www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Hi all - as I've mentioned recently, I've been intending to implement species-specific photos albums that allow members to upload their photos into an area that will form (I hope) a comprehensive image library of the butterflies of the British Isles. These albums are now available under the "Gallery" link. A full explanation of the intent is given at http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/gallery_guidelines.php and I'd appreciate your feedback. So - please get posting!

As a result of the policies that have been agreed by the UKB team, I'll be heavily-pruning my own contribution

Cheers,

- Pete

Hi Pete,
As many UKButts members have previously posted some of their favourite shots of various species in their personal galleries, it is likely to be some of these same images which they would select for adding to the open/closed-access Species-Specific galleries. I would certainly be happy for any of the images I've put in my gallery to be used if they were thought useful and I'm sure others would feel the same about their images, but my question is: Would users need to re-post these images into the new album?

Trev

I'll add to what Trev says by asking, if we need to post images from our personal albums to the species specific albums, is there a way for us to copy them, or do we need to upload them again?

Denise

Sounds like a good project to me Just posted a couple of photographs and it seems to have worked. Not sure about the Location/Date code though, that is still displayed in the description, is this correct?

My only suggestion is that in the same way as the species pages of the site, it would be good to see "primary" and "secondary" species listed separately.

Alexander

Trev Sawyer wrote:Hi Pete,
As many UKButts members have previously posted some of their favourite shots of various species in their personal galleries, it is likely to be some of these same images which they would select for adding to the open/closed-access Species-Specific galleries. I would certainly be happy for any of the images I've put in my gallery to be used if they were thought useful and I'm sure others would feel the same about their images, but my question is: Would users need to re-post these images into the new album?

Trev

Hi Trev,

I completely understand. Unfortunately, the gallery mechanism provides no way to "link" images to existing posts and, to answer Denise's comment, there's no easy way to copy posts either (currently). Let me look into this, though. I would certainly prefer a "link" mechanism so that any comments and ratings associated with an image are retained.

Cheers,

- Pete

m_galathea wrote:Not sure about the Location/Date code though, that is still displayed in the description, is this correct?

Yes. If there's a better convention that could be followed I'd appreciate hearing it. Perhaps adding a new field to the image details rather than free-form text?

m_galathea wrote:My only suggestion is that in the same way as the species pages of the site, it would be good to see "primary" and "secondary" species listed separately.

I did think about that - but it didn't seem to offer any advantages.

Cheers,

- Pete

Just checking, you have everything on the albums except aberrations, subspecies and forms, might need to add those. I have quite a few subspecies of butterflies I'd like to add to some albums

Dave McCormick wrote:Just checking, you have everything on the albums except aberrations and forms, might need to add those

They're already there (subspecies as well). My assumption is that we don't need different albums for ova, larva and pupae of either subspecies, forms or aberrations - only for the imago.

Aberrations appear as a subdirectory of every "imago", "subspecies" and "form" album.

Cheers,

- Pete

Pete,

In some cases, when submitting a photo, we will need to indicate whether the side view of (say) a Skipper is that of a male or a female. Are we going to be able to incorporate that information into the data boxes or are we going to need another box which we can use for words like "male" or "variant" etc.

Cheers,

Vince

Pete Eeles wrote:

Dave McCormick wrote:Just checking, you have everything on the albums except aberrations and forms, might need to add those

They're already there (subspecies as well). My assumption is that we don't need different albums for ova, larva and pupae of either subspecies, forms or aberrations - only for the imago.

Aberrations appear as a subdirectory of every "imago", "subspecies" and "form" album.

Cheers,

- Pete

I've justed updated the guidelines to show the album structure. See http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/gallery_guidelines.php

Cheers,

- Pete

Vince M wrote:Pete,

In some cases, when submitting a photo, we will need to indicate whether the side view of (say) a Skipper is that of a male or a female. Are we going to be able to incorporate that information into the data boxes or are we going to need another box which we can use for words like "male" or "variant" etc.

Cheers,

Vince

Hi Vince,

Yes - any "freeform text" included in the image description field (outside of the [LOCATION] and [DATE] tags) will be considered additional (and useful) commentary that is under the control of the member posting the image. So yes - please include as little or as much information as you would like. I anticipate this text being visible when you "hover" over the image (once I get around to implementing that!).

Cheers,

- Pete

Pete Eeles wrote:

Pete Eeles wrote:

Dave McCormick wrote:Just checking, you have everything on the albums except aberrations and forms, might need to add those

They're already there (subspecies as well). My assumption is that we don't need different albums for ova, larva and pupae of either subspecies, forms or aberrations - only for the imago.

Aberrations appear as a subdirectory of every "imago", "subspecies" and "form" album.

Cheers,

- Pete

I've justed updated the guidelines to show the album structure. See http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/gallery_guidelines.php

Cheers,

- Pete

I never noticed until I went onto the albums, but I see its all there now.

A few minutes ago, I tried posting a shot using the [LOCATION] and [DATE] tags system in the image description box. When I viewed it (including hovering over the photo), it didn't show the relevant info about where and when the snap was taken. Should it automatically show the details, or did I do something wrong? NB: I've taken the photo off for the time being.

Trev

Trev Sawyer wrote:A few minutes ago, I tried posting a shot using the [LOCATION] and [DATE] tags system in the image description box. When I viewed it (including hovering over the photo), it didn't show the relevant info about where and when the snap was taken. Should it automatically show the details, or did I do something wrong? NB: I've taken the photo off for the time being.

Trev

Hi Trev - you've done nothing wrong!

The mechanism for showing this information either by hovering or on the main species pages is not yet implemented. I just wanted to make sure that people knew that this information is particularly valuable and, as such, I'm trying to "get things right" ahead of time, if that makes sense!

This information can always be added retrospectively.

Cheers,

- Pete

Pete Eeles wrote:This information can always be added retrospectively.

I'm wondering if this might be the best approach until I really know what the mechanism is going to be!

What we need is cameras that record both date and GPS information

Cheers,

- Pete

Thanks Pete,
I'll put the photo back again then.

Trev

Okey dokey!

BTW - the work to move images for the main species pages, and having the main species pages will take some time - hopefully before the end of the year!

In the meantime, let's just populate the public Species-Specific Albums since the main species pages will be updated to contain a link through to those shortly anyhow (i.e. a link such as "More photos ..." associated with each stage), if that makes sense

Cheers,

- Pete

Discovered that I can move a photo from within my personal album into the Species-Specific Album (retaining the views etc. I think). This does actually remove it from the personal album itself (which I don't really mind), but makes transferring the photo to the new album very easy. As location and date details can be added later, this shouldn't be a problem.

NB: Moving photos between albums can be done via the "moderate" tab under each photo in your personal album... Selecting "move" and then the appropriate section in the Species-Specific Album. Even I can do it, so it must be easy

Trev

I have just moved 4 images to 'Species specific' using this method, however on attempting a 5th, i was faced with an 'unauthorised to enter section' warning, and the image (an underwing shot of a Painted Lady) was lost. Is it a mistake by me, or is this a glitch. Only Zonda being a pain again.

You may have tried moving it to the "locked" folder rather than the "public" folder. There are 2 sets of albums with identical structures and you need to choose the correct one.

Cheers,

- Pete