Swallow Yachts Association
Swallow Yachts Forum => General Discussion => Topic started by: Jonathan Stuart on 18 Nov 2012, 23:32
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We now have a Library area on the web site where all members can create and edit pages. The idea is that we use this for members to contribute and collaborate, especially around some of the ideas that have been discussed on the forum recently, e.g. boat register, accommodation venues, sailing locations & technical/modifications articles. With regard to the latter, it would be good to get some of the technical discussions buried in this forum written-up as articles and added to the Library.
Clicking on the top level of the Library menu takes you to the Library page. That contains links to all articles. At present these are not grouped, but we can categorize pages and then display the page links grouped by category on the Library page. I think we should do that in future so just need to decide what categories are required. If any pages become interesting or important enough that we want them on the main web site menu instead of (or as well as) in the Library then this is something I can do. Please post here if you feel any articles should be promoted like this.
Any member can create and edit pages but they must be approved by an editor before they become effective. Editors receive an email notification when a change is pending approval and we will try to review and approve as quickly as possible but please allow a little time for this. At the moment I am the only editor but if anyone else wants to join me then please send me a PM or reply to this topic. I suggest some familiarity with the process for creating pages would be useful before becoming an editor.
Given what recently happened with some forum posts, I propose a condition that anyone who contributes to the Library is agreeing that their work is going in to the public domain and can be edited and reproduced by any other member. Please post here if anyone disagrees with that otherwise we should assume that anyone contributing to the Library is accepting this condition.
There is a page documenting how to create/edit library pages and that can be found on Library menu. Please read that before working on any Library pages!
The next step for me is to add a picture gallery and I am working on that now. It should be a lot easier than the Library so will hopefully be available in the next week.
If you have any questions, problems or suggestions then please reply here.
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This could become an exceptionally useful resource for all of us. I'm not quite sure how the decision would be made, if one had something with 'library potential' to contribute, whether one would stick it on the forum for starters, or go straight to the library. I suppose the whole thing will bed down with use. Anyway, thanks for setting it up, Jonathan.
I have recently been putting stuff about junk rig in the 'Technical' slot on the forum. It became a bit of a monologue, and I think most of it would sit much more appropriately in the library. Folks will probably have gathered that I am more than a bit IT-phobic, and I find Jonathan's page of (doubtless crystal-clear) 'how-to-do-it' instructions somewhat daunting. I would be more than happy for anyone who has the time and know-how to lift the straight descriptive-of-JR bits out of that particular thread on the forum and put them together, complete with the photos obviously, in the library. Fell free to edit. Any offers? Apologies if this sounds like getting other people to do my work, but anything beyond the most basic IT and word-processing skills gets me in a bit of a tizz, which I (and my nearest and dearest) do not enjoy!
Michael
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I doubt my "How to" instructions are crystal clear. Although I am no longer a practicing techie, I come from a technical background and in the world of IT they are the worst at creating any sort of user documentation! I will attempt to improve the user guide over time to make them more user friendly (or I can open this to others to edit if anyone has the urge....!).
At this stage I don't think contributors should worry too much about getting their articles perfect, let's just get some content created. I see the editors as checking more than suitability of content, etc, and should also tidy up formatting, etc. So if anyone wants to contribute but is feeling intimated, then feel free to create something that is just words and no formatting and others will tidy it up. Or post it on the forum or email it and I am sure someone will happily to create the page from that.
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Hi Jonathan
Well done for organising this.
I have tried creating a page about the Baycruiser range. I wanted to embed a Youtube video for the launch, but it seems to delete the coding for that when it is saved. Any ideas? I think it will have been submitted to you for vetting.
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Julian,
Thanks and I have approved your new page so it is now available in the Library.
Re embedding YouTube, I haven't tried this before but have now worked out what to do. I have embedded a BC20 video on your page and this works for me but please check if you can play the video. I will add the instructions to the Library documentation but here's what I did:
1. Find the video on YouTube that you want to embed.
2. Copy the address (URL) of that YouTube page. This will be something like "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPdcZ7B4t-E" and can usually be found in the address bar at the top of your browser.
3. Copy that text to the Windows clipboard by right clicking with your mouse on the text and select "Copy".
4. Now go to the Swallow Boats Association web site and open the page editor.
5. Click where you want the video to appear in your page. Click on the toolbar icon that has a picture of a red square containing a white triangle. If there is a toolbar icon with "You Tube" written on it then do not use that, use the red square/white triangle instead because this uses a more reliable method to embed video.
6. A new window appears. There is a text box at the top of this window underneath the label "YouTube video url or code:". Click in the text box and paste your You Tube URL here by pressing Ctrl + V or click the right mouse button in the box and select "Paste".
7. Now click the "Insert" button and your page will contain an embedded YouTube video.
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Thanks for posting that Jonathan, that was the video I was trying to embed. I had done all you suggested, plus a couple of other tricks I have used in the past. It all seemed to work. It was only when I saved the page that all of the embedded items seemed to simply disappear. I'll try another insertion shortly and see if it has been sorted now.
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Thanks Julian. Your page got me thinking that perhaps we should aim to have a page for each boat model and eventually have those under the "The Boats" menu rather than in the library. Something like an owner's view perspective on each boat covering, say, what it is, what's good, what you'd change, how the boat has been used, alternative boats, etc. What do you think?
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I think that could be very good. It is impossible to categorise everything perfectly. What seems a logical location to one person seems irrational to another.
I have done a further page with photos and they seem to have stayed in place. what I did notice is that I can't add to the existing page, which is what I wanted to do, only create a new one. Am I missing something, or is that something that could be added?
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You should be able to edit all existing pages in the Library regardless of who created them. That is the intention anyway! When you are on a page that you can edit you should see the "Edit" buttons that are circled in red in the attached screenshot. Do you not have those buttons? I have checked with my test user (which should have the same permissions as you) and that can edit your page so before I investigate further can you double check whether those buttons exist for you?
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Jonathan
1) Following my whingey post above, I told myself to get a grip on myself, and had a go at editing my junk rig bit for the library. And I surprised myself: on Pages (Mac version of Word) I got the whole thing set up, layout, photos dragged into the right points in the text, right size etc - - bootiful. However, when I tried to transfer the whole thing across to the Library, the layout went awry, the pics disappeared. I did my best with the layout (again!) and when I tried to bring the pics back, all I got was a funny line of tecno-text - would that be enough for you, or some other magician, to reconstitute them?
It's actually quite embarrassing to display my IT ineptitude in semi-public on the forum, and not fair to expect you to try and sort me out. So I'm going to abandon my attempt. All the stuff I was using is there in the forum anyway.
2) As I'm clearly not going to be contributing to the library, it's probably not appropriate for me to make the following observation. However....I find the 'anyone can edit anything, written by themselves or anyone else, anytime' idea very strange. Didn't Wikipedia do this in the early days, and abandon it? I can categorically say that I would not like anything I contributed to be edited by anyone else, at the very least without prior consultation with me. (I wouldn't at all mind you, as administrator, doing some editing - that's different.) Am I being some sort of fogey (I'm all other sorts of fogey already)?
Michael
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Michael
I'm not certain, but I think Jonathna might just have been replying to me and didn't mean that everyone can edit everything. But he will correct me on that if I have misunderstood
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Michael,
You say you created your page in Word first of all. Do you still have that saved? If so then email me it to me and I will recreate it as a web site page. Let me know if you have a copy and if so then I will PM you with my email address.
Michael & Julian,
Any member can edit any library pages but those changes need to be reviewed and approved by an editor before they become effective. Also, all previous copies of pages are retained so if someone doesn't like an approved change then we can revert back to a previous version. If anyone creates a page that they don't want other people to be able to edit then we can put a restriction on that page. But I needed to go for a default position with site-wide rules and had to choose between everyone being able to edit pages (subject to review) or only the author being able to edit pages. I went for the former on the basis that we want to encourage collaboration and hopefully this won't be abused as happens on Wikipedia, etc. If this approach doesn't work then we can make the default to be that only the author can edit a page and permissions will be explicitly opened where appropriate.
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Thanks Jonathan, that all sounds sensible.
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Thanks. If anyone does contribute a page that they want "locked down" such that only they and editors can make changes then PM me after creating the page and we can apply the required security.
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Hi Jonathan
I must apologise - I think I'm being tetchy, which is discourteous and unnecessary. You're going to a lot of trouble to provide for us lot, and deserve a bit (no, a lot) less aggro from me!
Your kind offer - I can't act on it at present because, of all things, we are having email transmission problems, and I can't send any: nor can I sort the problem out because I'm so thick, and my in-house techno-help (my son) isn't available (now I think about it, contributory factors to my short fuse? - though that's no excuse). So I'll have to let you know when I'm out of email purdah.
Thanks again Michael
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Michael,
With all these tetchy emails you're now only 7 posts away from being a "Hero member" and then you join the elite group of true curmudgeons :)!
Email me the document when you can and I will convert it to a web page. If you can't do that then I'll use your forum posts as the basis for the JR page, but that looks like more work than just taking your document so hopefully the email issues will be resolved!
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The Gallery is now live and members can create Galleries and upload photos. It can be accessed via the Gallery link on the web site's main menu. Underneath this there is a page called "Using the Gallery" that explains how to create Galleries and upload pictures, etc. Please read this first! No doubt there may well be issues and/or the documentation isn't as clear as I think, so pls post here if you have any questions or problems.
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Hi,
Congratulations on the boat register and the data entry page. However, when I tried to add Vagabond to the list this evening, I kept getting an error message requesting me to add data into fields where I had already selected from the drop down lists. Is this a page error or a user error?
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Rob,
I have made some changes to the Register page so can you try this again please and let me know what happens?
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It worked OK for me?
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Jonathan, a question about editing library pages. I would like to add a bit to the page on Tiller tamers to explain the very simple system I use. When I click the edit button next to that page, It gives me a blank editing window, with no tools, and I can't seem to be able to type into it. Am I doing it wrong or do I need the agreement of the original poster to add to the page?
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Julian,
Sorry, I inadvertently broke the library editing last night when making a change. I have now fixed this and you should find you can edit the library pages again.
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i successfully added Vagabond to the register and subsequently edited the entry. All without a hitch, so your wizardry worked!
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Excellent, thanks for letting me know.
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I have updated the Library so that the pages are now arranged in groups. This is to make the Library more manageable given that there are now quite a few pages.
This means that when a Library page is created it must be assigned to a "category" otherwise the page won't appear in the Library. I have updated the "Contributing to the Library" page, but here is the relevant information:
All Library pages are group by “category” and every page must as assigned to a category otherwise it won’t appear in the Library. To the right of the editing box there is a section called “Categories”. Click the category name that is most appropriate for your page. The page will be shown on the Library page under every category to which it is assigned, but normally a page should only be assigned to one category.
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Good job!
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Hi Jonathan,
Thanks for the instructions on how to upload to the Gallery. The snag is that when I click on the "Gallery" tab, the only item shown on the drop down menu is "using the gallery", even though I am logged on as member of the association.
Any ideas about this?
Rob J
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Rob,
I will have a look in to this. I might have to reset your password as part of investigating this so is that OK with you? I will of course let you know what the new password is!
Jonathan
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Hi Jonathan,
That's fine. In your own time, as they say.... and thanks
By the way, I hope you have warmed up after your "overnighter" I slept in Vagabond on Friday night and had to go for a walk at about 3 in the morning to warm up!
Rob J
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I recommend this sleeping bag, which was specifically designed for round-the-worlders, for keeping warm on board at this time of the year http://www.gaussltd.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=1&zenid=e54ecc6429fd61641bfbe8f158418c58 I see that it's about £20 cheaper than when I bought mine two years ago.
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Thanks, Rob, I'll take a look at your account.
Saturday night was very cold in the BRe and we had ice on the inside of the cabin! I was fine inside my sleeping bag but woke up early with an extremely cold nose. It was good to see the sun's rays finally coming through the gap in the washboards. However, the cold was worth it because I was walking by Rutland Water by 07:30 watching mist on the still waters with no-one else around. Sorry we didn't get to say goodbye on Sunday but we got on the water early and had to leave at lunchtime to get back to Dorset in good time.
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Rob,
I have realised what the problem is. You are looking at the wrong "Gallery" menu! When logged on to the site there should be a black menu bar for administration activities at the very top of the web page, that is above the image of the Storms sailing. See the screenshot attached to this post and it shows the menu bar and Gallery menu I am talking about.
If you logon to the web site via the username/password boxes on the homepage then this menu bar should appear immediately. However, if you logon via the "Login" link on the Forum page then this admin menu won't appear until you go to another page of the web site.
Either way, if you have logged on to the web site and this black menu bar hasn't appeared then navigate to another page and the refresh should force the menu to appear. If it still isn't there then go to yet another page and in my experience that always forces the menu to appear. I'm not sure why it sometimes takes a second page navigation to force the menu to appear, but it reliably does after 1-2 navigation actions so this isn't a major issue.
Hopefully that helps but let me know if you still have problems.
Jonathan
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After writing my last post, it occurred to me that Rob's got a point...after all, why do we have two menus? This is a feature of the software that runs this site but it isn't very intuitive. I think I can add all of the links from the top, admin, menu to the lower menu, e.g. so we have links to upload photos, etc, under the lower Gallery menu and a link to add a Library article under the Library menu. I will try to do this and if I succeed then I will turn off the top menu.
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I've made the changes I mentioned in the last post and now the menus to contribute to the Library and Gallery are on the main menu. As such the top admin menu/toolbar has now been removed.
Please let me know if you find any issues or if I have managed to add to the confusion with all these changes!
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Jonathan
Perhaps you might like to add the following to the list of links:
http://vagabond-round-britain.blogspot.co.uk/
It's the link to my blog about going round Britain in my BC 23.
Thanks
Rob Johnstone
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Rob,
I've just checked and I'm pleased to say the link is already there, in the "Social Media & Blogs" section.
Jonathan
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oops!
foot in mouth again!
RobJ
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Help please!
I've just posted a rather long account of a repair I had to do on my BRe centreboard. I've attached 6 photos to help illustrate but when I click on each I only get to see a tiny segment of the shot which only confuses. What am I missing?
Thanks
Rory
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I think your photos may be too high definition. If you can find a way of reducing the number of pixels and the file size of each photo to less than 100 KB, then cancel the old ones and re-post the small versions, that should fix it.
I can tell you how to reduce photo file size with an Apple computer but most people seem to use Microsoft.
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Rory.
If you use windows there is a very useful free program I have used for years.
www.irfanview.com
Great for the general display and manipulation of image files in all formats, can also play video and audio files also in just about any format. Loads of 'plugins' available for it too. Have a look at their website.
When saving jpg files it will give you the option, with a little slide bar, to lower the pixel rate - with a subsequent loss of quality, which makes it ideal for lowering the pixel rate for publication on the web.
Hope this helps.
Andy
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Many thanks Graham and Andy, I'll see what I can do. Rory
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Jonathan, on another thread I recently (2 -3 weeks ago) mentioned penning something short-ish to go, possibly, in the Library. And tried to go through the correct motions. Nothing has resulted (in the Library) so far, which could be because a) I'm being impatient, b) the relevant moderator (yourself?) is a busy man (I'm sure you are) and hasn't got round to it, c) said person doesn't think my contribution is up to The Mark (absolutely fair enough), d) I went about it the wrong way.
Explanation (d) is the likeliest. I re-visited, and was reminded that, first time round, a message came up on the screen, to wit - 'Block UI requires Query v1.2.3 or later! You are using v1.11.2.' Not having the first idea what this meant, I carried on regardless, which probably explains the subsequent Nothing.
Could you please decipher this message to a bear of exceedingly little IT brain? I tried to find 'Query' on my computer without success, and I've never heard of it (which means v little). I'm a Mac man, by the way, in case that makes a difference.
Thanks. Michael R
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Michael,
You had done this correctly and the article was waiting on approval. In my defense, I hadn't received an email from the website informing me there was an article to approve and it wasn't showing as requiring approval on the Wordpress dashboard. But I've found it and approved it now.
You can ignore the "Block UI requires Query v1.2.3 or later" message. I don't fully understand what's causing this but I need to upgrade various parts of the website - a winter job - and hopefully that will fix this.
Jonathan
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Thanks, Jonathan.
'You needn't bother about...' is what I like to be told on IT matters!
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Hi
Is the gallery available in any way? I am in the process of rigging my BayRaider which has been changed from the norm in a number of ways and I have been searching for photos that show rigging detail.
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Ian,
I still haven't had time to fix the gallery - sorry. But all the gallery images are backed-up on Flickr and I've created an album to hold them all. You should be able to view this via the following link:
https://flic.kr/s/aHskRJ6fuJ
Sorry that the album contains all 930 photos and the content's not properly organised in sub-albums yet but at this this gives you access to the old gallery images.
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Hi Jonathon
Many thanks. Just what I hoped for.
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Jonathan,
I've tried to post something in the library about our Coniston trip. I'm not sure if I have done it right and it just awaiting approval or its got lost somewhere can you advise?
Cheers
Bob
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Hello Jonathan
We are the new owners of Samba (BC26 006).
Congratulations on an excellent site and will look forward to contributing where appropriate!
Tried to update the Boat Register, but as Samba is already there, (previous owner entry), I am being told duplicates not allowed.
Any thoughts please?
Regards
Mike
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I'm not sure if this is the right place for my observation/query. I have just noticed that the number-of-posts 'counter' appears to be stuck (for some of us at least), and has apparently been for some time. Was that intentional?
It matters not at all, and the fact that my total has stuck on 666 has nothing to do with anything, as I am completely non-superstitious! But I just wondered, along the lines of 'if we have it, could it function? Otherwise why have it at all?'.
Michael R
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Michael your post was number 667. So it seems to have become magically unstuck. O err.....
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Thank you, Rob. What a coincidence!
M R
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Hi Jonathan,
I've just submitted an article on the Epropulsion Spirit Plus XS for the library which apart from the associated pdf files and images seems to have gone into a black hole. So I assume its just waiting for your approval. Any changes or recommendations please let me know. Many thanks
Ray S BRe 047 Whimbrel
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Hi Ray,
Yes, this was just waiting for approval and I have now done that. The article is available in the Library.
I don't seem to receive emails anymore advising me when articles need appoval, so please post here if approval is needed and I will sort it out.
By the way, is your's the BRe kept at Redcliffe or are you elsewhere in Poole harbour?
Thanks,
Jonathan
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Hi Jonathan,
Many thanks for posting the article in the library. Yes, our BRe is moored up Redclyffe YC, just a short row up from the club house. I know you posted an article some time ago when you went up there in the BRe you had at that time; I found it very interesting to get your different visitor's perspective!
Cheers
Ray
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Hi Jonathan,
I've submitted an update to the library article on the Epropulsion Spirit - so could you check it out and hopefully release it?
Many thanks
Ray S BRe 047 Whimbrel
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Hi Ray,
Sorry, once again I hadn't received an email letting me know this approval was needed. I have approved your update. Would you please check that you can now see your changes?
I have just upgraded the plugin that manages the approval process for these updates so hopefully that will improve the process. At some stage I also want to look at security permissions but on this site that is more complex than a normal Wordpress site and I need toremind myself of what we did and why! I don't see why someone who has created a page shouldn't then edit it without needing approval so I will see if we can configure that.
Thanks,
Jonathan
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Hi Jonathan,
Thanks for approving the update which looks fine. As you say, it would be handy to be able to make updates occasionally without having to disturb you each time.
Thanks also for all your work managing the site.
Ray
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No problem and don't worry about disturbing me - it's a quick job to approve these updates and it reminds me to change the website security.
Jonathan
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Sorry, one more update to the Eprop library report after an error was pointed out.
Thanks
Ray
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Jonathan and others
On this association website, I note we are classified according to our contributions – junior, senior members and so on.
One of the associates is approaching 2000 entries! ‘Hero’ hardly does it for such effort. Do you think there should be an additional category for this extraordinary milestone? What should this superior category be called?
John
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Super-hero would be the most logical next step.
Personally I would propose demi-god, higher up the ladder but still some room for progress. ;)
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Obsessive-compulsive? I’m alarmed to see that in the past 10 years I’ve spent the equivalent of three working months logged in to the forum.
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I have added the Super Hero (1000 posts) and Demigod (2000 posts) groups, although Graham is so far adhead that we don't have any Super Heros. Here are the new groups, including the required number of posts and the number of members within each group. Perhaps the bar should be lower for Super Hero because there are super heros in this forum but I quickly started over-thinking this so stopped here.
| Status | Post Count | Members |
| Newbie | 0 | 640 |
| Jr. Member | 2 | 137 |
| Full Member | 5 | 157 |
| Sr. Member | 100 | 9 |
| Hero Member | 200 | 14 |
| Super Hero | 1000 | 0 |
| Demigod | 2000 | 1 |
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Congrats with your promotion Graham 8)
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Thank you. If I told my wife that I was now a demigod, she would hoot with laughter!
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I told my family at lunch today that I had been promoted to demigod. As expected, they found this hysterically funny.
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After all your efforts? The audacity....
Maybe a twinge of jealousy?