New Stuff!
There are a few new and old features around the org you may not have noticed. I’d appreciate any thoughts you have about them, and ideas for other features.
Original photo saving: Before when you uploaded a photo, smaller versions were created and your original was deleted, to save disk space and bandwidth. With all of the space and bandwidth available at our new home on the web, we’re now keeping those originals. Click on an image enough (2 times I think) and you’ll get a pop-up window with the original, which may be large enough for printing (see Jack’s photos a couple of posts ago for an example). If you don’t like sharing such large photos, just make sure you resize them down to about 500 pixels per side before uploading.
File uploader: It’s just like the photo uploader, but for things like video and audio. The button should be right next to the one for the photo uploader. For video, it’ll accept mpg and mov. For audio, it’ll take mp3. You can also upload large jpg photos, for instance if you want to share but can’t figure out how to resize for the photo uploader. It will insert a simple link to your file. There’s a file size limit of around 8 megabytes - it should let you know if you’re over. If there’s some other file type you’d like to share let me know.
Orientation: I changed the name of the tutorial to orientation and updated it a bit, including instructions for achieving the awesome video fun that Jon demonstrated recently.
Privacy: Part of the update to the orientation covers a couple of ways you can maintain some privacy while still sharing news at the org. In short, don’t post photos or videos and do use Post Password or Post Status:Private when you post. If you use Post Status:Private, remember to Save, not Publish. If you use a Post Password, remember to email around the password to those you’d like to share with.
February 28th, 2007 at 11:28 am
Hey Isaac:
That all sounds real good….am sure it will help Debra post stuff for me. Am glad we have a protection method, as I am afraid some are not posting for fear of the security issue. BTW got the dvds copied….Debra just won’t give up until she figures that stuff out. Was good to talk to you last night. Take care. Love, Dad
February 28th, 2007 at 11:57 am
isaac…very cool! nuts day and i’m out from 11:30 till 6:30 for meetings and such, but looking forward to checking out the new upgrades. some of these are HUGE!
i also have a few questions, but will save those for when i have more time to be thoughtful. for now, THANKS for doing all this…it all spells a richer, more fun org experience in the months and years ahead. l,j
March 1st, 2007 at 12:28 pm
hey…just added the homer song to jon’s birthday post. and it worked! as i understand it, that’s a link to the file on my computer, right? so…does that mean my computer has to be on to access it? just curious. will be checking out more of the new features soon…the file upload is VERY cool. l,j
March 1st, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Nope, the uploader makes a copy of the file from your computer and stores it, so you don’t have to keep your computer running.
March 1st, 2007 at 6:09 pm
you da man! that’s very cool. one quick thought…is there a way to upload some things for sort of short term usage (like one week)? i think a lot of our uploads have merit for archiving, but some of them are limited interest or short-term items that don’t need to clutter the archive. so…any way to program short-term uploads? l,j
March 2nd, 2007 at 6:53 am
I guess I’d rather have a cluttered archive than old posts with broken links. There’s no bandwidth or disk space advantage to short-term uploads, and if some file does get popular and bandwidth becomes a problem I can always move it to YouTube or the Internet Archive.
Is it more of a privacy/embarassment issue? If so, you should know that once something’s online it’s really out of your hands. Even it it’s removed from wedin.org, it’s entirely possible for someone to download and post your embarassing video elsewhere. I suppose we could have an option in the uploader to put your file in a password-protected folder. I don’t especially like that idea because of the impact it’d have on our casual viewers, but if there’s interest I can do it…probably.
March 2nd, 2007 at 9:22 am
isaac…my motivation there was totally driven by old-school concerns about bandwidth (which sounds like a non-issue with the current set-up). now that mpegs and large files are uploadable, i thought it might be helpful if we could distinguish between those with short-term relevance and those that had archive value. as for privacy or potentially embarrassing material, i know that once you hit “send” or “publish” or “submit”, it’s fair game on the web for whoever accesses it. that’s why i REALLY like the “edit” feature on the org posts. i review my posts once i’ve uploaded them, and the “edit” feature provides one more chance to review the post, and edit or delete anything not apropos for what is - after all - a totally public forum. i use the edit feature frequently, though mostly for typos and such. anyhow, this is a good thing to remember…that the org is, after all, “out there” for all to see. l,j