How to use the Gallery / Upload Pictures

**K-Man S** · #1 (**permalink**) 04-09-2007, 10:04 PM

Since there has been a lot of interest in how to get pictures into the forum in a message or even where to put them in our Gallery I took the time out to take some screen captures and make this step-by-step topic to hopefully answer all of your questions.

Step 1: The Gallery

The following image shows the Gallery home page. If you click on Gallery from the navigation at the top of the site home page or from the navigation panel on the left this is where you end up. The Gallery home page is divided into 2 primary sections.

Site Galleries (Main Site Photo Albums)
Member Galleries (Member Photo Albums)

Site Galleries or Photo Albums consist of mostly pre-defined categories for images to be uploaded into. These photos are all Cayman related, non-Cayman photos should not be uploaded to a site gallery. For the most part users cannot create new sub-categories in existing site galleries. One exception to this is the Cayman Events sub category where registered members do have the ability to set up new sub categories for the Cayman related events that they attended.

Member Site Galleries or Photo Albums are the place for individual members to create their own sub-categories and upload pictures of their car, their pets, whatever. How to set up sub categories will be shown below.

I often get the question "I have photos of my Cayman where should I upload them?" My suggestion is to take a couple of your favorite photos and upload them in the Site Gallery - Cayman Images, in the appropriate sub-category for the color of your car, for example Guards Red. Then take the rest of your photos and create your own personal photo album in the Member category section and upload your photos there. Please don't upload all of your photos to both places because you have a limited amount of photos you can upload (based on file size) and uploading duplicates will decrease your available upload space even further.

Step 2: Sub Categories

In order to keep the Gallery organized there are a number of sub categories in each Site Gallery, as well as members can create more sub categories in some site galleries and in their own personal member gallery.

I clicked on "Cayman Images" in the photo above and was taken into the Cayman Images gallery where I was presented with the list of available sub categories shown in the following image:

Please note the items described in this image regarding the Gallery navigation menu, the various sub categories, and information about the items in the categories.

Not shown in this image are the categories of Interior photos, wheels and tires etc. If you have a Guards Red Cayman and you take a picture of your interior please don't upload it to the Guards Red sub-category, instead please upload it to the Interior Photos category. Please read the category and sub category descriptions to find out what goes into or doesn't go into those categories. If you are unsure where something goes, please ask BEFORE you upload it to the Gallery. If you upload to the wrong spot and don't have the permissions to edit your photo then it creates more work for the admin/moderators to move your pictures around where they belong.

Sub categories are an important organizational tool, please use them!

Step 3: Sub Category Image Contents

I clicked on the Guards Red sub category in the image above and arrived at the page shown in the following image. This page is the contents of what photos have been placed into the Guards Red sub category.

Individual photos are shown in thumbnail views with a bit of quick information about each photo. To see the full size version of the thumbnail photo simply click on the photo (shown in next image). There will also be page navigation links if there are multiple pages of photos in this sub category. These operate the same way as in the forum so don't miss photos by missing the fact that there are multiple pages of photos.

You can also change the way photos are displayed on this sub category item view by changing selections in the drop down boxes and clicking the Show Images button.

Last, but not least, if you are looking at a sub category and want to immediately upload a photo into the sub category you are looking at you can do so using the Quick Upload box at the bottom of the page. Simply click the Browse button which will open up a file dialog box on your computer. Find the image you want to upload, select it and click OK in your file dialog box. Then fill in the image title, a brief description about the image you are uploading and then keywords that you think will be helfpul for someone trying to find your photo. To upload the photo click the Upload button. Your photo will then be transmitted to the website, placed into the category you are viewing and you will recieve a confirmation page. This works great if you are uploading one photo at a time, but there is another way to upload that I will show shortly if you want to do multiple photos at once.

Step 4: Image Detail

The image detail page can be reached by clicking on any thumbnail image. I clicked on the thumbnail in the previous image and arrived at the page shown in this next image:

The page has a quick forward and backward navigation above the full size photo. There are also links at the right for rating this image, or using tools to work with the image (such as editing it or emailing it). Below the primary image is the filmstrip of images in this same sub category. You can navigate images in this same sub category by clicking images in the filmstrip.

Below the filmstrip is some quick information about the photo such as who uploaded it, how large it is and how many times it has been viewed. Following this are three boxes that show the Direct Link code, the BB Image code and img tag code. You probably won't need the first or third item, but if you want this image to show up in a post topic thread in the forum then you will certainly need the BB Code. Simply highlight the code starting with the img tag and ending in the /img tag and copy the entire line of code. Then go to the forum message you want the image to appear in and paste that line of text into the message body. You can paste up to 8 images into a single message in this manner. Save/Submit your message in the forum and it will now have images embedded in it. It sometimes helps to have two browser windows open, one to grab items from the gallery, the other to paste items into forum messages.

Last, but not least there is a category jump button at the bottom of the page that will allow you to quickly move from one category to another.

Step 5: Creating a Category

There are two reasons why you may need to create a category (which by default will always be a sub category). First, if you have an event you attended that was Cayman related and you want to create a new sub category for that event in the Cayman Events category. The second reason you may need to create a category is to set up your own personal member category. All registered members have the ability to set up their own photo albums or galleries in the Members Photo Album section of the Gallery. The following photo shows how to get started:

Simply click on MY STUFF in the Gallery navigation links and choose "Category Admin" from the drop down box. You will then be shown a list of existing categories that you already have (if any). Click the "Add Category" button to add a new category (as mentioned previously these will always be sub categories but I'm using that term in the generic sense)

Step 6: Add Category Details

The next step is to fill in the details about the category you wish to create as shown in the following photo:

The first item is the Category Title, every category must have a title. Please try to make the title descriptive for what is in the category. For example: "Photos from May Fun Run 2007" etc.

The next item is a category description. Here you can add a bit more detail about what sort of photos are in this category or what you want people to upload to the category.

Next is the Parent Category selection. If you are adding a sub category under Cayman Events you would want to choose Cayman Events as your parent category. If you are adding your own personal photo album then you want to choose "Member Categories" as shown in the image example above.

If you have the option to password protect your album you can add a password next. Last, but not least are a series of check boxes where you can turn on or off certain features for the category you create. Please note that the administrator does have the ability to override your selections if necessary. You can also edit your category later and change selections if you make a mistake.

Finally, click the "ADD CATEGORY" button and your category will be created and will immediately be ready to receive photo uploads!

[ MORE INFORMATION ABOUT OTHER GALLERY FEATURES TO FOLLOW SOON! PLEASE REVISIT THIS TOPIC!]

**K-Man S** · #2 (**permalink**) 04-10-2007, 09:03 PM

Ok here we go with Part 2 of our Gallery series to help make it much easier for all of our members to upload photos and use features from the gallery.

Step 7: Upload Page & Mass Uploads

It is possible to upload more than one photo at a time via the Upload page. To access the Upload page simply click the Upload link in the Gallery navigation, shown in red in the next image. You will then be presented with the Upload page as shown here:

The first item on the page is a depiction of your stats, how many photos you've uploaded already, how much space they are taking up on the server and how much space you have left. Different user groups will have different restrictions on how much space is available to them, for example those who donate to the site get more space, sponsors also get more space, etc.

This is followed by 5 upload boxes with Browse buttons next to them. These work the same way as uploading an individual photo, simply click the Browse button, locate the file on your computer that you want to upload to the website and click ok to select that file. You can just do one file if you want to, or you can select up to 5 at one time.

The next box is for an image title, please fill this in. This title will apply to all images uploaded, although you will have a chance to change it after the uploads are finished and before your pictures show up in the gallery.

The same is true for the description, but you can have the description apply to all photos if you want to, for example: "Pictures from Big Bear Run" etc.

The next drop down box is where you choose what category you want to upload pictures into. You MUST choose the correct category. I sometimes see people leaving this as whatever showed up by default and their images end up in someone else's gallery! PLEASE take the time to select the proper category from this drop down box.

Next fill in any keywords you want to apply to these photos to make it easier for people to find them when you search.

The UserName box is only there for admins and moderators so we can upload pictures for you if needed. This is followed by a couple of check boxes. If you want to receive email updates whenever anyone replies to your photo or rates your photo simply check the box. If you want to add this photo to your list of photos check that box as well.

The last step is the click the SUBMIT button which I failed to capture in my screen capture photo above. Once you click submit it will start the upload process for all your photos. If you uploaded more than one you will receive a confirmation page where you can adjust photo titles, categories, etc. before making your upload permanent. This allows you to give them different names, and put them in different places. Once everything looks ok on the confirmation page approve the photos by clicking the PROCESS button to finalize your uploads and place them into the gallery.

Step 8: Finding New Items

Finding new photos or new posts about photos in the Gallery is pretty easy. If the icons are lit up green on the left they will say New alerting to the fact that something is new in that category since your last logon, but the icons don't tell you what and they clear with each logon. Therefore, there is an easier way to find new items, simply click the "WHAT'S NEW" link in the Gallery navigation as shown in this following image:

You will then get a pop-up drop down menu where you can select from different options for photos or posts, such as photos uploaded in the last day, or 5 days, up to 25 days. When you select from this drop down menu the page will be refreshed and you will be shown the photos that match the criteria you are looking for. (shown as clickable thumbnails).

Step 9: What's Popular - Top Images

Ever wondered what the most viewed images in the gallery are? How about the ones given the highest ratings? How about the ones that have received the most comments from viewers? Well you can find out all of those things by clicking the "WHAT'S POPULAR" link in the Gallery navigation and choosing the respective item from the drop down box as shown in this next image:

You will receive a list of photos with thumbnails that match the setting you have chosen. The Top 15 are shown in each instance.

Step 10: Rating Images

Any time you are viewing a photo in full size as shown in Step 4: Image Detail in the first post in this topic thread, there will be a drop down menu over to the upper right that says RATE IMAGE. Simply click this link and you will receive a drop down showing stars corresponding to how you would rate this particular image as shown in the next example image:

If an image receives enough votes it will show up on the Top 15 of the Top Rated images as described in Step 9.

Step 11: Image Tools

Any time you are viewing a photo in full size as shown in Step 4: Image Detail in the first post in this topic thread, there will be a drop down menu over to the upper right that says IMAGE TOOLS. Click this drop down link and a menu will appear showing the options available to you. Please note only certain user groups can edit or delete their photos once they have been uploaded, so not every option shown in the next example will be available to you.

The first option shown above is Edit Image and we will cover that in more detail in Step 12 below. The second option is Printable version, clicking this will show you the photo on a page that can be easily sent to your printer. The third option is Add to Favorites. If you find a photo you like, or maybe want to come back to in order to reference the photo time and time again in the future simpley choose to add it to your favorites. The next option is Reply to Image which allows you to post a message reply tied to that particular photo. The next option is send as e-card which allows you to send a greeting card to someone with this photo embedded into the online greeting card. If you've ever used an online greeting card or postcard site, this selection is similar. The next selection is to email the image to someone, handy for sending others you know pictures from the Cayman Club site gallery. The next option allows you to subscribe to the photo and receive email updates whenever the photo receives a rating or message reply. If you subscribe you don't have to keep coming back to check to see if anyone has responded to your photo as the site should send you an email if that event happens. The last option is to report the photo to a moderator. If you feel someone has uploaded something inappropriate and you want the site moderators to take a look at it, please use this link to report the image.

Step 12: Image Editing

I have been asked several times "How do I change my image title?" or "How do I move the image to the correct category?" Well the easy answer to that question is simply to choose EDIT IMAGE from the drop down image tools menu covered in Step 11. Once you select that option you will be presented with the following image editing page:

The first section shows a thumbnail of the existing current image. You can choose to rotate the image or flip it horizontally or vertically. (I don't use those features much) You can also REPLACE this image with another one by clicking the Browse button and choosing a different image from your computer to upload in its place.

All images that are uploaded are automatically resized for you.

The next box allows you to change the image's title.

The next drop down allows you to move the image to a different category. This is something all members should become familiar with in case you ever upload a picture to the wrong category now you know how to fix it!

The next box allows you to add or edit the description.

The next box allows you to add or edit keywords.

The final box allows users with permissions to do so to enter some image notes.

When you are finished editing simply click the SAVE CHANGES button and you are done!

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TROUBLESHOOTING

Sometimes members tell me that they tried to upload a photo and it failed. 9 times out of 10 it is because their photo was too large to start with and the resize autobot failed to resize it accordingly thus terminating the upload. You can overcome this problem by simply resizing the photo first on your computer using MS Paint, Photoshop, MS Office Photo Editor tools, or whatever you have on your computer that will resize for you.

If you have a problem other than a failed upload please email or PM the administrator or moderators and ask for help and we will try to help you as quickly and efficiently as we can.

john11 · #3 (**permalink**) 05-21-2007, 04:37 AM

I may have missed it, but does this thread address how to put a full sized photo into a forum message, as mentioned at the beginning? It seems to be more about how to use the gallery.

john11 · #4 (**permalink**) 05-21-2007, 05:25 AM

OK - I worked it out by trial and error - perhaps you could include a separate section on this (with heading)? Also instead of just saying BB, the link code could have a comment next to it saying this is what you use for putting a full-size picture in a message.

**K-Man S** · #5 (**permalink**) 05-21-2007, 11:54 AM

What is wrong with the comment in red next to the circled BB code in the images above in step 4? I thought that said exactly that, if you want a picture to show up in the forum you need to copy and paste the BB code link into the forum.

Irish · #6 (**permalink**) 05-20-2008, 03:25 AM

/Users/patrickmaharg/Desktop/IMG_0029.jpg

/Users/patrickmaharg/Desktop/IMG_0028.jpg

**K-Man S** · #7 (**permalink**) 05-20-2008, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Irish

/Users/patrickmaharg/Desktop/IMG_0029.jpg

/Users/patrickmaharg/Desktop/IMG_0028.jpg

Patrick what is it you are trying to do? You cannot link to an image on your desktop, you must upload the photo to the gallery first as described in the messages above with the step by step instructions.