[Dave]

Up until now we had clear photosharing categories in the Gallery, to allow members to place shots they wanted feedback on. Only problem was , the "recent shots" section at the top of the Gallery showed shots from all categories, so it was never clear which shots to concentrate feedback on from this section. This is a limitation of the software.

Well I'm glad to say after a hard days coding, Steve has finally cracked the code Recent shots will only show shots that have been uploaded into the relevant "photosharing categories of:-

• Landscape Photography
• People Photography
• Urban, Abstract & Still Life Photography
• Wildlife / Animal Photography
• MonoChrome Photography
• Sports Photography

This should make it a lot easier for people to see at a glance, shots which members defintiely want feedback on Of course you can still drop down into the categories themselves to see shots & give feedback. In addition nothing has changed re loading shots to your own personal galleries & people are still free to leave feedback when browinsing these also.

We hope you find this change of benefit & request we all make the effort to feedback on others shots accdordingly

[Dave]

Guidelines where to place shots in Gallery

I want immediate feedback on my shot

Upload shot into relevant Gallery Photo Sharing category :-

• Landscape Photography
• People Photography
• Urban, Abstract & Still Life Photography
• Wildlife / Animal Photography
• MonoChrome Photography
• Sports Photography

Your shot will show under :-

• the category you placed it
• recent shots
• your own gallery
• potentially random shots

I'm not specifically after feedback , but still want to leave the option open

Upload your shot into your personal Pixalo Gallery. Your shot will show under :-

• your own gallery
• potentially random shots

I don't want any feedback

Create a private subgallery within your Pixalo personal gallery. Upload your shots there. No one can see or comment on the shot apart from you. Please note you can still post the photo into other forum threads or PIMP that PHOTO replies

I want my shot PIMPED

Upload shot into relevant Gallery Photo Sharing category :-

• PIMP THAT PHOTO

Your shot will show under :-

• the category you placed it
• your own gallery
• potentially random shots

I want to share my PIMPED shot

Create a private subgallery in your personal gallery. Upload shot into that gallery. Paste the IMG link for that shot, into the PIMP THAT PHOTO thread of choice.

Your shot will show under :-

• the thread within category you placed it

Posting shots into Community Forums

I want to post multiple releated photos in one place for comment

Upload photos into personal Pixalo gallery. Create thread in http://www.pixalo.com/community/photo-sharing/ & paste IMG links in your thread to show shots.

Your shot will show under :-

• Community Forum
• your own gallery
• potentially random shots

Alternatively you can post shots externally from Pixalo (abiding 200K limit & 1000 Pixel limit per shot please) ,into your thread.

I want in depth critique of shot

Upload photos into personal Pixalo gallery. Create thread in http://www.pixalo.com/community/photo-critique/ & paste IMG link in your thread to show single shot.

Your shot will show under :-

• Community Forum
• your own gallery
• potentially random shots

Alternatively you can post shot externally from Pixalo (abiding 200K limit & 1000 Pixel limit per shot please) ,into your thread.

Hope these guidelines help

[Joseph McGarraghy]

Thanks, friends, for all the work that you put into managing this site.

[Dabhand16]

Well done, Crew I have felt for some time that the gallery needed some attention, and I have to say that, as always, the Crew have taken a measured evaluation and come up with an excellent solution. Your guidelines ought to make it easier for everyone.

One thing that struck me as I read this thread is would it be possible to give the recent photos their own link, like the individual categories? The space currently occupied by the recent photos could then be dedicated to more random images. That way we can easily access the recent photos to see what is new regardless of category, and with more random images being displayed, a greater selection of images that maybe would not be viewed as much will be more visible.

It must be infuriating to make changes as you have done here and then get more suggestions!!

[Steve]

Recent photos are only pulled from the different categories that are for feedback and critique. Therefore they are the new photos that are uploaded into any category apart from users galleries or competition sections. If we changed that to random it would pull pictures from all the galleries and include photos of any age which is totally counter productive to getting feedback.

We also cannot make a separate recent photos section (like the other links) as you would then have no need for all the other sections such as mono, architecture etc. Pictures you upload can only be associated with one category, the only reason they are (sometimes) visible in two is if the owner has uploaded them to a none personal gallery as they are also associated with that user (as so by default will be in their gallery) as well as their chosen upload category.

That I think? Covers your question as I understand it, but its not unusual for me to misunderstand so if I have got it wrong please let me know

[Dave]

Should have addeed , personal thanks to Steve on this one.....I've been badgering him for ages about hacking this .....& I'm the one who preaches to use everything "out of the box" to prevent overheads at work

[Rob Barron]

Brilliant work Steve and Dave, wtg mateys. As always, top notch work on our behalf!

Cheers,
Rob

[Dabhand16]

Steve - I realise that the 'recent photos' ARE the latest ones uploaded into the other sections, but it just occurred to me as I was reading about the changes that instead of them showing on the main gallery page, they could have a dedicated link so that just as you might want to view the 'sports' or 'mono' sections, you could equally opt to view the recent photos from every section in one place. This would in no way make the other sections redundant, just as the display of the recent photos on the main page does not make the sections unnecessary, and feedback could still be left here.

I know you could argue that the existing set-up does this, (puts all of the latest photos in one place), but if there was a 'recent photos' section it would allow more room for random images, which I find brings me images I might not otherwise see.

Sorry if I'm not making this very clear, but it is only something that occurred to me. Not exactly a ground-breaking idea that will change the way the world works!

[Steve]

I didn't fully understand what you meant initially but after you last post its very clear now.

Unfortunately that would mean re-writing a great deal of the gallery software code including database queries and ultimately would move the gallery to far away from its origins. That would in turn make keeping the software updated and secure into a larger time consuming task and if I am being totally honest, the potential benefit of what you suggest is far outweighed by the continued work it would take to implement and keep running into the future.

Sorry but on this occasion despite the idea/suggestion being sound it just isn’t worth the extra work that would be required.

[Dabhand16]

No worries, Steve, I just flagged up the thought. Just as with any other ideas that come out of the membership, the 'cost'/benefit balance has to be the main consideration, and I certainly would not advocate doing things that are not straightforward and easily achieved.

As I have absolutely no idea of how the system works and the amount of work needed to make changes, I (we) just prop up the ideas for consideration, and if it is easy to do and you agree with the idea it is adopted, and if it is 'off the wall' or just too much hassel to do, is isn't. That's fine. No problem.

I'm sure you would not want us not to throw in these ideas. There have been some really good things adopted as a result of a bright idea.

We all appreciate that the Crew strive to ensure the forum reflects the view of the membership as far as possible, and since I've been a member, the site has made improvements both in the content and in it's presentation.

Well done and thank you all.

[Steve]

Graham

I have been having a think about your recent suggestion regarding latest additions vrs random images been shown, and while what you suggest is not possible (for the reasons already given) I think I may have a different solution that allows some middle ground between what we have now and what you would like.

I’ll take a look at the code later today to see if I can get my idea working correctly and have a chat with the rest of crew about its potential impact on the site.

I am making no promises other than to say I am looking into this further.

[Dabhand16]

Steve - only if you and the rest of the Crew think it worth doing. I do not expect this site to be customised to suit me!!!

[Steve]

No problem that's why I said "discuss it with the crew"

If it can be done and we all think its a good idea you'll see it happen

[Steve]

We now have an extra block of 15 random photos (taken from all gelleries) displayed at the bottom of the different categories on the Members Gallery Homepage.

Thats the best we can do but hopefully it will be beneficial to some