Bigger images within a thread

[lotusflower]

Hi Dirk and All,

Marc's idea's are good. I do not take advantage of the graphic downloads but it is clear to see what Marc is referring to. Second photo is much more detailed, sharper and clearner looking than the first.

I have also found that navigating this site has proven a bit chaotic and time consuming.

I checked Fred's site and not only is it much more pleasing to look at (no offense intended), but easier to navigate.

Is there a way to keep old, but still valuable knowledge bases without a 3rd tier, something called archives: Old Contax Gear indexed by dates and topics as search critierias within the main topic or pre-determined topics?

G. Ashton

 

[dirk]

Hi G,

I am not sure whether I understood exactly your question. Do you mean an automatic separation of old postings after a certain while in archives and new postings that are directly accessable under the same topic?

We can make automatic archiving. These archives are still searchable over the search function. The only drawback would be that it is less convenient to read online. If you look at some N-system threads about the ND, you will see some archives there at the buttom. Click here:

http://www.contaxinfo.com/cgi-bin/discus/board-auth.cgi?file=/14047/91.html

We tried that for a while although I do not know whether the user is really looking in these archives, or whether he is just asking the same question again just for the convenience. Normally the word "archive" is already a barrier to click on (psychologically). Maybe I am wrong on that point. We just do not want to stress too much the support of the more experienced users by answering always the same questions of new users.

"I have also found that navigating this site has proven a bit chaotic and time consuming"

This is a very intersting point. What exactly did you find in the past chaotic and time consuming while using this forum.

- Can you describe for what you have been looking at that moment in our forum and at Fred's?
- Have you used the search function or did you click through the topics?
- Were you looking for something specific or did you just want to read new messages?

I am asking in that detail to find out where we could improve things. Depending on your desire one structure is better than the other. We have to find out how most of our members are using this forum to evaluate what needs to be improved.

Fred's site is clearly "forcing" its users to visit the site daily. Otherwise you will not be able to keep up with all new postings. I doubt that users are looking what was written 3 days ago as far as I undersood Marc, but Marc can correct me on that if I am wrong at this point. That is why I am a little bit surprised to hear you find Fred's easier to navigate. Or do you mean the bigger buttons etc for navigation, which makes it easier to see and use?

There is also no automatic e-mail notification with the incl. posting as we do. They use similar to Photo.net a case by case notification, which you have to set up individually as soon as a new thread is there.

But maybe most of the user do not care about this e-mail notification? I found it always very convenient since it is a very good compromise between Forum and mailing list - from both worlds the best part. You can read even in the office without the knowledge of your colleages

But also this has to be discussed. Maybe the majority thinks differently.

Regarding the "layout" of our site, there is obviously nothing to discus. I think we all agree unfortunately on that point

But hiring somebody to make a nice layout is expensive (if you do not know how to do it yourself), so we can only improve on that one, if we have more income/ subscribers.

 

[djg]

Hi Dirk,

I for one find the 130KB size, especially for the gallery, very restrictive. I normally prepare the images for my website at 1024 pixels on a side, and in color I sometimes run to 300KB or more, although more common is around 200-250KB. Creating different versions gets to be a pain . Any chance of enhancing that limit?

Also it would be nice if you could include a link to member's websites in the profile.

Cheers,

DJ

 

[fotografz]

DJ, wouldn't that be a really huge size for dial up folks to wait for?

Any way, here's the same image at the new 130ppi 800X800 size...

Dial-up members should comment on load time.

 

[fotografz]

WOWZER!!!!!!!

Now that's how a Contax image should be presented!

(BTW, this image was printed 30"X30").

I also see I need to cut back on the sharpening a wee bit.

Anyway, thanks Dirk!!!!!

 

[djg]

"I also see I need to cut back on the sharpening a wee bit."

Yeah, I know the feeling, but in my case it's usually the tonal adjustments. Is the tux pretty much all solid black in the original, or did the compression eat away shadow detail?

As far as file size, I'm referring more for the gallery, not the forum images, since you have the choice what to view there. I keep forgetting there are people dialing up still

. They probably avoid my website, assuming they can even find it ... it's unlisted and has an unrememberable (is that actually a word???) name - don't worry I'm not quitting my day job ...

I do need to get that 85/1.4 though.

DJ

 

[lotusflower]

1. I meant an archival system on the same topic but in two separate folders, not all topics thrown into one archive folder. Perhaps new and old kept separate but in the same folder. Contax ST topics, old and new in same folder each with its own folder. Same with assessories, lenses, etc.

In response to the psychological factor of naming a folder "Archive," The archived information folder does not have to be called "Archives" the folder can be given a catchy name that draws attention to it but reflects the age of the camera, or assessory, etc. as no longer being produced by Contax or Yashica with the date item began production and date item went out of production.

Ex. When I first found this Contax Forum sight I had been searching for Information on Contax ST but specs and more detailed information was not as available as Contax N or 645 etc. the ST did not have its own folder, that I had found. Further, Bits and pieces of information on the ST had been found in different threads, but not well covered in any one thread as other Contax gear. I believe this is still the case.

As to whether people are looking at the archives I can only say that I did, esp, given the fact that there were no discussions back in January, 2004 regarding the ST. I had to rely on archival information and tidbits I could gather from other more recent and active discussion threads generally unrelated to the ST. This was time consuming and took me weeks, on and off to accomplish and still there was little information on the ST. I believe that remains the case today

Additionally, what I meant by time consuming is that often a thread starts out discussing one topic then at times goes off on other subjects which are similar Ex. one might be discussing the 645 and another member may bring up the ST. Now someone searching for ST information may not know that the is valuable/helpful information on the ST on another thread.

As for the layout, I look forward to the day it can be redone as I believe it will make things easier to understand. There should be a complete index of the forums content right up front and clickable permitting me quicker access the the precise information I need without clicking Forum first than reading through the topics to find what I am looking for. Again you may use the ST as a perfect ex&le here.

As for e-mails I definately care. As I stated in another thread I would prefer access to both e-mails and direct forum.

G. Ashton

 

[lotusflower]

By the way, I use dial-up and the tulips photo at the test forum took approx. 3 minutes to download at max. dialup speed of 50.667. 3 minutes just about maxed out my tolerance level.

I did not note the KB or Pixels, sorry.

 

[dirk]

Hi DJ,

are you registered at the photo gallery with a telocity e-mail address?

Try it out now. Since you are Gold member, you can upload in the photo gallery files up to 2 MB big (should not be used too often because of users with slow connections), Silver members have a file size limit for each photo of 500KB and Bronze members of 130 KB.

The photo gallery uses a software, that is resizing the images for creating thumbnails and for adjusting the pixel size, if it was originally uploaded with a too big pixel size (more than 800 pixel on the longest side). Maybe this is decreasing the quality too.

The above restriction are for the photo gallery only, not the forum. And we are trying to install a new version of that software which should be better.

If there is

 

[dirk]

... I forgot to add:

If the majority is thinking, a bigger pixel size in the photo gallery (not the forum) is necessary, please suggest this. We could increase it from currently 800 to 1024. My only concern is the copyright protection. The bigger the images are getting, the more likely "thiefes" are attracted.

This new software version has more choices to protect that with watermarks etc.

There is also now a field in everybody's profile to add a link to the own homepage. Just click on "profile" in the navigation bar.