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February 10, 2006 |
Changes to BBcode tools; graphic upload; Automatic thumbs;) Click to enlarge.  All graphic components now include a thumbnail option. |
We have recently installed some changes to Sitemaker's text editing, and graphic upload services.
1. Graphic Upload
You will see changes to the forms/tools that contain graphics. In general we are moving toward a uniform upload method for all graphics. "Theme" graphics such as the illustration for albums in the Gallery are now in line with the other content of the form to which they are related.
To upload a graphic in these locations you may now simply select the graphic from your disk and save it along with the rest of the information in the form.
2. Automatic Thumbnails
The Gallery has always automatically indexed albums with thumbnail (small) views. This technique is now available on most graphics in the system at your option.
When the page is displayed, the thumbnail is clickable and causes a small window containing the full size view to appear. This gives you considerably more design flexibility, as you can use a small, fast graphic on the page body, which pulls more of the page's content upward for greater visibility, without sacrificing the ability to see the entire image.
When you upload a graphic component form that contains a graphic, the response page will have additional items that let you (a) enable thumbnailing and (b) set the maximum dimension by height or width.
As always, the Gallery remains the best place to collect larger numbers of graphics that share a theme.
3. Text Editing
Text editing has been simplified by the removal of the HTML buttons and the reorganization of the BBcode buttons. (Available now in Firefox, MSIE 6 and above on Windows and Firefox but not Safari on Mac; we do not support the use of MSIE on the Mac at all, period, never...).
These text-editing changes apply to text components, blog posts and selected other locations; over the next few months they will be retrofitted to all text areas.
Text editing forms have been simplified. Clickable HTML controls have been removed; BBcode has been retained. This change is in preparation for conversion of text editing to a near-wysiwyg technique later this year. Users will then have a choice of text editing forms.
To create text effects, select a range of text and click the respective buttons for [B] bold, etc.
To embed a link to any page, position your cursor within the text where you and the link. Now click [LINK]; a small box will appear in which to type or paste the destination REMEMBER IT MUST BEGIN WITH HTTP://; the easiest method is to copy it from another window in your browser with the page displayed. When you click OK the string [url=YOUR_URL] will appear. Type a label for the destination. Click [/LINK]. Done.
To embed a graphic click [IMG]. Now type the URL of the image (http://address of your image) and then click [/IMG].
Try BBcode on a page that is not active in any menu. You will find that it saves you a lot of typing. Admonition: As always you can have/do too much of a good thing.
These changes apply to text components and blog posts. The same approach will be extended to other text areas such as image descriptions in the Gallery.
1. Graphic Upload
You will see changes to the forms/tools that contain graphics. In general we are moving toward a uniform upload method for all graphics. "Theme" graphics such as the illustration for albums in the Gallery are now in line with the other content of the form to which they are related.
To upload a graphic in these locations you may now simply select the graphic from your disk and save it along with the rest of the information in the form.
2. Automatic Thumbnails
The Gallery has always automatically indexed albums with thumbnail (small) views. This technique is now available on most graphics in the system at your option.
When the page is displayed, the thumbnail is clickable and causes a small window containing the full size view to appear. This gives you considerably more design flexibility, as you can use a small, fast graphic on the page body, which pulls more of the page's content upward for greater visibility, without sacrificing the ability to see the entire image.
When you upload a graphic component form that contains a graphic, the response page will have additional items that let you (a) enable thumbnailing and (b) set the maximum dimension by height or width.
As always, the Gallery remains the best place to collect larger numbers of graphics that share a theme.
3. Text Editing
Text editing has been simplified by the removal of the HTML buttons and the reorganization of the BBcode buttons. (Available now in Firefox, MSIE 6 and above on Windows and Firefox but not Safari on Mac; we do not support the use of MSIE on the Mac at all, period, never...).
These text-editing changes apply to text components, blog posts and selected other locations; over the next few months they will be retrofitted to all text areas.
Text editing forms have been simplified. Clickable HTML controls have been removed; BBcode has been retained. This change is in preparation for conversion of text editing to a near-wysiwyg technique later this year. Users will then have a choice of text editing forms.
To create text effects, select a range of text and click the respective buttons for [B] bold, etc.
To embed a link to any page, position your cursor within the text where you and the link. Now click [LINK]; a small box will appear in which to type or paste the destination REMEMBER IT MUST BEGIN WITH HTTP://; the easiest method is to copy it from another window in your browser with the page displayed. When you click OK the string [url=YOUR_URL] will appear. Type a label for the destination. Click [/LINK]. Done.
To embed a graphic click [IMG]. Now type the URL of the image (http://address of your image) and then click [/IMG].
Try BBcode on a page that is not active in any menu. You will find that it saves you a lot of typing. Admonition: As always you can have/do too much of a good thing.
These changes apply to text components and blog posts. The same approach will be extended to other text areas such as image descriptions in the Gallery.