler]

I don't mind the thumbnails, but I agree with the earlier statement about the opening and closing of windows. Is there any way to change it so that when you choose to enlarge the thumbnail, it does so in the same window? That way, we can just hit the backspace key or the back arrow.

BTW, after you see how this goes as a means to save bandwidth, consider allowing larger posts. :blowme

(The above smilie should be named ":blowyou" in my case. :p )

[deusex]

nutnuzzler,

I'll see if someone has come with a hack for the board to allow images to open in the same window. I agree, that would be best. The code for the message board is very complicated, and I'm not sure if I know enough about php to be able to make the change myself.

As for the picture sizes, do you really want a picture larger than 800x600? That's a pretty big size for the screen. Even with my 21 inch monitor (yes, i'm a size queen), they show up pretty big. :)

[Unregistered]

Thumbs (and other bits) up from me. Much faster and easier to work with. Well done once again Deusex, you have your finger on the pulse (of more than one thing I'm sure).

[deusex]

Thumbs (and other bits) up from me. Much faster and easier to work with. Well done once again Deusex, you have your finger on the pulse (of more than one thing I'm sure).



Thanks!

I'm afraid I can't take all the credit though. I'm just turning options on and off on this great new piece of software that Jelsoft has made. With each new update, it keeps getting better and better.

The only thing I've done to the message boards is make them prettier. :)

It seems like the thumbnails are a hit, we'll be keeping them.

I'm still trying to find a fix so that the images don't open in a new window when you click on them though. I'd prefer to make it an option that each user can choose.

[jock10]

Thumbs up to the Thumbnails. :)

[The Bondsman]

DEFINITELY the thumbnails. It gives you a very quick overview and you can then enlarge those that do it for you. Broadband is not available out here, and waiting for the whole bunch of big pics to download on a 56K modem is VERY frustrating!
Thanks for providing this option deusex! Great work!
Regards from THE BONDSMAN

[lycrathong]

Definitely thumbnails. I have a slow internet connection, and often had to wait several minutes for a page with full size images to download.

[rebel_heart]

the thumbnail system is better than placing all the pictures in their original sizes all at once. it makes it easier for those hungry eyes to overview the pics posted by the users and it also hastens the downloading time. compared with the old system, it usually takes a longer time for the pictures to load. :)

good job!

[nutnuzzler]

As for the picture sizes, do you really want a picture larger than 800x600? That's a pretty big size for the screen. Even with my 21 inch monitor (yes, i'm a size queen), they show up pretty big. :)
Well, I do, yes, although my main issue isn't the actual dimensions but the KB limitation. I sometimes have to compress the images I have more than I'd like to "fit" them, and compression loses quality. (Got a 23" myself. :D )

I wish more guys would post at 800x600. Some of the pictures are too small.