New Home and other challenges.

[gstark]

New home, new portal

Ok, we're now running from Bluehost, with an upgrade to phpbb 3.02 and a new portal. Please let me know what challenges and issues you come across.

We only have the one theme, but Leigh's done a great job on the banners at the top of the forms. Check them out; there's a couple of ... interesting ones for you to enjoy.

The change went mostly ok. I had one issue that frustrated me. There's a load setting in phpbb3 that whereby it says that you can set it to a value (of CPU usege) at which point it will shut down the board. Seems like a good idea, but it describes its settings as being referenced back to 1.0, with 1.0 being 100% utilisation for 1 minute. That suggests that if I want to set this to 45%, I should set a value of 0.45, which I did, and that forced the board to be disabled. With just one user: me!

Strange.

I have the DNS changes for all of the domain names set in motion, but that may take a day or two to propogate. Should be fine by the weekend to switch to dslrusers.com.

Enjoy.

DSLRUsers Final 2008 Challenge
The challenge has now closed. Entry details were provided in the main thread for this challenge. Judging is currently underway.

This year there is a veritable flotilla of prizes, provided by Servaas Products, HKSupplies & Wolf Eyes Torches.

First prize will be a Maha Powerex MH-C9000 AA Battery Charger Analyser with either two packs of the Low Self Discharge Imedion AA batteries or High Capacity 2700 mah Powerex AA batteries, a perfect choice for any photographer who uses a flash. Second prize is the Maha Powerex MH-C204W Travel Charger and prize winners choice of a pack of Imedion or Powerex AA batteries. Third prize is a 2 level Wolf Eyes Defender torch and fourth prize is an Angel AA LED torch. Fifth and onwards prizes are being allocated now, based on the last challenge it looks like every entrant will win a prize!

More information on this challenge in this thread.

Supplementary Prize for Part 2 entrants only For those whose lives were too busy to get an entry into the first part we have a supplementary prize for entrants in part 2 only - For a change a torch, a single level sample of the Defender torch. So no reason not to enter Part 2. Good Luck.


Saturday 6 December 2008 - DSLRUsers MELBOURNE Christmas BBQ
This year's Christmas get together for Melbourne members will be a BBQ at the home of member Pucara. Thank you for your hospitality, Carlos. Details are in the thread.



Saturday 13 December 2008, 2 pm- DSLRUsers SYDNEY Christmas BBQ at Sheepie's
This year our Sydney Christmas get together (and prize giving for the above challenge - DSLRUsers Final 2008 Challenge) is at Sheepie's (Leon and Manda) and more details are available here.


Sunday 14 December 2008 - DSLRUsers ADELAIDE Christmas Picnic
This year's Christmas get together for Adelaide members will be a picnic, meeting at the rotunda near the Festiva; theatre. Full details are in the thread.


Regular 2x2 Photo Meets

The first 2009 2x2 Photo meet in Sydney will be on Saturday 7 February 2009, followed by one on Saturday 11 April 2009

[ATJ]

Good job. The new host appears to be working OK for me so far.

[Greg B]

WOW! It is fast. There appear to be a few very minor glitches, but this is truly fantastic.

Great work Gary and Leigh.

[pucara]

Well done Gary that's fast now ...

[radar]

Great stuff, works fine here and does seem much faster. I like the new look as well. The tabs at the top should work very nicely.

Leigh, well done on the banners, a good variety of them up there.

Not all the smileys show up when composing the reply but that's minor for me.

thanks heaps,

André

[ABG]

Much faster for me too Gary. All your hard work has paid off. Thanks and congratulations.

[Glen]

Much faster here Gary, thank you.


I thought the M8 etc were just your cameras

[gstark]

Glad it's mostly working for y'all.

André

Not all the smileys show up when composing the reply but that's minor for me.

Thank you. That should now be fixed.

A couple of issues that I'm seeing ... a couple of odd fields in the profile area next to your posts, and the word "signature" on the signature separator line ....

There should be some Ajax code that lets you move the blocks around on the portal page: that was working for me in the test version of the site, but it's not now working. I need to try to figure out why that is the case.

But if you click on the block headers on the portal page, you can toggle between opening and closing those blocks.

[gstark]

The other issue that I'm seeing is that, if I try to open more than one page at a time, I find I'm being logged out. Don;t now if that's related to the domain name not matching the cookies, or something else ... if I just use just the one page, all seems to be ok.

[Jonesy]

Thanks Gary and leigh for your time and efforts...

I could see the bargains prices on the front page with out being logged in... not sure if that's an issue

[chrisk]

fast as all hell here. great job.
just a question, the page is only taking up half of my screen rather than taking up the whole screen, can i change that somehow in my setings ?

[ATJ]

The other issue that I'm seeing is that, if I try to open more than one page at a time, I find I'm being logged out. Don;t now if that's related to the domain name not matching the cookies, or something else ... if I just use just the one page, all seems to be ok.

Gary, I have been opening multiple pages and not being asked to log in. In fact, the only time I have had to log in was this morning when I switched to dslrusers.net.

[gstark]

Thanks Gary and leigh for your time and efforts...

I could see the bargains prices on the front page with out being logged in... not sure if that's an issue

Can you describe that in a bit more detail for me please?

I have the bargains block - leftmost column on the portal page - available globally, so that should be able to be seen by everyone now. Likewise, there's a bargains tab at the top that is seen globally.

If you're not logged in, the links from each of those should take you to an error page. Is that what you're seeing? If so, fine. If not ...

[gstark]

fast as all hell here. great job.
just a question, the page is only taking up half of my screen rather than taking up the whole screen, can i change that somehow in my setings ?

Chris, could you please describe that in more detail? The left and right columns are each 200px wide on the portal page. The center column should be about 450 - 500 px wide.

[ATJ]

Chris, could you please describe that in more detail? The left and right columns are each 200px wide on the portal page. The center column should be about 450 - 500 px wide.

I see the same thing. The centre column is always the same width no matter how wide the browser window is. I just get grey to the left and the right of the centre column. On the old system the page would stretch from left to right.

[chrisk]

it used to take up my whole screen. now it looks like this with the big gaps at either end.

[radar]

Same at Andew as well, on Mac OS X and safari. Not such a big deal for me.

Another small issue, when looking at the recent topics, it only displays 9 for me. If I click on Yesterday or last 24 hours, it will still only show today but I will also be logged out. Might be that there are only nine for today and I'm just being over zealous

Nice to see that with the upgrade, when we click on a topic, it brings us to the end of the discussion

What are these jokes that show up at the end of posts when one is in as a guest
Cheers,

André

[phillipb]

Not sure if it's an issue or not as I don't know what these numbers are meant to do, but when I go into the recent topics tab and click on the numbers in brackets (1- 2) next to some of the topics it goes in to an error page.
Otherwise, quite fast for me too.

[Nnnnsic]

This is actually something I told Dad about when we were testing it. The webpage (or rather theme template) has a fixed size as opposed to a fluid size. I generally prefer the fluid sizing, but I can see where the fixed sizing this has works better in some areas like tabs, banner control, etc.

[chrisk]

fixed size ? wow...that would suck.
if that is true can we make it bigger ?

[CraigVTR]

Well done Gary. The site is fast and I like the layout, nice and easy to use.

When I am on the portal page the POW does not display, I see all the info about the image and who it was selected by, but cannot see the image.

[Glen]

Craig, I broke the POW, tried the new system which wasn't working, so used the old system which broke it!

[gstark]

fixed size ? wow...that would suck.
if that is true can we make it bigger ?

Chris,

Thanx, I see what you mean.

I very rarely use a browser in full screen mode, so I don't actually get affected by the issue that you're seeing. I prefer to (need to) use my screen real estate for other stuff as well.

Let me see if I can do something about it for you.

I will have a look at the PotW thing later on; I'm not sure that I can fix it from here (being at the radio station, going to air in about 20)

[gstark]

What are these jokes that show up at the end of posts when one is in as a guest

Please explain ... ????

[radar]

Gary,

If I am not logged in, so viewing the site as a guest, when I look at a topic, in this case, the image of the Bondi pano, I get various entries as follows:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet
This joke is much bigger and will be displayed after every message visible for guest only. Should it switchable too? .

Curabitur ac lorem et
This is a big joke which appears after every first message for guest users, switchable of cource... .

Cheers,

André

[gstark]

Gary,

If I am not logged in, so viewing the site as a guest, when I look at a topic, in this case, the image of the Bondi pano, I get various entries as follows:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet
This joke is much bigger and will be displayed after every message visible for guest only. Should it switchable too? .

Curabitur ac lorem et
This is a big joke which appears after every first message for guest users, switchable of cource... .

Cheers,

André

That's some boilerplate text that is used in blogs and stuff as a filler. Thanx; I need to find where that's coming from and drop a left handed hammer on it.

[ATJ]

email notifications aren't working. You probably already know this, but just in case you didn't...

[blacknstormy]

all good here Gary - bloody fast !!!!
Only weird thing is next to our location is 'given' and 'thanks' - and 'received' and 'thanks' - are we going religious ????

[scott s]

one thing I have noticed, on the recent topics page, if i click on a topic, all is well, but if i choose to click on , say page 3 of that topic, IE cant find the page. Dont know if this has been spotted before but i thought i'd mention it. BTW . great work on the 'new' site !!
super fast again !!!

[gstark]

but just in case you didn't...

No, I didn't, so thanx.

Rel,

I already mentioned those in an earlier post. I suspect they relate to some cusom fields that I've not enabled, but which have been hard coded into the templates. I'll look at them later today.

[ATJ]

I already mentioned those in an earlier post. I suspect they relate to some cusom fields that I've not enabled, but which have been hard coded into the templates. I'll look at them later today.

They might be related to the "social network" aspects of the software. I have seen other sites where you can thank people. The fields would show how many times you have "thanked" someone else and also how many times someone has "thanked" you.

[blacknstormy]

Rel, I already mentioned those in an earlier post.

sorry

[gstark]

Rel, I already mentioned those in an earlier post.

sorry

No need to apologise.

Andrew,

May be. I'll be home in about an hour; will look at it then. Ish.

[Jonesy]

Can you describe that in a bit more detail for me please?

I have the bargains block - leftmost column on the portal page - available globally, so that should be able to be seen by everyone now. Likewise, there's a bargains tab at the top that is seen globally.

If you're not logged in, the links from each of those should take you to an error page. Is that what you're seeing? If so, fine. If not ...

Thanks Gary, thats what I'm seeing...
I was looking at the Bargains block and seeing the prices on the portal page (when not logged in) but when i clicked the link i was shown the error page.

Your across it though so its all good

[gstark]

Not sure if it's an issue or not as I don't know what these numbers are meant to do, but when I go into the recent topics tab and click on the numbers in brackets (1- 2) next to some of the topics it goes in to an error page.
Otherwise, quite fast for me too.

one thing I have noticed, on the recent topics page, if i click on a topic, all is well, but if i choose to click on , say page 3 of that topic, IE cant find the page. Dont know if this has been spotted before but i thought i'd mention it. BTW . great work on the 'new' site !!
super fast again !!!

Thanx. I think you're both talking about the same issue. Should now be fixed

all good here Gary - bloody fast !!!!
Only weird thing is next to our location is 'given' and 'thanks' - and 'received' and 'thanks' - are we going religious ????

Should now be fixed as well.

Thanks Gary, thats what I'm seeing...
I was looking at the Bargains block and seeing the prices on the portal page (when not logged in) but when i clicked the link i was shown the error page.

Ok, perfect.

[gstark]

What are these jokes that show up at the end of posts when one is in as a guest

Leigh says he has seen these, but I have not. At least, not with Safari/OS X nor with FF on XP Home.

Does it happen only on specific threads, or perhaps with some missing data (a missing signature perhaps?) or ..... ????

I'm puzzled.

email notifications aren't working. You probably already know this, but just in case you didn't...

Can I please have more details on this aspect, Andrew? I may have even turned something off.

I do not want to have the RSS feeds active, because of the load that can impose upon the server. I expected that turning off subscriptions might have achieved that goal. I was wrong.

[surenj]

Super fast! Well done Gary and Leigh. The current theme is great with the cool gear photos on the top.

I am not a fan of these "tool tips" though I realise it would be good for the newcomers.

The dotted line that appears around each photo is a bit of a distraction IMHO.

[ATJ]

The dotted line that appears around each photo is a bit of a distraction IMHO.

It is far worse than that. Images (that comply with the image size requirements) get resized and you have to click on the and open them in a new window to view them. Very annoying.

[Mr Darcy]

Gary, Re those Login issues. I think original post was in another thread.

Not sure how I came in that time, but this morning I came in on:

http://www.dslrusers.com/ucp.php?mode=login

I logged in then I happily looked at a number of threads, and decided to reply to this one.
Promptly got the log in screen. (One time so far, but if it is typical, I will get it a few more times before I successfully post)

and drop a left handed hammer on it.

 BTW, If you need a Left handed hammer You can get one at http://glen-drake.com/
They really do exist, though rare and expensive, and make quite a difference for extreme lefties like me. You can also get right handed ones. The difference is in the balance. Your average hardware store toolie won't know about them though, and will think they are a joke.

I have never come across left handed screwdrivers though. Or for that matter boxes of emery sparks.

[gstark]

The dotted line that appears around each photo is a bit of a distraction IMHO.

It is far worse than that. Images (that comply with the image size requirements) get resized and you have to click on the and open them in a new window to view them. Very annoying.

I don't mind it, but I'm going to be playing with this feature this morning. Stay tooned: anything can, and might, happen.

FWIW, my DNS cache has now caught up with the changes, and I can again use dslrusers.com. My initial feeling is that the login issues I was seeing are cookie and domain related, and whereas I was asked for credentials while using dslrusers.net, as soon as I was able to switch to dslrusers.com, the auto-login just worked.

[radar]

Gary,

What are these jokes that show up at the end of posts when one is in as a guest

Leigh says he has seen these, but I have not. At least, not with Safari/OS X nor with FF on XP Home.

Does it happen only on specific threads, or perhaps with some missing data (a missing signature perhaps?) or ..... ????

I'm puzzled.

I am also on Safari OS X.

Whatever you did to fix a few others things got rid of the jokes. Just checked where I was getting them, in Image review and general discussion, and I'm not getting them anymore, well done. It was only happening as a Guest.

Those tags ({GIVEN}... ) are also gone on the profiles, much cleaner now.

[ATJ]

I don't mind it, but I'm going to be playing with this feature this morning. Stay tooned: anything can, and might, happen.

I believe it is related to the fixed and limited width of the centre column. I notice one of Theo's portraits was untouched because it was narrow enough to fit. If the column would stretch with the window, it would be less of a problem for people who work with wider windows (like me). Note that I, too, don't work with my browser windows maximised, but as I have a screen that is 1920 pixels wide, I don't have narrow windows.

[gstark]

Not sure how I came in that time, but this morning I came in on:

http://www.dslrusers.com/ucp.php?mode=login

That's suggestive that you are wanting to get in to your control panel - that's the ucp.php in that reference. Perhaps for a PM or something? Dunno.

All I know is that this morning, using dslrusers.com, it just worked as it should.

With DNS caching being what it is, I think we should probably wait until Monday before really trying to sort out the logging-in stuff: if somebody hits a stale cache, it can cause havoc, but it's not something that I am in control of. By Monday, all of the DNS hosts should be up to date, and we can then say that if there are issues, they should be local or site-based, rather than maybe DNS.

[gstark]

Gary,

What are these jokes that show up at the end of posts when one is in as a guest

Leigh says he has seen these, but I have not. At least, not with Safari/OS X nor with FF on XP Home.

Does it happen only on specific threads, or perhaps with some missing data (a missing signature perhaps?) or ..... ????

I'm puzzled.

I am also on Safari OS X.

Whatever you did to fix a few others things got rid of the jokes. Just checked where I was getting them, in Image review and general discussion, and I'm not getting them anymore, well done. It was only happening as a Guest.

I did nothing that would have (specifically) address the boilerplate text, but that's because I never saw it.

As I said, Leigh says he had seen it, but I certainly had not. But if it's gone ... who cares?

Please do let me know if it returns, along with any other information that you can think of.

Those tags ({GIVEN}... ) are also gone on the profiles, much cleaner now.

Yep. A little bit of judicious editing in the template html file too care of that.

I don't mind it, but I'm going to be playing with this feature this morning. Stay tooned: anything can, and might, happen.

I believe it is related to the fixed and limited width of the centre column.

Oh yes, I know that. And I know which setting I'm about to hit. I suspect that it's most appropriate to the Portal and Board Index Tab Pages (on the top), which is where I can place portal blocks. I only have those blocks on the portal page though, and that will be the only place where we have the really narrow message section.

The only messages that appear there are the board announcements, and it will be a relatively rare occurrence that those messages include images, but that does happen.

So my thinking is that the default setting (450) might be able to be increased ... but that may have a detrimental affect when we do push images onto the front page.

[ozimax]

The new system is running MILES quicker, many thanks Gary for the work involved. Your effort is appreciated.

Ozi.

[Matt. K]

Well done Gary! You ARE the webmaster!

[robert]

Great look and definately much quicker- looks like a lot of work went into it.

I am noticing that I cant view the EXIF info in the unexpanded shots- it's there if you click and open the image in a new window.

I use Opanda iexif 2.3 which works by right clicking and allows to view Exif info if it is there. The message i get is "object doesnt support this property or method".
Usually (and on other sites) when there is no exif it says "no Exif information in the image".


Not a major issue but may be of interest.

[gstark]

Usually (and on other sites) when there is no exif it says "no Exif information in the image".

Hi Robert,

The resizing for images would be happening dynamically, which would explain the messages and behaviour that you're seeing.

The real issue though is a strange one. The page is constructed of two sections, those being the message body section, and the profile section ... for want of names. I've found where (in the code) these sections have their widths allocated, and that's done as a percentage value of the total available width.

I've pulled the profile section down to what I think is the minimum acceptable, but it's still not quite wide enough to accommodate the 800px width of images that we use.

The next step is to try to open up the page width a bit - I think an extra 50px would do the job - but do you think I find where, in the code, that value is set?

That's where I am with this right now ....

[robert]

Good luck. It sounds well beyond me!
I think I speak for most of us in expresing our appreciation- its looking great.

[phillipb]

email notifications aren't working. You probably already know this, but just in case you didn't...

Any Idea when this will be fixed?